The birth of Autumn Elle Woerner...

I woke up this morning at 5:25 a.m. to go to the bathroom....I have been making multiple trips a night.....and ended up having some 'real' contractions. I stayed awake and timed them. They were anywhere from about 4-10 minutes apart. After about an hour and a half of moving around without the contractions stopping, I woke Karl up and told him I was going to call the doctor. Normally, if I was going to labor naturally, I would probably not have called in yet, but since we were planning a c-section I wanted to find out if they wanted me to go ahead and go in to be checked out. She did...so by about 7:45 a.m. we were heading to the hospital, which is only about 4 miles from our house. We were put into triage and I was started on I.V. fluids. When the nurse checked to see how dilated I was, things were the same as they had been when I was in the office last. However, after that my contractions seemed to get more constant and a bit stronger. The doctor was on her way and though I don't really know what made them decide to go ahead and do the c-section today, she said we were just going to go ahead. So, they admitted me, had me fill out paperwork, and we were heading into the OR by about 9:10 a.m. Karl joined us after the spinal was given and they had me prepped, and by 9:35 a.m. our baby girl had made her entrance into this world. It was strange...the sensations that are felt during the procedure....but I have to say it was much less unpleasant than I expected. I barely felt the 'pinch' when they numbed my back and when the spinal was administered there was no pain...though I could tell that he was working back there. It was the same with the actual surgery. I could tell by their movements that they were working and even what they were doing, but felt no pain. It went quickly, besides the sewing up when the baby had been delivered. My doctor was kind enough to tell me she was going to sew my incision twice (for reinforcement) so that "with your next one, if it's a 35/36-weeker, you have the choice to have a VBAC." ?????? I thought it was funny, but it really was nice of her to think of that, because you never know what a person may decide to do....if they may change their plans. ;)

Oh by the way, we have named her Autumn Elle Woerner, she weighed 8lb.4oz. and is 19 inches long. Smaller than expected but still a good size.

We have spent the day getting to know our newest daughter. She's beautiful, and knows how to nurse well already, which is a wonderful bonus! She is such a little peanut, even though she is a bit bigger than Emma was at birth....only just. She has not cried too much, seems pretty content, but we'll find out over the next days, I'm sure. She sleeps well so far too...but we'll see how the night goes.

Karl brought all the kids and my parents up to see her. Emma was sad that I couldn't hold her, but she did okay. She was enthralled with her sister, as we expected, and wanted to "hab it" when she saw me holding the baby. It will be a challenge, I know, but I'm looking forward to getting home and figuring out the logistics of it all.