She's HERE!... Our Leap Day Diva

We arrived at Duke on Monday afternoon to be admitted for induction. On Monday I was scheduled to have one last echo to make sure everything was still ok with my heart. After the echo (which looked good...praise the Lord) we began the waiting game. According to the plan, we were supposed to begin induction on Tuesday morning... Well that didn't happen. Due to several "bumps" in the road with staffing, other deliveries, etc, my induction didn't actually begin until about 4pm on Tuesday. Keep in mind that Wednesday was Leap Day and I had told them over and over that I didn't want to have a Leap Day baby... I will try to tell the story with pictures.

This is Tyler and I excited to get the induction started. I was already 3cm dilated and having irregular contractions when induction began. I was given one medication to "ripen" the cervix and that is all it took to get my body going.

I started having pretty strong, regular contractions within the hour...

Despite the contractions, it took my body about 29 hours to dilate to 10cm. Then it was "go time"! Can you tell we are ready!!?? P.S..... its leap day...ha!

They took us back to the OR because there was more room and I had a forceps delivery as planned. Everything went great and our sweet Audrey was finally here!

That's one proud daddy =)

As planned I also spent the night in the cardiac ICU just as a precaution. They let me love on my baby girl for a little while before taking me away for the night. Little did I know that the 4 hours of sleep I would get in ICU would be the most at one time for awhile...ha!

Everything looked good overnight in ICU so after an Echo the next morning I was taken to my postpartum room. It was very roomy which made it easy for the grandparents to all hang out in comfort with us. These flowers were brought to me later that day from Audrey and her daddy... so sweet!

3 generations!

Tyler and his parents

Our new little family

Since everything had gone well, we were able to leave on Friday. YAY! I can not tell you how glad we were to be able to sleep (ha) in our own bed!

Can you tell we are excited?! Audrey was not a fan of her car seat but once we got her all tucked in she was an angel for the 3 hour ride home.

Doc has been our baby for almost 4 years so we were really hoping he would love Audrey and not be jealous of her.

And love her he does! He checks on her all the time and knows her name. If we ask him "where's Audrey?" he finds her and touches her with his nose. Its so funny! We are also glad that Audrey is not bothered by her big hairy brother. She does not move a muscle when she hears his LOUD German Shepherd bark, nor does she care when he licks or sniffs her. We are so thankful they will be able to live together with no problems!

Daddy giving Audrey her first bath

On Monday after we were discharged we took the little miss for her newborn check-up with Dr. Berry. She was so good and was gaining weight like they wanted.

She is such a precious angel and we are loving every minute with her! Thank you God for this precious blessing!