As Fate Wood Have It: 2012

Wow... is Adele really 8 weeks old without a blog post to show for it?? I have a lot to catch you up on! I'll try to give an abridged version...

Justin and I decided to get induced on Tuesday, Jan. 17. My doctor was going out of town for ten days, and I really wanted her to be the one to deliver Adele. Plus, I was starting to get really miserable! So, we went in that morning and the process began. They started the pitocin and it wasn't very long after that when the contractions set in. Now I wasn't planning to be Superwoman, but I did want to wait as long as possible for the epidural. Looking back, I'm not sure why, but I guess we live and learn! So I fought through many a contraction, which were excruciating before I told my nurse I was ready for the epidural. Lucky for me I had a rock star nurse who had already put the order in just in case! So, I didn't have to wait very long from the time I asked for it to the time I got it.

Now, I always thought women were lying to your face when they told you that you couldn't feel a thing once you got the epidural. I was pleasantly surprised that the rumors are true - you really can't feel a thing! I spent the next few blissful hours eating popsicles and napping while friends and family came in to visit. Things were going so incredibly smooth and then it came time for the big push, which was quite troublesome since I couldn't feel a thing from the epidural. My nurse had to coach me how to push because I couldn't feel anything. I finally got the hang of it, but then things started to unravel. My blood pressure spiked, a fever set in and Adele's heart rate was dipping. Add all that to my apparently "arched pelvis" and Adele was not going to come out that way. So after 12 hours of labor, I had no choice but to have a c-section.

Justin put on his scrubs and they wheeled me into surgery. Surprisingly, I was so incredibly calm through the whole thing. Since I'm ordinarily a very dramatic woman, I can't believe how well I did. I remember I just wanted to hear her cry and then there it was... Unfortunately since I spiked a fever, she had to go to the NICU to be observed for 48 hours for a possible infection, so they only gave me about 5 seconds to look at her before they whisked her away. She was perfect. Big eyes, cute little button nose... she looked exactly as I had imagine she would.

Then after a grueling hospital stay because of my high blood pressure, they let us take her home. I remember driving home thinking... this is it? They're just going to let us walk out of here with her??? Lol...

The next two weeks are a blur probably because of the lack of sleep! You hear people make jokes about new parents not sleeping, but I didn't realize that you LITERALLY don't sleep... at least that was the case with my baby, lol. She woke up every hour. I can remember nights where I would be up with her for like three hours and finally would get her to sleep. Then I'd fall asleep only to wake up to her cries ten minutes later. Though I loved the mess out of this little one, the lack of sleep really got to me. I spent a few nights crying my eyes out thinking I was a terrible mother. Thankfully after talking with friends, I found out that I am not a bad mom; newborns just don't sleep!

Then one night... I woke up in the middle of the night to silence. I looked at the clock... it had been four entire hours and Adele was still asleep! HALLELUJAH!!!! Ever since that night, Adele has become quite a good sleeper at night and my sanity has returned, lol.

Other than that, Adele and I spend our days playing, singing and talking. We have lunch with daddy about once a week. We go on walks with Macy. We also go shopping... she's a really good shopping buddy :) She's a wonderful little girl... Justin and I couldn't be more blessed!

See below for some of her firsts!