Baby Girl Savage has Arrived

Our sweet baby, Ayla Rose Savage, was born just one week ago.

Here is her story:

The Short Version

Friday

8:00 pm: Grandma Kaeme arrives to Gainesville to watch TJ

11:00 pm: Mom and Dad head to the hospital

11:30 pm: Mom is admitted to hospital with a cervical dilation of 5.5 cm

Saturday

12:00 am: Mom is given a very large dosage of epidural narcotics

2:35 am: Mom is given the okay to push

2:41 am: Ayla is born

7 pounds 4 ounces, 19.5 inches long

The Very Long Version (A mother's perspective)

It was the week of Ayla's due date and I was torn- I wanted my baby to come early, but my mom, Karen, had obligations at work until Friday and wouldn't be able to come down to help with TJ until then. Sure enough, my mom arrived around 8:00 pm on Friday and within a few hours of her arrival I was having contractions and Trent and I were headed to the hospital. My contractions were not super regular, about five minutes apart and manageable, and I was scared that maybe the hospital would send me home. But triage checked me and said that I was dilated 5.5 cm and that I could stay.

I immediately asked for an epidural. Within the hour, the anesthesiologist and nurse anesthetist were in my room and I was ready for the contractions to magically go away, as they did with TJ. I was ready to take a nice long nap. But for some reason the epidural didn't work the same as it did with TJ. The nurse kept telling me, "this is going to be the last contraction you feel." But I continued to feel hard contractions, one after the other. So the nurse anesthetist administered more drugs through the epidural. I still felt the contractions. The anesthetist continued to give me more and more medicine, until eventually it felt like elephants were sitting on my legs- they were so numb yet heavy, as if they were glued to the table. But I still felt the contractions. No naps for me.

Eventually the contractions did ease up, but then I got the shivers. My whole body was shaking uncontrollably, making my bed clank against the wall. haha. I laugh about it now but at the time it really freaked me out because I could not stop shaking. I think maybe I was given a bit too much epidural- the nurse said it totaled 22 ccs, about twice the normal initial dosage. There was only one doctor at the hospital and no midwives. There were SIX of us in labor. I was the sixth in line, so I had to wait my turn. When the doctor came into my room at 2:35 am, I pushed for five minutes and that was that. Thanks to those 22 ccs, I didn't feel a thing.

The doctor cut the umbilical cord and handed her over to the nurse to clean her up. As Trent and I watched, we both thought she looked just like TJ.

Later that morning my mom brought TJ to the hospital to meet his new baby sister. He jumped up on my bed and saw the baby and then saw a half eaten banana on the side table. He asked for it, but instead of shoving it in his mouth like I suspected he would, he pressed it to Ayla's lips. He is the best sharer I know. I have no doubt he will be a good big brother to Ayla.

We stayed one night at the hospital, then took our new baby girl home.

She has been such a good, sweet baby. Doing all the things she should: eat, poop, pee and sleep. She has had no problems with breast feeding but I have had some pain so I mix in an occasionally pump and give her my milk through the bottle. Look at those tiny little legs. She is so itty bitty.

She doesn't cry much at all. But when she does, she screams. Look at that tiny little dimple by her mouth, I love it.

But this is what she does best. She sleeps for 3-4 hours then wakes up to eat and have her diaper changed. She repeats this cycle all day and night long.

We are head-over-heels in love with her already.

39 weeks + 4 days pregnant

Here are some pictures of my little baby shower dinner from two weeks ago...

All the lovely ladies that were in attendance.

Brittany and I with the cute crafty present she made. I loved all the adorable little girl things that were so generously given to me by my wonderful friends. It really made me excited to be having a girl!

Here is the amazing banner that Kim made, which is now hanging in the nursery.

And the beautiful centerpieces made by Rachel. She is so good at this sort of thing.

And the delicious cupcake favors made by Irene. Baking is one of Irene's many specialties.

And here is one last side view shot of this pregnancy- 3 days shy of the due date.

At my appointment last week I was 1 and 30% but today I was 3 and 70%. We are crossing our fingers that Baby girl might be a little more punctual than her brother, and actually come on or before her due date, rather than 10 dreaded days late, like him. Wouldn't that be nice?

TJ's Twentieth Month

TJ's turned twenty months old today! In preparation for becoming a big brother and no longer the baby of the house, TJ decided to do a little growing up this month, and said "bye bye" to diapers. He has been interested in sitting on the potty (and actually doing a number or two) for a few months now. His interest peaked just before MLK Jr. day, so I did a quick search on babycenter.com and decided to go with the first method I found- potty training in three days. Trent was able to help over the long three day weekend, and it all went very well. TJ did lots of this:

And Trent and I did our fair share of cleaning up of small accidents (thank goodness for tile floors), lots of rushing TJ to the bathroom, and plenty of celebration dancing and cheering for TJ's hits in the potty. After the three days were up, we hesitantly labeled TJ "potty trained" and nervously took him out in public with just his big boy underwear on. We anticipated accidents, but it has been three weeks now and TJ has yet to disappoint- no accidents away from home (except for that one time at the Sirman's house- Sorry Stace!!)

TJ's favorite part of the potty training weekend was running around the house without clothes on. And the awesome celebration dancing, of course.

One of TJ's first outings in underwear was to the local museum. It was actually his first public restroom experience, and despite the fact that public restrooms are disgusting, it went very well. Thankfully TJ isn't afraid of public restrooms like his mama.

TJ checking out the butterflies through the glass window. Because we're too cheap to pay the eight dollar admission to go inside :)

Smile and look normal. Fail.

Rylee and Warner were such big helpers throughout the museum. They picked TJ up when he couldn't see for himself...

Made sure he didn't fall off the high stools...

And kept a tight rein on that monkey tail.

We had a blast at the museum. I am so glad Alex and Brittany stopped by with the kids to play for the day.

TJ eating his lunch out back. I should have taken more pictures this month of TJ playing outside. With all the nice weather we have been having, the backyard is where we like to play, especially with our new sandbox, blackboard, and hammock.

Our little "lettuce head" enjoying lunch with Daddy at Crispers. TJ actually hates lettuce, but if he wears this over sized "lettuce head" shirt, he gets his meal for a buck.

A fun trip to the library with Kim, Julian, and Ella Grace, turned out to be even more fun after locking TJ in the car. I checked with my mom and sister and they confirmed that I am The Best. Mom. Ever. They have two and four times as many kids as me and have never done this. And my kid is only twenty months old!! Thank goodness for Kim for having a cell phone to call all the firemen, who rushed to the scene...

pried open the door...

and saved TJ from having too much fun while being locked in the car. In the short 10 minutes or so that he was locked in, he managed to climb into the front seat, find deodorant and lotion, and make a mess of it on the seats and windows of the car. I may have shed a tear or two in the drama of it all, but TJ definitely did not. And at the end of the day, my car smelt amazing.

We made a spur of the moment decision to go to Dudley's Farm last weekend. Here is a picture of Trent helping TJ balance and walk along a log.

Trent, TJ, and the monkey walking down the path to see some horses plow a field.

We lucked out because it just so happened to be "Plow Day" on the farm. It was actually quite interesting to see how horses used to plow fields back in the day.

TJ enjoyed trying to pump water from this well, but the well just about pumped him. He's not quite old enough to be put to work on the farm.

But we do put him to work at home. He still loves to be right in the middle of what we are doing, which is sometimes helpful, other times, not as much. With all these last minute projects before baby girl arrives, TJ is one happy little helper, but the projects are a bit longer and more drawn out for me. However, the "To Do" list is getting shorter and we are hoping TJ will be a big brother VERY soon. We will keep you posted.