Abigail Ruth

Oh our sweet Abigail.

We started to try to conceive our second child in the spring of 2009, knowing that by the time said child was born, Esther would be 2. Perfect, according to our plan. We thought we'd get pregnant right away as we did previously. However, the Lord (in His infinite wisdom, said a little tongue and cheek and a little seriously), taught me some patience. It took a few months. I know this is no comparison to parents who wait for several months or years, I'm not even pretending to be on that level. But it was a hard few months of waiting.

Late July, 2009, the test finally read positive.

This time, Jared wasn't with me while I waited in anticipation for the stick to turn.

I panicked a little for a minute: I really wanted to surprise him, but CANNOT keep a secret.

So I thought on it a while and put a bun in our oven and left the house.

He called on his way home from work.

"Oh we're not home, but could you check the oven? I think I left it on! I'm really sorry if I did."

"Yeah, no problem."

Hang up.

My phone rings about a minute later.

"Hello?"

"Is this your silly way of telling me your pregnant?"

Seriously. I'm apparently THAT bad at keeping secrets.

On to the goods:

Though this was my second pregnancy, I still wasn't great at deciding when I was in true labor.

My due date was April 18th.

We went to labor and delivery on April 1st, sure this was it.

Some contractions, some dilation, some effacement. Go home.

We went to labor and delivery on April 10th, sure this was it.

Some contractions, some dilation, some effacement. Go home.

My doctor finally agreed to induce me on April 16th.

I had been dilated to 4cm and 80% effaced for weeks now.

And contracting.

I was tired.

(it should also be noted that I was also uneducated. Seriously.)

Esther 'sitting' on Abigail ;)

So we took our sweet Esther to her grandparents' house Thursday night.

Came home a little late, did some dishes, then went on a walk.

Finally, just decided to get in bed. Just before midnight.

12:15AM, I sat up.

I peed a little. Good grief.

I went to the bathroom to take care of it, and I couldn't stop peeing.

OH! My water broke!

And it was a mad dash to get into the car and get to the hospital.

Esther was born 3 hours after her water broke.

It wasn't until we got into the car that I realized I hadn't had another contraction.

So we got to the hospital. Confirmed water broke.

Confirmed no contractions.

::sigh::

So we walked. All night. Up and down the boring hospital halls.

6AM came and, on schedule, they started me on pitocin.

Obviously, contractions ensued. (You have to have those for a baby to be born, unfortunately.)

OH! I remember labor contractions!
That sudden memory that comes back after you've thought you'd been having labor contractions for weeks.

Pretty irritated at this point...

So I contracted, and contracted hard.
If you've had the pleasure irritation of being on pitocin, you know what I mean.
I remember wanting to push, but I was only dilated to 7cm.
I also remember being a little angry about that...
I told the midwife (she was on call for my doctor) I was done.
I wanted a c-section.

I still remember her response:

"Well, honey, I don't know how to do c-sections, so you'd better get this baby out the old fashioned way or it's going to be a long day."

Literally, that's what I needed to hear.

10cm came quickly, thank God.

I had a long transition period.

We heard the mother next door scream in agony. 

My midwife joked that she was happy she wasn't in there.

I was happy, too.

Eventually the 'real' urge to push came.

I pushed for about 30 minutes, total.

The first push brought back so many great memories of pushing with Esther.

Love this shot of Abigail coming to me
The arm on the right is my mama!

I remembered. I could, in fact, do this. 

I remember feeling different gushes as my water kept breaking under the pressure.

I remember thinking it odd that my midwife caught my baby in jeans and a Harley shirt.

As soon as her head was born, the rest of her body came quickly.

She had a nuchal arm (an arm up around her face), which was probably her issue on coming out.

Abigail Ruth, born Friday, April 16, 2010 at 12:29PM.

I was euphoric. She was gorgeous.

Almost an exact replica of Esther.

But she had big, brown eyes. And dark, curly hair. 
Golly she was beautiful.

She grabbed at my face with her little hands and I kissed her over and over.

As did her Daddy.

8 pounds, 2 ounces. 20 inches long.

Holding Grandma's hand

Just like Esther's emergence into the world, this is where things get blurry in my mind.
I know they took Abigail to do their routine check over and whatnot.
My mom went over with her and Jared stayed with me.
He also called his mom to bring Esther up immediately.
I do remember wanting my family together RIGHT NOW.
I also remember having A LOT of people in the room.
I had consented to having a few nursing students in the room as well as their instructor.
I didn't even really notice them until after Abigail was born.
One was at my side, tending to my needs, completely amazed.

My girls!

One was in the corner, mortified. I'm pretty sure she's never having kids.
Abigail was brought back to me, my repairs were done quickly, and we were nursing just fine.

Esther came in pretty quickly. She was so sweet with her sister.
I was so happy to have my family together.
She wanted to cuddle me, Daddy and Abigail.
My heart still melts at the memory.




As I write this, Abigail has just turned two.
I know, it took me a while!
She is the most hilarious child in the world -seriously!
Her facial expressions are just the best, she really knows how to get her point across.
She's definitely a mama's girl, too, which is awesome :)
She loves playing outside and snacking. The kid is a professional grazer, for sure.
She's absolutely beautiful, giant brown eyes and curly light brown hair.
An absolute joy, what a blessing the Lord has given us!
Our little Goo-babe.

Daddy, Mommy & Abigail