Welcome Ivy Colette

Just a quick post to let you all know that we had our little girl on Tuesday October 20th at 1:38 pm. My labor started at around 1 am that night and the contractions were about 6-8 minutes apart. Relatively strong, but nothing too bad. I just read, did some laundry, played on the internet. By 7am, they felt a little stronger, but still 6 minutes apart. I called my midwife and she suggested I come in to get checked out.

We called my mom to come watch Chloe and got to the hospital at 10:38 am. I checked in and my midwife checked me and I was at 7cm! I felt great and was surprised I was so far along. I had to get some bloodwork done and some initial monitoring and was finally able to go over to the birthcenter for my water birth at around 12:30 pm. I got in the tub and it felt really good, but after a few minutes, the contractions were definitely very strong and fast. After about 20 minutes, my water broke and I immediately felt the urge to push. I pushed for less than 10 minutes and out she came. It was the most incredible experience and I loved being able to do it without drugs. I felt so alert and awake in between contractions and when she was born, it was the most incredible rush.

I had some tearing so it took about 1 hr to get stitched up, but I am feeling OK right now. When they weighed her, I didn't believe that she weighed so much. She weighed 10 lbs 3 oz! They actually went and got a second scale to double check!! She was 20.5 inches long, so she is a inch shorter but over a full pound heavier. It took us a couple hours after she was born to determine her name. With Chloe we worked through the name list to cut it down before she arrived, but since labor was so fast this time, we still had a long list. Ivy was the one name we kept coming back to after meeting her. She just seemed to look like one. Just like with Chloe, it wasn't my first choice from the list, but it was the one that fit her.

Breastfeeding is going well and at her 2 day pediatrician visit, she was down to 9lb 7oz, so well within the allowable weight loss for a newborn. She seems to like to sleep more during the day, so I have to work to see if we can get more of that sleep at night, but otherwise, she is a very good baby.

Snuggling at home


Getting ready for the wheelchair to leave the hospital

Hanging with Daddy

The official weighing

She has great lungs!