Introducing Charlotte Tawny

Our little girl has arrived!! She's sleeping right now and since we currently have no visitors at the hospital, I thought I would take a second to write! Charlotte Tawny was born at 4:45 p.m. on Tuesday, October 6th. We had an induction scheduled for 5:30 a.m. Tuesday morning but I started having contractions on the night of the 5th! I was 4 cm dilated when we arrived that morning, but they still induced to speed things along. I made it to 6 cm before deciding that I wanted an epidural. The contractions were getting quite painful and I knew it was only going to get worse. The epidural was such a blessing and made things easier on everyone. My parents even got to come into the labor room and stay until I was about ready to start pushing! I wouldn't have allowed that had I not received the epidural!

The only "problem" I had with the epidural was that the medication on the left side of my body started wearing off long before the right side of my body. My left side was almost half numb an hour before it was time to start pushing so I could feel part of my contractions on that side. They were bearable since I wasn't feeling the full sensation of my contractions and the birth canal was still completely numb (thank goodness). I actually think it worked out well since I could tell when the contractions were coming, and I also knew when to push and could feel how to push. The only annoying part was that my right side didn't return to normal until the next morning. That wasn't so fun, but I still think the epidural was worth it and made the delivery much more comfortable. I seriously don't see how women go all natural!

My doctor was amazing. I was expecting a very "serious" delivery process with lots of nurses swarming around, bright lights, etc. It was soooo not that way. The lights were dimmed, my husband was holding my right leg, a nurse was holding my left leg, the doctor was seated in front of me, and a nurse was in the very back waiting to take Charlotte's vitals once she was born. In between pushes, the doctor was telling jokes, talking about her kids, and telling us about her day. It made for a very stress-free, relaxing environment. I am definitely going back to my doctor with our second child because I had such a positive experience all around. The nursing staff at this hospital was also wonderful and I really can't say anything negative about this whole experience.

After Charlotte was born, it was so sweet to see how quickly Chris took to being a daddy. We were both emotional and it was such an awesome experience. I was exhausted and had lots of emotions running through me, but nothing beat seeing Chris express his emotions like that or seeing her for the first time and holding her in my arms. Breast feeding the first day was rough. We were both learning and trying to figure out how to do it. Day 2 was 100% better because I had a night nurse who was amazing and worked with Charlotte while I was sleeping. She fed her some formula with a special Medela brand bottle that emulates the nipple and causes the baby to "work" on getting the milk. I think that one feeding caused the sucking motion to "click" with Charlotte, and when the nurse brought her to me at 5:30 a.m. for a feeding, she immediately latched on and I was soooo happy and relieved!!! We haven't had any problems since.

We've had so many wonderful visitors at the hospital since Charlotte's arrival and I can thank all of you enough for your love and support. It has been wonderful to share this new blessing with everyone and Charlotte is going to feel so loved when I tell her how many people came to meet her when she was born! I've had so many congratulate us on facebook, and I can't thank all of you enough, either. Thank you for sharing in the joy and excitement of our new arrival!!! We get discharged from the hospital this evening, so it's going to be an adjustment not having a nursery for Charlotte to go to at night. I'm glad I have a loving and supportive husband to help. Well, Charlotte's up. Gotta go!!