March 21 was THE day. For a couple of weeks, I’d been telling anyone who asked that I thought our baby would be born on the 20th, though I guess I didn’t really believe it. I was just anxious to meet our little one, and a week early seemed reasonable. As the 20th came close, I was feeling really well and was convinced that an early delivery was not in the cards. The next morning my water broke at 5:20 and at 10:48 I got to hold our beautiful girl in my arms. As they laid her on me, Bill told me she was a girl, and all I could say was “Oh, Audrey!”.
I was very lucky to have a relatively quick delivery with no complications. I was very fortunate to have my sister’s friend Marjorie as my nurse. She is so kind and was absolutely fantastic throughout labor. My regular doctor was not on call, but I couldn’t have been happier with the doctor who delivered Audrey. I felt a little bit like I was on an episode of Friends (think Phoebe’s doctor who was obsessed with Fonzie), because my doctor chatted Bill up as I labored away across the room. It was kind of funny – I could see Bill’s concern as he checked in with me and hesitated to continue answering the doctor’s questions. But truly, having a doctor that was relaxed and easy going worked well for me.
The days since Audrey’s arrival have been full. I’ve forgotten how much time a newborn takes – how very little you can get done while always feeling busy! The addition of a big sister has made this time feel even faster, and I can hardly believe we passed the one month mark a whole week ago! Vera is a wonderful big sister, and she loves little Audrey very much. She likes to hold her and showers her with lots of kisses every day.
We have not been able to figure out how to “train” a baby to sleep. This might sound funny to some of you, as everyone knows that babies are not known to be great sleepers. The problem for us is that it took 14 months for us to get Vera into an acceptable sleep routine. Audrey’s patterns seem to follow her big sister’s so far. Still, we know we’ll look back and this time will be just a blink.
