Month Eight

Wow, I'm super behind on this. In my defense, it has been a crazy few weeks. My parents were in town, then Aubrey and I got sick, and then Daniel went to California for a few days. Up until now, I've just been trying to keep me and Aubrey alive and happy. I declare success (mostly).

So without further ado, here are some highlights:

• She really likes "Itsy Bitsy Spider" and is often calmed by just the song if she's upset.
• Happily and sadly, she can pull herself up into a stand--on the couch, the coffee table, her crib, Mommy and Daddy's bed, etc. We will never have another moment's rest.
• She finally bathes in the regular bathtub like a big girl. And she loves it.
• She recently started going "Hah. Hah," but not like a laugh. She does it very seriously.
• Her hands hold infinite interest for her. She often holds them up and flips them back and forth, studying them.
• Thanks mostly to Daniel's efforts, she can hold her own bottle now, which reduces snuggle time (sad) but helps us get more done (happy).
• She has two teeth (the ones in the bottom middle).
• When we've blended up our dinners for her to eat, she hasn't been a big fan. We're wondering if it's just a texture thing... the meals do get kind of pasty. Must add water next time...
• She likes to bang her head on things intentionally. Babies are weird.
• She also bangs her head a lot unintentionally. She's, like, really clumsy. I'm not sure if all babies hit their heads this much or if I should be worried. She just had another black eye, and today she got a nice bump and bruise on her forehead. *Sigh*
• She LOVES her stuffed tiger, Mr. T. She kicks her feet and waves her arms when we bring him to her. And then she hugs him and eats his face.
• She really hates having her nose wiped. She'll shake her head back and forth really quickly if you try and scream bloody murder if you succeed. Hand wiping is also frowned upon.
• We're pretty sure she can climb up steps. She's done it twice--once at church and once at home, one stair each time. We haven't given her a chance to do it more than that.
• If you try to grab her arms and make them do something (like "Patty Cake" or "Wheels on the Bus") she gets mad and pulls her arms away.
• She likes to karate chop the air with her hands. I think she's a natural-born ninja. 
• If you put her to bed or down for a nap before she's tired enough, she rotates around and kicks the crib slats. It's really loud. She also does this when she wakes up from sleeping.
• She finally smiles at strangers! Sometimes.
• One of my favorite things is when she opens her mouth really wide and softly goes, "Ba ba ba." It's like a little whisper. And if you do it back, she smiles.
• If she disapproves of me doing the dishes, she crawls over to me, lies across my feet, and cries. It's super helpful.
• She loves the dishwasher, the fridge, the pantry, the bathrooms--all the places we don't want her to get into--and will make a beeline for them if the doors are left open. She's surprisingly observant and surprisingly fast.
• She likes to headbang and go "Ahhhhhh."
• When she likes something (like food) or is excited, she makes fists and pulls her elbows in quickly, as if she's going, "Yes!" or "Ching!" or something. While she does it she goes, "Eh! Eh!" This is another one of my favorite things.
• She has taken to putting things in her mouth and crawling around with them, much like a dog.

And that is all. Actually, that's a lot. Whatever... I love this girl! And I want to remember everything about her at every stage.

Month Seven

• She goes to bed between 7:30 and 8:00 every night and wakes up around 6:30 or 7:00. She'll babble a little bit and then be pretty quiet, sometimes until as late as 8:00. The extra sleep this provides makes me feel very spoiled. When I go in to get her from the crib, she has found her pacifier and put it in her mouth. That's why she's so content and quiet!
• Every morning, I make her bottle while holding her. I shake it up and put it on the end table as I sit down on the couch and get us situated (cushions pushed in, burp cloth in place under her chin, blanket over us for snuggling, etc.), and she immediately begins to cry, as if I'm not going to feed her the bottle I just made. She has no faith in me, even though I feed her the bottle every time, haha. Oh, and the cry is really sad and pathetic, which just makes me laugh. (Am I a bad mom?)
• She likes anything we give her to eat, which so far includes rice cereal, oatmeal cereal, carrots, peas, green beans, butternut squash, sweet potatoes, peaches, applesauce, blueberries, mangoes, spinach, pears, plums, prunes, bananas, corn, and pineapple. We've finally moved on to "stage 2" foods.
• After she eats solid foods, I always go to the sink and wet a paper towel, and when I walk back over to her high chair, she scrunches up her face in anticipation of having it wiped off.
• She knows that when I clap my hands twice and wiggle my fingers in a "come here" kind of way that I'm going to pick her up, and she starts smiling and kicking her feet.
• She is still an amazing sleeper, and now she's incredibly easy to put down. At night and usually for naps, we can put her in the crib and walk away, and she'll fall asleep on her own. And if she wakes up on her own at night, she almost always puts herself back to sleep. We never really had to do any sleep training or cry it out. We feel very lucky!
• She loves chasing things that roll, especially empty water bottles.
• One of the only downsides to her crawling is that she can now track me down and cry at my feet while I'm doing dishes or cooking. She can also follow me. When I took out the trash one day, she crawled after me, crying pathetically the whole time. Then she just sobbed at the front door until I came back and picked her up. Killed me.
• She likes to squawk, and she thinks it's funny if you mimic the sounds she makes. We'll often have long squawking conversations with her!
• When we read to her, she tries to grab things (words or pictures) out of the book.
• She likes to babble, and she mostly says "Blah blah" and "Ma ma." I like to pretend she's saying my name. :)
• On Halloween, when we were all dressed as pirates, she got really scared and cried both times Daniel said "Arrr!" to her. So sad cute!
• She can stand on her own if she's holding onto something, like the couch. Oh, and she stands on her tippy-toes rather than on flat feet. Is that a typical baby thing or just a her thing?
• Unfortunately, one of her favorite things to do is pinch people's neck skin. It's surprisingly painful. (She also pulled fistfuls of Daniel's beard before he shaved it. Apparently that hurt, too.)
• She doesn't like being held facing you. Instead, she likes to look out at the world. It's cute, but it's also sad, because she's totally not a snuggler :(
• Though I'm ashamed to admit this, she is OBSESSED with the Taylor Swift song "Shake It Off." Showing her the music video, playing the song, or sometimes even just singing it will make her stop crying EVERY TIME.
• She experienced her first snow on Sunday, November 2nd. Poor girl.
• Right now is actually her first time being sick (with a cold). She's still a total sweetheart, though the waking up every hour in the night earlier this week wasn't so fun. I haven't so much enjoyed all the snot and barf on me either.
• She loves being outside and going for our daily walk, even if it's windy and cold. The other day, I opened the front door while holding her to check the weather for our walk. When I closed the door, she immediately started crying and didn't cheer up until we actually went outside. What are we going to do during the winter? *Sigh*
  
  

Month Six

Holy crap, Aubrey is six months old! Craziness. Regrettably, her six-month "birthday" hasn't been superb for her... she seems to be having tummy issues and is pretty fussy. Still, I managed to snap the following picture and gather some cute highlights:

• She loves watching the laundry spin around; it always helps to do laundry when she's fussy.
• When you change her diaper, she grabs whichever of your arms is closest to her, making it very difficult to continue. She also lifts her bum up when you pull the front of the diaper forward before folding it up, so the diaper often slides right out from under her.
• She's an amazing eater! This makes us so happy. She particularly loves bananas, but she'll eat anything we give her. As she waits for the next bite, she just sits expectantly with her mouth open. So cute!
• When she's tired and fussy, she likes sitting on her daddy's legs and listening to him drum out a beat. It will always get her to stop crying (and she starts crying again if he stops)!
• She gets really excited and kicks her feet and waves her arms if she thinks you're going to pick her up when you walk by. Sometimes, she'll cry when she realizes you have no intention of picking her up. Sad cute!
• She wants to crawl SO badly. She moves the right way, but she hasn't quite mastered it. Instead, she army crawls to get around. She also loves to roll all over the place.
• When she's dragging herself along the ground with her arms, she makes her way to the hardwood floor and runs her hands up and down to make a squeaking noise.
• She's finally sitting up like a champ, and next time we go shopping she'll be sitting in the front of the cart. (I've been dragging her car seat around and throwing it in the main part of the cart, thereby taking up most of the room. So annoying.)
• One of her favorite games is pulling a blanket/shirt/burp cloth/anything fabric over her face and sniffing really hard (as if she's trying to smell it really well) until someone takes it off with a flourish and some sort of fun sound effect. As she does it, she makes a funny squished-up face that I love.
• She also likes "Wheels on the Bus," but she always locks her elbows, making it difficult to get that circular motion with her arms.
• I'm pretty sure she knows her own name. She seems to respond to it.
• She loves any form of peek-a-boo, and she laughs harder the more you can surprise her/make her jump.
• A person blowing his or her nose can make Aubrey jump through the ceiling and maybe even cry.
• In the late afternoon, as we're waiting for Daddy to get home, she often wants to be held and walked around. If I try to put her down in her Exersaucer, play mat, swing, or high chair, she just cries. But then, when Daddy gets home, I hand her off to him, and she lets him put her down without a fuss. It's so annoying (mostly because of how smug Daniel is about it, haha).

And there you have it! I tried uploading some videos to illustrate these things, but Blogger isn't cooperating. Oh well. Maybe later!

My Baby Has a Black Eye

Well, yesterday was quite the day. It was Rosh Hashanah, so Daniel had the day off. We decided to finally tackle our bedroom walls and get rid of that lavender paint once and for all (seriously, lavender?).

We got everything all ready and put Aubrey on the floor with some toys outside our room. We also took a full-length, unframed mirror (which we plan to hang on the wall after we paint) and propped it against the wall outside our door. This not only got it out of our way but also made a nice distraction for Aubrey, who loves looking in the mirror. Daniel even propped it up nice and straight for her so she could really see into it.

Oh, for the record, the mirror looks like this:

See those sharp edges? Yeah, you can probably see where this is going.

The worst thing is, I even had that nagging thought, "Maybe we shouldn't put this out here with her. She might knock it over onto herself and get hurt." But did I listen? No. Instead, I rationalized, "Well, we'll watch her and make sure she doesn't get too close to it." And actually, I did watch her, and she never went near it. Ironically, she'd have been better off if she had. If she had knocked it over herself, it probably would have landed on her and bonked her head or something. I don't think she would have been cut by it. But as fate would have it, she was just about exactly the length of the mirror away. Bad news.

You see, Aubrey started to get fussy awhile into our painting. It was getting to be nap time. So I decided to leave Daniel to finish the room while I handled Aubrey. Only I'd stepped in some paint and needed to clean off my foot before I walked all over the carpet. So I hopped to the bathroom, grabbed a wipe, and started scrubbing my foot. But Aubrey was really sad, so I decided to sit by her while I cleaned my foot off. I plopped myself down by her and talked to her reassuringly, and once the paint was off, I pulled myself up by the door frame. And in the process I somehow--I still don't really know how--bumped into the propped-up mirror ever so slightly. And because it was propped up so straight, it never stood a chance.

I heard a thud and then instant crying. I turned around to see Aubrey lying there with the mirror next to her and blood all over her face. It was the most horrible moment. I could tell that the corner of the mirror had just caught her on the face, but I had no idea what part of her face was hurt or how badly. I hurried and grabbed her from the ground and shouted, "Aubrey! Oh my gosh, Aubrey!" in such a way that Daniel knew something was really wrong. He came running out of our room, saw the blood, and sprinted downstairs to the kitchen. I followed, holding Aubrey tightly to me (and getting blood all over my shirt). Daniel grabbed a paper towel, and I held it to her face for a second, pulled it away to see what was actually bleeding, and discovered that there was a small cut under her eye and big gash across her nose. I held the towel there to stop the bleeding while Aubrey just screamed. It was awful.

I instantly burst into tears and kept apologizing to Aubrey and telling her I loved her. Daniel, much more calm than I, was quick-thinking and remembered to give her a Priesthood blessing. That helped calm me a little bit, and I thought to give her some infant's Tylenol. We then made some phone calls and ended up at our pediatrician's office (where we had never been before... what a great first impression!).

Long story short, Aubrey's eye was okay (SO grateful for this), but they weren't sure if her nose needed stitches--it was right on the border--so they sent us to the E.R. in Providence. We were there for four hours or so (ugh), but thankfully Aubrey didn't need stitches. They iced her nose (she was NOT a fan) and then put Dermabond on it. The doctor said she has "perfect skin," so it should heal well and not scar. We're really hoping it doesn't. 

In the end, it ended up not being too bad an injury. The cut looked better and better as time went on and it stopped bleeding. But just a little to the right, and our baby could have been blinded or lost her eye or something equally awful. And the amazing sweetheart that she is, she only cried for the first ten minutes or so after it happened, and then she was sweet and happy again. Man, I love her.

Now it's the first day after the injury, and the cuts are looking okay. But Aubrey now has a little black eye. I can't decide if I think it's pitiful or hardcore. Either way, we feel like awesome parents.

Month Five

Well, we're finally living in our new home (yay!), and Aubrey has adjusted quite well to her new surroundings. With the new change in location have come other good changes for Aubrey too, including the following:

• She has started eating solid foods! She likes rice cereal and bananas a lot, and she seems to be pretty good with carrots and oatmeal cereal as well. 
• Thanks to Grandma Mangum's efforts while she was here, Aubrey finally takes naps in her crib. And better yet, she takes a 2-hour (sometimes more) nap at least once a day! This is awesome.
• She continues to love music, and it's the sweetest thing to see how interested in it and distracted by it she is.
• When she smiles at someone, she often looks away all shyly.
• She likes to chew on the tags of stuffed animals, pillows, etc.
• When she's being really serious, she sticks out her bottom lip in a little pout.
• At her last doctor's appointment, she was in the 70th percentile for weight and 75th percentile for height. She had a huge growth spurt!
• She loves growling loudly and shouting at the top of her lungs. 
• When she sits, she often extends both her arms and legs and rotates her hands and feet around. 
• She finally likes tummy time! She's been trying to crawl for awhile now, but she has awhile to go yet, I think.
• Most of the time, she is one giant wiggle. We can't get her to sit still, especially during diaper changes!
• She likes to touch and grab people's faces.
• When she's ready to go to bed at night, she gets really smiley... like she's loopy from exhaustion!
• She loves grabbing her feet and playing with them.
• Thankfully, she's still an amazing sleeper, and she has become a lot easier to put to bed. She goes down around 8:30 and sleeps until about 7:00. A few nights a week she'll wake up in the middle of the night, but she goes down well after having a bottle. And sometimes she'll wake up and just put herself back to sleep! We love this.
• She rolls all over the place! I guess she finally remembered how to roll onto her back again.
• If there's a blanket or burp cloth or some other fabric around, she'll grab it and put it over her face. Then she just sits there calmly with the thing covering her face until someone removes it.
• When Mommy or Daddy is holding her, she'll often crane her neck to look up at us. Too cute.
• She has been on three flights, and she did great on all of them. This was a big relief to her mommy.
• In California, we discovered that she likes the pool. So much splashing fun!

I'm sure there's much more, but suffice it to say that Aubrey is still the cutest, sweetest baby, and I love her more every day! Seriously, it's ridiculous.

Month Four

Things are a little crazy here at the Jibson house (er, apartment). In nine days, we close on our very first home (yay!). And in two days, Aubrey and I are heading to California for a Mangum family reunion (yay!) without Daniel (boo!). This means Aubrey is going on her first flight in a couple of days, and I'm very curious (and kind of terrified) to see how she does. Fingers crossed!

Even with all of the packing and craziness going on, I thought it was important to commemorate Aubrey's four-month birthday. So here is a little bit about her in this current stage:

• When she's tired, loud noises make her stick out her pouty lip and cry.
• For inexplicable reasons, she likes hanging out in our bathroom. There have actually been times when she would cry anywhere but there... weirdo.
• She likes to suck her bottom lip and will also suck on an invisible pacifier sometimes.
• She is finally big enough to use her Exersaucer, and she really likes it.
• If you lay her down, she will almost always roll onto her tummy (she can even do it when she's fully swaddled). Of course, she hates being on her stomach, so she then immediately cries (we're working on reminding her that she does know how to roll back... SO annoying).
• When I strap her into her car seat, she looks up at me with big eyes and kicks her feet excitedly.
• Unfortunately, she likes watching the TV if it's on, but thankfully she's easily distracted from it.
• When she sits in her bouncer in the morning as we eat breakfast, she clasps her little hands together, and it's so adorable.
• She likes being held up high in the flying position and then being brought down in short, quick bursts.
• Like all babies, she puts everything in her mouth.
• She smiles when I blow on her face, and she even screws up her face in anticipation of it when I take in a quick/loud breath.
• She's a thumb sucker, which I find strangely adorable.
• Bath time is still a favorite, and she likes kicking and splashing around.
• When she's awake in her car seat, she cries if I put the cover over her... she wants to see everything!
• She likes it when I scat/sing badly to her.
• We've finally gotten her on a schedule. She goes to bed between 7:30 and 8:00 and sleeps until 6:00 or 6:30. It's really nice!
• She is now able to play with some toys, which is nice for Mommy and Daddy. 
• We're working on getting her to sit up on her own. She's getting close!

Month Three

Well, another month has gone by, and Aubrey is different every day. But one thing never changes: she kills me with cuteness!

She:

• Can roll over from her tummy to her back (first time on June 16th)
• Is starting to try to roll over from her back to her tummy
• Moves all over her crib at night (seriously, in the morning she is at the opposite end of the crib and has rotated anywhere from 90 to 180 degrees)
• Hates being swaddled (but she sleeps better that way at night, so she can deal with it)
• Still sleeps like a champion at night (with an earlier bedtime now, around 8:00, which Mommy and Daddy enjoy)
• Takes inadequately short naps (we're trying to work on this)
• Opens her mouth the second I lay her down for a nap, because she knows the pacifier is coming (this is super cute but makes me worry about pacifier dependence for sleeping, haha... oh well)
• Often tries to sit up when she's leaning back or lying down (but, of course, she isn't strong enough, which seems to vex her)
• Loves grabbing her shirt/dress and pulling it up (a habit that is only cute for a couple more years)
• Startles when she sees herself in the mirror sometimes but is also fascinated and will stare at herself
• Enjoys going for walks in her stroller (when it isn't hot)
• Likes books and will "ooh" and reach out to touch the pages
• Has recently become quite the hand sucker
• Grabs the top of her head when she's lying down for naptime but before she actually falls asleep

And that's it for now. There are a couple of funny Aubrey stories to tell as well, but we'll save those for another time...

Month Two

Well, I'm a little late in doing this, but Aubrey has been alive for two whole months! And she just gets cuter every day! So without further ado...

All about 2-month-old Aubrey:

• Did her first real smile on Mother's Day (Sunday, May 11th)
• Smiles when Mommy comes to get her in the morning/after naps
• Cries real tears now (and breaks Mommy's heart)
• Blows bubbles with her mouth and is starting to be a drooler
• Sleeps from about 10:00 or 11:00 at night until anywhere from 7:00 to 9:00 in the morning (occasionally she wakes at 3:00 or 4:00, but that's rare)
• Likes taking naps in Mommy and Daddy's bed (sometimes with Mommy, haha)
• Is finally starting to fit in her 0-3 month clothes
• Loves her play mat
• Is starting to make cute cooing noises
• Thinks kissy noises and whistling are funny
• Likes being sung to
• Loves batting at her little ducky rattle thing (that's its technical name) when we hold it in front of her
• Is starting to grab Mommy's hair
• Gets really angry and tries to stand up when you stop feeding her and try to burp her
• Enjoys watching Mommy get ready
• Is so cute that she helped Mommy and Daddy secure a new house! 

Month One

It's weird to think that Aubrey is one month old! On one hand, her birth seems like forever ago. On the other hand, it feels like she just made her debut.

Anyway, because it has been exactly one month, I thought I should do a commemorative blog post. Here goes!

Aubrey Factoids:

• Weighs 8 pounds, 10 ounces
• Is still too small for the majority of her clothes
• Consecutive sneeze record: 7
• Has a very strong neck and legs (she likes to stand up on your lap)
• Loves lying on her changing pad
• Kicks just one foot quickly when excited or starting to get upset
• Is so sweet and patient
• If she's crying, there's a reason
• Holds onto the fingers of the person feeding her
• Shakes her hands when she's hungry
• Makes a weird/cute growling noise
• When she cries, sometimes her chin quivers and she sticks out her bottom lip in an adorable/sad pout
• Sleeps really well at night, only waking once to eat
• Doesn't like being alone
• Likes the bath, woo hoo!
• After she's had enough to eat, she sticks the tip of her tongue out just past her lips and looks like she's drunk
• Makes a face like she's saying "ooh" (with her mouth in the shape of an O) when looking up into Mommy's and Daddy's faces
• Sticks her tongue out ALL the time, like a little lizard
• Startled by the sound of rustling plastic bags
• Has a tendency to pee and/or poop while you're changing her diaper (NOT my favorite thing)
• Likes being bounced on your lap and sung to

And that's Aubrey at one month!

Aubrey's Birth

 One of my favorite Aubrey photos so far.

I know it's super cliche, but I wanted to write about how Aubrey's birth went down. I don't want to forget all the details! So here goes.

Aubrey's due date was Tuesday, March 25th, but she had no intentions of coming "on time." At a week past her due date, we set up an induction for the morning of Sunday, April 6th. I figured there was no way she was coming on her own. But then at 3:30 a.m. on Saturday morning, I started having mild but regular contractions. I got really excited thinking labor was finally beginning, and I lay on the couch all morning dozing between contractions and just waiting for them to get closer together.

But then, to my great annoyance, the contractions faded away. They became even less regular and for long stretches of time didn't even occur at all. So Daniel, my mom, and I watched the morning and afternoon sessions of General Conference for church. We had dinner. We played a game. And as the night progressed, the contractions came back. Again, they were fairly regular but still pretty far apart.

And then things got weird. The contractions seriously increased in intensity while simultaneously becoming incredibly sporadic--12 minutes apart, 3 minutes apart, 7 minutes apart. It was all over the map, and I was really frustrated and very convinced that I couldn't handle the new, much-worse pain until the next day when I was to be induced. But I had already called my midwife's office and been told that I couldn't come until the contractions were 5 minutes apart. So Daniel sat with me and helped me through each contraction, and we just waited for things to progress. My water started to leak, which I really should have called about now that I think of it... but I wasn't positive that was what was happening. It was confirmed to me only after we'd been at the hospital for awhile. Anyway, no position I got into helped with the pain, and I started freaking out. I knew the contractions were never going to become regular. I just knew it.

Thankfully, Daniel came to my rescue. As I was crying and doubled over in pain, he called the midwife's office again, explained what was going on, and somehow got me the green light to head to the hospital. I'd never loved him more than in that moment, haha. By the time we got everything in the car (except for the diaper bag with stuff for Aubrey, which we totally forgot and had to have my mom bring later), it was about 4:30 a.m. No one was on the road, so Daniel was able to bruise the speed limit pretty well. He also ran the last red light before the hospital. He could have waited, but no one was around. Plus he just really wanted to take advantage of a great excuse to drive kind of crazy. ;)

They checked me when we arrived at the hospital, and I was 4 cm dilated and about 80% effaced. Aubrey was still pretty high up (a -2 station, for those who know what that means). I was discouraged by that last part, but I was just glad to be at the hospital. Around 5:00 a.m., they got me in my own room and started giving me pain medication to tide me over before the epidural. I wanted to wait to get it until things had progressed a little further. So they gave me Demerol through an IV, and I pretty much immediately began throwing up. Then they gave me a shot of something in my hip/butt (I don't even remember what it was called), and the nausea went away. I fell asleep instantly.

The view of Boston from my delivery room.

For the next few hours, I slept painlessly while Daniel and my mom dozed in some reclining chairs. Around 9:00 a.m. they gave me Pitocin to augment labor and got me set up for the epidural. They kicked Daniel and my mom out of the room, and a wonderful nurse named Beth held my hands, put her forehead against mine, and talked me through the epidural placement to keep me relaxed. The whole process was really no big deal. I think the anesthesiologist was just really good, because it wasn't very painful at all.

I expected that from then on we'd all be hanging out, maybe watching some t.v. or playing cards or something. But things can never be simple, I guess, and I discovered that the epidural was only working on my left side. The right side of my body could still feel everything. They rolled me onto my right side to see if the drugs would work their way to that side, but they didn't. And long story short, I spent the next couple of hours doing a natural, unmedicated birth on my right side.

Needless to say, I wasn't prepared for the pain. I thought I'd be numb from the waist down! Thankfully, Daniel, my mom, and the previously mentioned wonderful nurse Beth were there to help me through the contractions while we waited for the anesthesiologist to come back. Beth had me mimic her breathing, Daniel held onto my shoulder and let me squeeze the crap out of his hand, and my mom tickled my arm and smoothed my brow and encouraged me. It was a long time waiting for the anesthesiologist, who was nowhere to be found for awhile, and Beth was angry about it on my behalf. Man, she was great. Oh, and at some point during all of this, my water broke fully.

After way too long (around 2:30 p.m.), the anesthesiologist came back, tried to adjust the epidural, and then eventually decided to replace it. So again I had to sit for the epidural, which was still not an awful process, but this time she had a really difficult time placing it. The space was too tight. Finally, I thought to mention that I have scoliosis, at which point she said, "Oh, let me try this" and instantly found a good space. Hallelujah.

Yes, I realize this is a terrible photo of us. But it's the only one we have of the labor process!

For awhile I was numb on both sides and feeling good, so again I slept for a few hours. A little after 6:00 p.m., the midwife did an exam and told me I was 8 cm dilated but that Aubrey was only at a -1 or 0 station. That last part was depressing. But the 8 cm part was encouraging! At least I had progressed somewhat. But eventually I started having pain again, this time on my left side. I kept pushing the button for more of the epidural whenever the light flashed green, but it would occasionally time out and make me wait. I didn't like that so much, but the pain was endurable at least.

Around 9:00 p.m., the midwife came and checked me. Aubrey had finally descended and was right there, ready to go. "It's time to push!" the midwife told me. Those are scary words to hear. I started getting all shaky, which was something I had experienced on and off throughout the labor process, but I was calmed by how relaxed everyone else in the room was. Daniel made a joke about pooping a refrigerator, and he surprised me by saying that contrary to what he'd been saying for the last 9 months, he was, in fact, going to cut the cord when it was time. I felt as ready as I was going to be, simultaneously terrified and really excited.

I started pushing. The midwife, the nurses, and my mom told me how good a pusher I was, so I was imaging Aubrey's head making serious progress with each push. Daniel was totally great and even looked down there to see sometimes, which surprised me. (He had been so adamant about not seeing any of it, so I said, "Wait, you're looking?!" to which he said, "Are you kidding? This is my daughter being born! Of course I'm looking!" Cute.) Anyway, after about 30 minutes or so, I made the mistake of asking how much of her was out, and when my mom said they could see the top of her forehead, I got really discouraged. That was it?! This is the point at which I started to get very grumpy. I growled, yelled at Daniel ("Stop saying 'That's it!' It makes me feel like she's finally coming out, and she's not!"), informed everyone that I was not able to push anymore, etc. Not my proudest moment, haha. But thankfully, everyone was patient and understanding.

The quintessential screaming newborn photo. Love it.

Finally, after about an hour of pushing, she came out (at 10:21 p.m., to be exact). Actually, it's more accurate to say she shot out. I mean, she made an actual popping noise (which Daniel compared to a lollipop sound). It made me jump. She had the umbilical cord around her neck, but the midwife (Jenn) was super quick to remove it. They hoisted Aubrey onto my stomach, and she was so gray and sprawling! We waited for her to cry as the nurses wiped her down, and I started saying, "Cry, baby, cry!" which totally made me want to follow up with "Make your mother sigh," a la the Beatles, but I thought it inappropriate under the circumstances. After longer than I was comfortable with, Aubrey craned her head toward me, opened her eyes right on me, and let out her first cry. It was amazing.

Proud (and tired) new parents!

The rest is pretty standard--I delivered the placenta and got stitched up (*shudder*) while Daniel saw Aubrey get cleaned off, weighed (6 pounds, 5.9 ounces), measured (19 3/4 inches), and wrapped up. He held her for awhile, took some awesome photos with her, and finally handed her off to me when I was done being tortured and squeezing my poor mom's hand to a bloody pulp. Aubrey was so wide-eyed and awake, red and puffy, tiny and precious. From the moment she stopped crying, she was sticking her little tongue out like a lizard. A week later, she still does that all the time.

Aubrey's first bottle.

Now we're at home with her, and she's such a doll. She has been incredibly sweet and good-natured so far, and we hope she stays that way! She hates being cold (and therefore hates having her clothes taken off), and she's able to sleep a lot of the time in her crib. She loves arching her back and tilting her head up when she sleeps, which looks really uncomfortable to me, but hey. We think she might be an early roller! She also has a really strong neck and can hold her head up really well. When she's awake, she has big, open eyes. Her pediatrician described her as very "alert." Oh, and she smacks her lips after she eats. It just kills me.

Aubrey at 2 days old.

And that's Aubrey! We can't wait to see how she changes over the next few weeks. :)