We can't believe 2 weeks have passed since Ainsley joined us here. She is absolutely great. We find ourselves staring at her all the time in disbelief that she's here and that she's ours! I wonder when it will set in. Now, the story you've all been waiting for. Well, maybe you haven't but I'll tell you anyway. Labour and delivery... Andy's parents and my mom came over to visit and to be here for the birth. We thought that even though their main purpose was to see us and meet their new grandbaby it would be such a shame if they came all the way to Scotland and didn't see some historical stuff. So, on Saturday the 21st (I'm five days overdue at this point) we drove down early in the morning to Edinburgh to pick up my mom at the airport and spend the day sightseeing. So, our parents saw the Edinburgh Castle, the Royal Mile, Holyrood Palace, Princes Street Gardens and Princes Street. Then, after we ate dinner we headed back up north to Aberdeen. In the car I was getting quite crampy with a few contractions but then it stopped and still no signs of baby. So, Sunday the 22nd we decided we'd drive down to St. Andrews via Carnoustie where the British Open was under way. That way our
parents could see St. Andrews Castle, Cathedral, University and the Old Course. We ate dinner at the Old Course Clubhouse which was wonderful (especially for Andy's dad who seemed to be in heaven dining where the golf pros dine). I had a big steak dinner and sticky toffee pudding for dessert (my favorite). After our dinner we got in the car and headed north again. At 11pm when we were still 1/2 hour away from home I felt something pop and thought it might be my water breaking but I wasn't sure so I didn't say anything. When we got home at 11:30 I went straight to the bathroom to find out that indeed it was my water that broke. It was a bit pinkish in color so Andy called the hospital to say what had happened. They said to come in so they could check me out and would decide after that whether or not to send me back home or to stay there. So we literally walked in the door from our day away and then walked right back out to go to the hospital. When we got to the hospital they put two monitors on my stomach. One to measure the baby's heartrate and one to measure my contractions. After being there a little while meconium started leaking out with each contraction. If you don't know, that means the baby's bowels open up inside you which is caused by the baby being in distress and can be harmful. Also, the baby's heart rate was dipping further than they would like with each contraction, so they wanted to keep me and baby on continuous monitoring. Meanwhile, my contractions were getting much stronger and closer together. So, they sent us straight over to the labour ward for the rest of the time. They attached a drip to me that would speed up the delivery process. They informed me that this could also increase the pain I felt with each contraction. I was coping with the pain pretty well but it got to the point where I decided I would like an epidural. So, the midwife got an anaesthetist to come in and give me one except she poked around and was pushing a needle in my back for about an hour before she finally said, "I'm going to get my senior to come in and do this because I'm just not getting it". No, really?! Don't you think you could have figured that out 45 minutes ago? Anyway, the senior anaesthetist came in, felt my back and had the epidural in within 5 minutes. We thought, "Where were you an hour ago?" By now it was about 3:30 or 4 in the morning. At 8am I was
fully dilated so we waited an hour and at 9am the midwives had me start pushing. After pushing for an hour there was still no sign of the baby so they had a doctor come in and examine me to see where the baby was. Baby had changed positions so they said it wouldn't be able to come out on its own. They would need to assist me but the way the baby was positioned it was a possibility that if that didn't work they would have to do an emergency C-section. So they wheeled me into theatre, topped up my epidural and had me push with the assistance of the doctor and some forceps. One of the doctors said to Andy, "This is when you stand up to watch your baby be delivered". First push and the head was delivered. All I heard Andy say was, "It's hairy". Second push and the shoulder was out. Third push and we had our baby. The midwife said to Andy, "Okay dad, what is it?" to which he replied, "Oh my gosh, it's a GIRL, can you believe it?!?!" Then I said, "No way, a girl?!?!" Let me remind you that the whole time I was pregnant we were totally convinced it was a boy so we were very surprised to find out we had a daughter. Once they put her on my chest we were in love. Enter Ainsley Elizabeth Odle. So...11pm Sunday night my water broke and 11:06am Monday morning we had ourselves a baby girl. The care we had in the hospital was great (apart from the epidural experience). Overall the labour went very well until that last hour which was a bit traumatic. Thankfully I did not have to have a C-section but I did have some extensive tearing (3rd degree) so I'm still sore and am told I will be for some time (although it's getting better every day). It was so great to have the grandparents here for a week after Ainsley was born. Of course we can't wait for Grandpa Bahrt to meet her though! They were so helpful and we were thankful they could spend that time, although short, around their new granddaughter. Now two weeks have passed and we're still getting used to having Ainsley in the house. We do manage to get some sleep and have been sharing all the duties of parenthood. Andy has already proved to be a wonderful dad. I am so blessed to share this experience with him. We both love our little girl and can't believe how
stinkin' cute she is! She already lifts her head a little bit, wiggles around a lot and makes all sorts of noises. She doesn't like the bath or getting her nappy changed. She loves sleeping on her side and most of all, eating. She was 7lbs. 3oz. when she was born and lost some weight the first couple days. The midwife said sometimes it takes a couple weeks for babies to get back to their birth weight but on day 8 when they weighed her again she was already 8lbs.! No food deprivation here! Anyway, that's it for now. I'm not as good at capturing pictures where she's grinning as the grandmas are but here's a few anyway. The one of her in the carseat is when we brought her home from the hospital at 2 days old...her first car ride! The one of Ainsley with Grandpa and Gran Odle is at the airport saying our goodbyes. As you can see in the picture on the top right, she loves her
daddy (daddy's in love with her too so the feelings are mutual). And, the picture to the right is one of mom and I with Ainsley (3 generations).
Yesterday Ainsley was one month old and we can't believe it. The time has flown by (and I'm sure it will continue to do so). Over the past month we've seen our parents come and go, tried to learn how to be parents ourselves (we still haven't mastered that one...surprise surprise), had a few meals brought to us by friends, seen the midwife and health visitor several times, changed about 250 nappies or so, gotten less sleep than usual, gone on a few walks, had lots of visitors, done LOTS of laundry (mostly because Ainsley's clothes have poop, pee or spit up on them), had our 4 year anniversary, etc., etc., etc. No wonder the time has been a blur! At 2 weeks Ainsley weighed 8lbs. 5oz. and at 4 weeks she now weighs (drum roll please)...9lbs. 7oz. Also, since she was born she's grown 2 inches. She was bang on average (5oth percentile) for her size and now she's in the 75th percentile. That's right, our baby is above average. :) She has shown to us that she has a well developed set of lungs too. Overall she's a very good baby but boy can she wail (mostly when she thinks she's starving or when she's over tired). Speaking of tired, she fights going to sleep at night which isn't very helpful right now since we're trying to establish some sort of routine. She does like her baths now though which is great since she hated the first few she had. The newest thing is that she developed baby acne last week. Thankfully it doesn't bother her at all. It bothers us though so we can't wait until it's gone. Yesterday Ainsley and I went over to a friend's house for a little mommy and baby get together and today we took her to get her passport photos taken. It's been a busy month, a bit rough at times. It's frustrating not knowing how to settle Ainsley if she's upset or when she wants to eat every hour and I just need a rest from her eating. Overall it's great though and we wouldn't 
change anything for the world. It is definitely a team effort over here. I couldn't imagine doing this alone. Andy is really good at changing nappies, giving baths, swaying our baby girl to sleep and generally everything else to do with being a dad. He seems to have the magic touch when it comes to soothing her. Anyway, that's the update for now. The pictures I've added were both taken yesterday on Ainsley's one month birthday. :)
