Allie's Newborn Shoot

We had Allie's newborn pictures taken when she was about 2 weeks old by a good friend from church.  She has a wonderful photography business where 100% of the proceeds go directly to different charities around the world.  And best of all she does a wonderful job!

Allie Brooke Wood's Birth Story

Allie's labor and pregnancy was probably my least enjoyable of the 3.  I was basically in labor for 3 days before I finally delivered.  My pregnancy was not bad, but just very tiring.  But I think that is in part due to having to take care of two small kids and not getting much resting time.  On Thursday morning ( 5/16/13) around 5:00 AM I woke up to contractions.  They were coming regularly about every 5-10 minutes for about 3 hours and then they just stopped.  That had never happened with either of my other pregnancies so I was confused.  The contractions start up off and on all day and continue that way for 3 days!  It was soooo annoying.  They were still painful contractions and came regularly for hours at a time and then would just stop.  I was getting so frustrated and also tired b/c they would mostly happen during the night and I was getting no sleep. Saturday (5/18/13) was mine and Justin's 6th anniversary.  One that day arrived I was actually hoping NOT to go into labor b/c I didn't want to have a baby on my anniversary!  But that evening around 4PM my contractions start up strong.  They start coming every 3-5 minutes regularly and are much more painful than the previous few days.  I go ahead and call the dr. office to let them know to expect me at the hospital and we head out around 6PM.  On the car ride over to the hospital they stop again!  I was furious at this point.  We had rearranged our schedule to have my mom watch the kids for the past 3 days b/c we kept thinking I was going into labor and it never happened.  I go into the hospital and tell them what happened, but also that I don't really want to pay to check myself in if this is just another false alarm.  They say it is up to me so I decide to wait until they come back.  I walk the hospital a few times but they are still not strong again.  We decide to just go back home.  Then around 10:30 or 11PM they start up strong, fast and very painful.  But me being the super cheap person that I am wants to wait to check in until after midnight!  I really don't want to pay for a full hospital day's stay when I would only have been there for about 30 minutes!  So we get everything together and head back to the hospital.  We get there about 11:40pm and just wait in the car until after Midnight while I am in pain in the car! haha!  Once I get checked in I am already at 6cm and the contractions are getting unbearable quickly.  I ask to get my water bag started ASAP.  They try and get my IV in and it goes horribly.  They have to poke me 3x before they are successful.  It was so painful.  My water bag seems to drip so slowly I can't stand it.  I start freaking out like a crazy person saying that my bag is never going to finish.  They check me again and I am already at 8cm.  I am progressing at this point at about 1 cm every 30 minutes!  It was so painful.  The nurses cheat for me and go ahead and call for my epidural.  I finally am painfree and they check me again and it is time to push!  I start pushing at 2:09AM and Allie is born at 2:13 AM on Sunday 5/19/13!  So the entire labor process was extremely fast!  Only about 2 hours! Allie was born 6 lb 5.5 oz. 

Allie came out and didn't cry at first.  I started to get nervous b/c her umbilical cord was wrapped all around her body and she was so quiet.  I kept asking if she was ok and they finally tell me she is fine.  Justin clips the cord and they place her on me for a moment but then say they need to take her away.  He body temperature was dropping and they had to get her warmed up.  They decide the best way is actually skin to skin so they place her on me for a while.  I am getting to zombie state by this point and want nothing more than sleep.  All the nurses, etc do not leave my room until after 5:00AM.  I get maybe 2 hours sleep total and after not sleeping well the past few days I am very tired.  That morning they tell me I can actually leave on Monday if I would like since Allie was born so close to Midnight that she will have met the 24 hour stay requirement.  I decide I definitely want to leave early.  The entire hospital stay was so horrible.  They interrupt you all the time and you never get any peace!  So that was it! Since we left the hospital a day early we had to go to a pediatrician check up the very next day.  Allie had went down to only 5 lb 12oz.  She is definitely not a good eater.  She has a very weak suck.  In the beginning I even had to syringe feed her to get her started sucking on a bottle.  I had a couple lactation appointments to try breastfeeding but her suck was just too weak.  She just wouldn't work for it.  So I am back to pumping exclusively.  But that is fine.  More updates to come.  I just wanted to get her birth story posted!

Heading out to the hospital