Wittle Wayna Mae (Hudson can't say his L's)

We had a baby!! A little over two months ago. It's hard to even begin to conceive how quickly this summer is flying by. Our beautiful baby girl is sleeping peacefully upstairs. Hudson is sitting next to me on the couch in his snugly too small pajama shirt and diaper and watching a sweetly strange cartoon about dinosaurs who ride on a train and seem to be planting a garden in this episode. What will these people think of next? Hud likes it though, so what do I care? Anyway, I finally have a minute to describe our second dive into the blissfully complicated and beautiful world of parenthood.

First of all, girl babies are amazing. Or at least mine is. And so are their clothes. It's old news, but it's true. I could spend millions on flowered jammies, ruffled dresses, sweet cardigans, and sassy leggings. Really. Second of all... Here is our little Layna's birth story:

Layna Mae Gallacher Doyle

May 21st, 2012 1:40 pm

7 lbs 10 oz

20 inches

This little girl has been the most unbelievable blessing. We all love her so much we can barely function. 

Here's how it all happened.

The entire month of May was filled with early labor. I'd have regular contractions (every 3-5 minutes) for twelve hours at a time. It would come as go and it was extremely frustrating. My doctor made me go in the first time since I was less than 36 weeks just to make sure I wasn't staying in progressive labor. After that, I didn't go in each time. I knew that the intensity of the pain wasn't enough to where I needed to go back in. So basically, almost every night we'd monitor the contractions half heartedly and try not to get our hopes/nerves up AGAIN. Not to mention the pain, while not excruciating, was very irritating and uncomfortable. (p.s. Layna woke up and Hud and I brought her downstairs and Hud wanted to hold her on the couch next to me. He's now folding her arms and is teaching her how to pray. I'm dying.) Anyway, in Utah they do a lot of inductions. If it's not your first child they routinely ask you if you want to be induced a week early. Kind of weird. I wasn't planning on it, but after the month of contractions and lots of praying and researching we decided to go in five days early. I don't know if I'd do that again, but it worked out very well and I ended up being very glad we did since there was meconium in the amniotic fluid. On May 21st we went in at around 6:30 and got hooked up by a little after 7. I hate IVs. The nurses never seem to be able to get it right the first couple tries and my arm ends up being yellow, blue, and green. We started the pitocin and got the contractions going. Bran and I chatted happily until the doctor came in and broke my water. That really made the pain kick up a notch so I decided to call in my favorite person. The anesthesiologist. I got my epidural. It went so smoothly. There is really no reason for me to freak out so much about it. Needles terrify me. Mom and Cailey showed up around 9:30-10 and kept me company while I progressed. Apart from the shaking that comes from the epidural, I really had a great one. I could feel the pressure of contractions, but not the pain. At around 1 o'clock they checked me and I was at a 6. They also said the baby was posterior so they had me start rotating sides to try and get her to turn. Then the doctor came in and said that the babies' heart rate was dropping a little with each contraction so they were going to put an internal contraction monitor to make sure everything was okay. I started crying to Brandon while we waited for the nurse to come even though they said not to worry. Then the nurse came in and got ready to put in the monitor, but couldn't feel the cervix because oh, the baby's head was there and I was complete and ready to push. That's why her heart rate was dropping. I'd gone from a 6 to a 10 in about 12 minutes. So the doc came back in and we got ready to push. About two and a half pushes later, Layna was born. I could feel her moving down and out which was incredible and something I didn't experience with Hudson. We were all surprised to see a full head of dark hair! Simply put, she is the most exquisite, perfect, gorgeous, sweet baby girl ever to be born. :) 

She has been the perfect baby. She hardly ever cries. She fusses only if she's hungry or tired. She has already started sleeping through the night (although this is a bit of blessing/curse deal since I got a horrible breast infection after she did her first unexpected nine hour sleeping stretch). To be honest, the first month postpartum is not my favorite. I really don't enjoy the healing process and everything that comes along with that. Nursing is absolute torture for about six weeks. And the lack of sleep and crazy hormonal shifts that happen those first few weeks are pretty crazy, but through it all this little girl has planted herself so deeply within my heart that I'm constantly surprised at human capacity for love. Mother love is so powerful. It just sort of takes over your entire being in a way that is strange and wonderful at the same time. I also got to fall in love with Hudson all over again as I saw him meet and interact with his little sister. He has been so great with her. We were terrified that he'd have a real problem with not being the center of the universe since he's so comfortably accustomed to that role, haha. But although he's acted out a bit in other ways (challenging me and Brandon, throwing more tantrums, and generally acting his age -- he's two. What do you expect?), he's been nothing but sweet to little Layna Mae. He adores her. He kisses, caresses, coos, and cuddles her all the day long. I love to imagine their future. Having always wanted an older brother myself, I'm so excited for them. 

I really could go on and on, but these children I love to write about also exist in real life and they don't like holding only half of my attention for long. :) But I'm on a roll now so hopefully I'll be caught up in no time!