Hayden's birth story

Meet Hayden Rose.

She is the sweetest thing! She has answered every single one of my prayers.
Made it to full term CHECK!
Has a full head of hair like I did as a baby CHECK!
Breastfeeds CHECK!
Actually sleeps! CHECK! except she has her nights and days mixed up like most newborns.
She's petite like her older sissy CHECK!
I could go on but basically Hayden is an angel and we love her so much!

So here's the story.
At my 36 week check up I was 3 cm 70% effaced.
At my 37 week appt I was a 3 1/2. My OB then gave me the option to schedule an induction when I hit 39 weeks since I was induced at 39 weeks with Halli(with Halli I was 6 cm dilated and not in active labor. WHAT?). The induction was set for Tues July 15th! It was so nice to have a date set.
At my 38 week appt on 07-11 at 9 am I was 5 cm 80% effaced. So my OB gave me the option to get my membranes stripped to see if that would help put me into labor. um YES PLEASE!
She told me that if I started contracting to go to L and D even if they weren't close together or even progressing. She would then break my water and let me progress on my own.
By noon that day, as I was walking up and down center street with Halli, I started feeling some contractions. Tyler was already on his way home from work since he works 40 mins away and his boss let him leave early so that he could be there if my water broke. Thankfully we have family all over that was able to come watch Halli for us.
I didn't even realize it was 7-11 until my gf suggested I get a free Slurpee on my way to the hospital =) ha!
I was admitted to the hospital at around 5ish, got the epidural immediately, then my doc broke my water at around 6. I progressed as a massive rate until I stopped suddenly at 9 pm at an 8. I was at an 8 for a while so they gave me some pitocin to get things going again. by 11 I was ready to push!
It all happened so fast after that. I pushed two or three times before I saw her head appear but before I could oo and awe over her hair, I was shocked to see the cord wrapped tightly around her neck! =( My ob worked really fast and tried to untangle it but couldn't so she clamped and cut it all in what seemed like a blink of an eye. Here is a picture to show how blue Hayden was.

She wasn't really crying so the skin to skin I wanted immediately after birth was postponed a bit so they could get her to pink up. They had some respiratory therapists come in to make sure everything was okay and within five minutes she was back on my chest for some uninterrupted skin to skin =) It was then I saw the mop of black hair on her tiny head! I was so surprised! Whenever I imagined Hayden I would see cute little bald Halli.
She weighed 7 lbs 2 oz which was exactly Halli's weight! Born at 11:11 pm which creates such a fun birthday! 7-11 at 11:11. 19 1/2 in long.
I was so lucky to have one of my best friends Mandy there taking pictures for us! She loves photography and is so talented! I love these photos so much! I made a slideshow of them so enjoy!

I also put together a movie of some of the video footage we got =)

And here is a video of her first year:

here's two in case one doesn't work

if you're on a smart phone click this ^^ and it should open on your phone

Hayden looks nearly identical to me as a baby.

but not so much Tyler. Halli is more Tyler.

Hayden looks nothing like Halli's sister in my opinion! Although I do occasionally see a baby Halli in her eyes and nose. Down below I made a slide show of Halli's birth so you can refresh your memory of what Halli looked like when she was born.
I feel a little bad saying that I am so happy Hayden is completely unlike Halli. I was so worried i'd get another Halli who was one of the most particular, fussy newborns. I won't go into it but basically when Halli wasn't sleeping she was crying or fussing. Hayden offsets Halli perfectly! But not only is Hayden a better baby but this whole experience has been a complete turn around from last time. Maybe it's because we know what to expect this time but I haven't experienced any post-partum non-sense that I experienced last time. Ugh it was terrible.
a thought on giving birth the second time:
The after pains are much different and maybe a little worse with your second. I felt like I was going into labor all over again every time i'd breastfeed Hayden and sometimes just randomly. My uterus was contracting ten fold to what it did in early labor! As sucky as that may sound, it also helped in the size of my after belly. Looking back to what I looked like a couple days after giving birth to Halli is completely different than what I looked like a couple days after Hayden. SO that's a plus. But you also do still have all those wonderful pains as well just add a contracting uterus.
Hayden is border-line jaundice and we have been to the lab 3 times now to get her heel pricked to check her levels. If they haven't gone down by Monday she'll go under the lights.
She is a great breastfeeder except she doesn't like to eat for very long! I have to keep waking her up and prodding her to keep going. But I will take this problem any day over Halli's aversion to the breast.
Also we have been really blessed to have been able to just worry about taking care of and getting to know Hayden this whole week. My mom and Tyler's mom have had Halli since we went into labor last Friday so one week! I am missing her like crazy! Which I suppose is a good thing because things are going to be crazy once she gets home. My mom is bringing her today and then staying with us for a week to help us transition to two kids!
Thank you Mom!
I wrote this Friday(yesterday) and that is when Halli came home. It was so cute I might as well share about it. The second we saw Halli again she looked like completely different child to us. When I picked her up I swear she weight 10 pounds heavier than before! Tyler thinks she really did gain weight at her grandma's but I think we're just used to a teeny tiny 7 lb newborn. She does seem so grown up to us all of a sudden though that's for sure.
As soon as she walked in our door she and saw Hayden she squealed and jumped up and down and immediately tried to give Hayden her "bink." I wish I would've caught it on video but it was a moment to be enjoyed =) and then of course she then tried scooping her hands under her and said "hold it hold it." I can't believe how much she loves her sissy!

She kept pointing to Hayden's heel that got pricked earlier that day and saying "owee"

I am just going to post photos from the hospital and going home. I will do another post later on home life =)
Get ready for picture overload...they may be slightly out of order.

tradition to take a pic right before we leave for the hospital

My best friend slash personal photographer Mandy =)

so fun to have my sister here. She was living out of the country when I had Halli.

sister selfie!

She also got me big sister and little sister outfits!

Tyler's first time holding her. He was walking around and just smiling down at her. There isn't a better sight in the whole world =)

Tyler's mom

Tyler's brother Devin, their little boy Tim and Sarah =)

Our friends Spencer and Nicole who became parents two months ago and can't believe how big Grace feels to them now seeing her next to Hayden =)

Megan and Maddy Tyler step siblings =)

Halli with a present for her baby sister.

so happy to be reunited with Halli for her to meet her sister.

As you can see Halli did amazingly well meeting Hayden. She didn't want to let her go! I added some videos below of her holding Hayden and meeting her =)