We got the call on March 12th that Mandie was having high blood pressure issues and that the baby was measuring small, they were needing to do an emergency induction to get the baby out since they felt that there was no benefit to her growth inside of Mandie.
Josh and I prayed hard about it, we had both always wanted to be there but the closer it got the more we realized that just wasn't practical with three kids at home and all of our commitments in different areas. However, once we got the news that there was a high possibility of complications we felt that it was important that we were both there for the "big day"!
Thank goodness we have some awesome friends close by who were more than willing to take over our kids for a few days while we took a "quick" trip to Bellingham, WA.
After about 8 hours of traveling we finally made it to St. Joseph's Medical Center for the arrival of our first niece...Adelaide!!
Mandie was doing great when we arrived about 8:30 a.m. She was hoping to go all natural and was doing great working through all of the contractions, pain and discomfort.
Luckily I got my camera out pretty quickly because we were in the room about 30 minutes before we all got kicked out due to the intensity of the labor.
We all headed out to the waiting area and got real comfortable!! DD and I decided that we needed to make some decorations for the door for when Adelaide arrived so we took a quick trip to Michael's to get some supplies with the promise from the guys that we would get notification of any major changes in the labor progression. Mandie's water had not broken yet so we felt like we were pretty safe.
We set up shop in the waiting room and took about 1 1/2 hours to make up a seriously cute wreath. Apparently people in the North don't do things like that because they were very hard to come by, no florist had every heard of a wreath, and people were looking at us like we were crazy while making it! But it was the hit of the hall once it was hung...maybe we will start a new trend.....
Finally lunch time rolled around and we got an update from the nurse that Mandie was having some pretty serious pain and had requested an epidural. Labor progression was a little slow but that she was handling it well. She wasn't ready for visitors but we were hoping that the epidural would get her comfortable so we could go back and visit some more.
Meanwhile, Josh and his dad went and picked up Olive Garden for lunch. We were all sitting around eating and we heard the baby song (a song they play in the waiting room when a baby is born) play two times in a row.
We all started getting a little anxious because we hadn't heard any updated of the epidural being administered. I headed back to find the nurse for an update and she was no where to be found. I walked back to Mandie's room and it was pretty quiet from outside the door.
About 5 minutes later, out walks Baine to tell us that Adelaide had been born!!!!!!
Adelaide Dawn
5lbs. 6 oz.
16 inches long
BEAUTIFUL and PERFECT!!!!!
Mandie was never able to get the epidural because she progressed so quickly, which explains the hard labor pains. She went from 3 cm to fully progressed in 30 minutes!!! The doctor didn't even get there in time to deliver the baby, the hospitalist had to take over. Mandie actually got to pull Adelaide out herself once her head was out enough. The nurses said that was a record delivery. They said her "active labor" was about 30 minutes long!!! Praise the Lord there were no complications and Adelaide was born perfectly healthy!!! I think these "complications" were maybe just God's way of getting us all together for the birth of sweet little Adelaide!
Proud parents and grandparents soaking in these moments!
And finally it was Aunt Abby & Uncle Josh's turn!!!!
Mandie did AWESOME!!! She is more of a woman than me!! We were all so proud of her for doing so great! I know that having a baby gives you a whole different perspective on life and you could certainly see that as soon as Mandie had Adelaide in her arms!! The nurturing spirit came so naturally and you could see the love beaming from both of the new parents!
The wreath certainly spiced up the door and the hallway!! It was quite the talk of the nurses and patients.
We did take a few hours to do some sightseeing while we were on the Pacific coast for the first time ever!! We drove down the famous road named "Chuckanut" right along the coastline. There is beautiful scenery all around you up there!!
But we quickly returned to snuggle on Addie before we took the long trek back home.....
We even got to give her a first manicure....
Uncle Josh sure fell in love pretty quickly!
Most of Addie's clothes were too big so we took a little shopping trip, and of course I had to get her some sweet little outfits so everyone knows who her BFF is :)
So thankful we were able to be together to experience Addie's birth with the family! What a wonderful time we will always cherish!
Meanwhile, back home the boys, Dani and the Goulds were holding down the Hebert household!! The all seemed to have a great time but I know it was crazy around there keeping a household with six kids moving efficiently!! We owe them BIG time for helping us out for 3 days while we went to WA!!
A few last pictures of sweet Adelaide!!
Then we hopped on a bus for our trip home....
8 hours later we were reunited with these crazy kids, so thankful to be back home!! I think everyone missed us tremendously!!
Can't wait to hold Adelaide again, but until then we will cherish these sweet memories of her precious day of birth!!
Here are a few of her newborn pictures!! So precious!
