Aspen's Birth Story

Aspen Corinna Jones

November 7, 2013

8 lbs. 7 oz. 

20"

It was a long and hard nine months getting this little angel here, but the delivery was the complete opposite.  It was so laid back that I got to enjoy the whole process of giving birth to such a precious little baby sent straight from our Heavenly Father.  

Towards the end of my pregnancy I was pretty miserable, it was 90 degrees and humid here in Florida so I was always uncomfortable and swollen.  I kept the house so cold that even Talon would wear socks and a jacket.  Since I was so uncomfortable I knew I didn't want to go a single day past my due date, and so I set an induction date for November 7, my due date.  The few weeks before at my doctors appointments I didn't seem to be making any progress and was dilated to a one but not effaced at all.  Finally, on the 6th I was dilated to a three and 80% effaced.  I was glad that I was effaced because otherwise they were gonna keep me in the hospital overnight to start the softening phase.  

So that night we took Lila to our good friends house, the Belnaps, and planned on having our last night of full sleep( Talon slept like a baby, but I'm pretty sure I only got 2-3 hours, I was uncomfortable and mostly nervous.  Even though I've done this before, I was still freaking out).  Thursday morning we showed up at the hospital at 7 AM.  7:30 the nurse came and got us and took us to the room.  By the time we had filled out all the paperwork and I was getting hooked up to the monitor it was probably 8:30.  I was already having contractions on my own every few minutes apart but couldn't feel a thing.  It was weird to watch the machine track my contractions and not be able to tell a difference from normal.  Even after the pitocin started I couldn't feel them, but once they turned it up I could start to feel them.  As soon as I started feeling the contractions and I was dilated to a 4 I got the epidural, which was around 10:30 (the epidural was given by one of the students in Talon's program) and it was AMAZING.  I am seriously never doing another birth without an epidural.  I was so relaxed and comfortable the whole time, I didn't even want to watch TV or anything.  Talon and I just talked and I laid there just thinking about what Aspen would be like and how Lila would react to her.  At 12:30 Talon ran outside to grab his computer and some lunch and as soon as he did my water broke.  I hurried and called Talon and the nurse said I was at a ten and ready to push.  I still couldn't feel any pain but I could feel enough to be able to push.  I pushed for 25 minutes and then out come the biggest, prettiest baby ever.  She looked just like her older sister and as soon as I held her I burst into tears, she cried until I held her and immediately stopped crying.  The nurses had to keep making her cry and I just loved that she knew who I was and was comforted when she was in my arms.  There is nothing like delivering a sweet little spirit into this world and meeting them for the first time.  Everything about her was perfect, she was a lot bigger than I was expecting but she still seemed so tiny.

 The first time Lila saw Aspen she was a little confused.  She kept saying "She's gonna eat me"  and she was too distracted by the hospital bed.  But each time she came back she was more brave and comfortable around her.

 I got the girls matching bracelets and Lila hated wearing hers before Aspen was born, but now she loves it and wants to wear it all the time.

 I love how cuddly she is and how she can fall asleep laying right on top of me.

 Love her dark hair.  I can already tell it is falling out and it makes me so sad.

 I thought Lila was little until she came to see us at the hospital.  She is HUGE compared to Aspen.  The weirdest thing to me is changing Aspen's bum and then changing Lila's bum,  Lila's legs are huge in comparison and so heavy I still can't get over it.