Tippets Nitty Gritty

Everyone has asked, "Who does Afton look like?" It is hard to tell, sometimes I think Carter, sometimes I think Bridger. You can take a vote yourself, the first one is Afton compared to Carter, the next two are with Bridger.

I've concluded that she looks like part of the family.

I've never thought that I would insist on a bow in my daughter's hair- but as you can see, she looks very similar to her brothers-- she needs some sort of feminine distinction!

There are certain things that she definitely has from her father. First, her toes.

She also has his head shape, his blue eyes and his right ear. Yep. She has a small notch out of the cartilage at the top of her ear. I found out this is a trait that Grandpa Tippets has too. And they all have it only on the right side in exactly the same place. Interesting how genetics work.

How have we adjusted?

Very well (for the most part). Her brothers love her.

Carter did have some days where he would have big tantrums that I should have expected. He now has to share his mom with this little one. They both get really excited when she opens her eyes. Otherwise, she is pretty boring and just sits there sleeping. They are very helpful to get a burp rag or pacifier when she needs it and they love to push her in her swing. Sometimes they just need a gentle reminder to give her some space.

We couldn't decide which birth announcement we liked better, so we chose both of them.

My labor story starts two days earlier. We visited the hospital on the 28th because this little girl had turned to the breech position again. Despite all my hard work of hand stands, chiropractor visits... everything to get her vertex.. she somehow managed to be breech. It was really easy to turn her to vertex and only took a few minutes... which in my mind meant that it would be really easy for her to turn right back to being breech. I prayed and prayed that she would come soon while she was still head down and VIOLA! My prayers were answered and my water broke on the morning of the 30th while I was gluing my Scentsy pot back together. Ben was supposed to be in Tuscon, AZ for the weekend for a conference, but luckily, he wasn't feeling well and didn't go. Although he was bummed to be sick and miss the conference, we both were very happy he was at the birth of our Sweet Afton. Interesting how the Lord answers prayers!

So, here I am at the hospital, water broke, no real contractions, 3 cm and just waiting, walking, hoping for real labor to start.

Now, I really was hoping that labor would be fast- faster than my last which was about 3 hours long. But these contractions were never really regular- at least not what a labor and delivery nurse would consider regular- so labor was 5 hours. Real contractions started about 1:30 in the afternoon. I had decided to go natural (When I told this to Ben on the way to the hospital he said, "Are you crazy?!" Which really, I agree and I think women who go natural are crazy) but because with my last 2 labors my epidurals were much less than ideal and I felt most everything, I was going to try. I was also hoping that I would go really fast that an epidural wouldn't be an option. Unfortunately, that didn't happen, but I would consider this my best labor of the three. I have seen many women go natural and most of them are.... hmmm....best way to describe it... yes... hysterical... most of the time. I promised myself that if I were to go natural I would not be hysterical and would have to be in control, I would not scream or yell or do anything that I would regret later. When the contractions started to get bad, all those memories of painfulness with my last 2 labors came back to me and I did cry with 2 contractions and started hyperventilating. ( I think this is when both Ben and my nurse thought for sure I was going to ask for the epidural) And it was then that I told myself, "Girl- this is way too early in the game for tears. Get a grip!!" So I did. I calmed down, slowed down my breathing and decided I was grateful for every contraction because that was bringing my closer to my goal. (I am a goal-oriented type of person and during the admission, one of the questions was "What is your goal today?" Umm... Duh? What kind of question is that?! I told my nurse it was to have a baby. Naturally. Vaginally. And by 5 p.m.) Anyway, after those 2 pitifully hard contractions I really did pretty well. Better than anyone in that room thought I would do, including myself. I listened to my I-pod, (my favorite songs by Nickle Creek- one of them called Sweet Afton) I went in the jacuzzi tub, bounced on the birthing ball, did squats by the bed... I even laughed, chatted with my nurse and sent text messages in between contractions. The worst part was the anticipation that things were going to get really bad, and they were bad- the last 10 minutes. I wasn't completely dilated yet and the doctor came in and she had me push past the last part of the cervix and said, "Ok- lets have a baby!" And then she made me burst out laughing when she said, "You must be a runner." I don't know what gave her that idea- I didn't answer her because I was gearing up for pushing. I really don't like to push. I have horrible, painful memories from pushing with Bridger that were just... uughh... painful. But luckily, this time, it was only for 3 contractions. I was horribly hot at this time and horribly uncomfortable and nauseated. But no yelling, no screaming nothing hysterical. Doctor Schroeder and Ben donned gowns. I pushed. She crowned. I could control my pushing and let her crown for what felt like a LONG time to stretch out and waited for another contraction. I really didn't want to feel another contraction again in my life at this point. But of course, it came, I pushed.. then hooray! She was here! Ben delivered her like a pro. My first words after she was born: "Ben Tippets! I am never doing that again!" I guess that is the only part that I do regret. It is amazing to me how fast amnesia kicks in. No more than 20 minutes later, I couldn't remember any of the pain, I felt fine and I am crazy enough that I probably would do it again. I am so grateful that it went well. I have been really paranoid with this pregnancy that something would go wrong. I was so blessed that everything went so well. Afton tolerated labor wonderfully, I had a great nurse and delivery was really smooth. I missed my goal of 5 p.m. by an hour and 14 minutes, but at least it wasn't change of shift delivery like my last two!

Here is my little girl: My first thought was that she looks so much like Carter. But then the more I look at her, she looks more like Bridger.

I love that new baby smell. The vernix, amniotic fluid and that tart smell that babies keep for the first few weeks. Oh how I love this miracle!

My smallest baby-7 pounds 14 ounces.. and nearly 3 weeks early!

She is LONG... 21.5 inches.

Happy parents (this is the only time Ben is without a mask while we were here at the hospital.) Yes, we are germ-o-phobes.

Look at that dark hair!!

FINALLY brothers get to come and see her that night. They couldn't wait to hold her. The nurse was there checking me and Afton out. I stood up, post-partum belly immediately protrudes out and Carter looks at me and says, "Another Sissy?!" Bridger, being older and wiser, quickly corrects him saying: " NO Carter! This time it's a brother!"

Happy boys-me in the fashionable gown. I look really tired. It always amazes me to look back. I always think, "I didn't feel that tired."

Proud big brothers:

The next day they bathed her. ( Because she was only 37 weeks, they had to do several blood sugar checks. Her poor heals were just slaughtered by the time we left! We had to wait for all of her blood sugar checks to be OK. That was the longest first night ever! My nurse was in my room every 30- 60 minutes ALL NIGHT LONG!)

The nice thing was that the boys got to see her be bathed.

Here we are watching.