Addison Renee Mitchell

On January 19th we welcomed Addison Renee Mitchell to the world. She was born at 6:15pm on my mom's birthday. She weighed 7 pounds 5 ounces (the same weight as Carter when he was born) and 19.5 inches. I was a week overdue and had to be induced. She was just too comfortable in my womb I guess. I was still only dilated 2 cm when I checked in to the hospital at 6:30am that morning. My guess is I would have gone at least another week if my body and Addison had their way. (I am VERY glad they did not.) It took two doses of medicine (I could not remember the name of it for the life of me, even in the hospital, I finally just stopped asking the nurse what it was called) and six hours to get me dilated to 3 cm.

By then it was 1:45 pm and they started me on Pitocin. My contractions started in earnest and the nurse kept needing to turn down the pitocin. Jeff and I had been chillin' out up to this point. Watching movies, playing scrabble, etc. I started off the game of scrabble with a huge lead which I quickly lost as my contractions gained strength. About an hour into the pitocin I gave up on scrabble and decided to take a pain killer in my IV to put off getting the epideral. An hour after that I was dilated to 5cm and we called the anesthesiologist.

After that hurdle was over and I started breathing again, I was attacked by an insane itching that overtook my entire body. I was used to being slightly uncomfortable with an epideral but, this was like a meth induced craziness! I didn't even try to scratch that much because I didn't know where to start and knew it wouldn't help anyway. It was unbelievable! I also started to get really cold and have violent shivers. The nurse kept giving me more blankets but I couldn't stop shaking. With all this going on I was very glad I put off getting the epideral. I would have gone insane if I had the epideral for 10 or 12 hours like my previous deliveries. But by 6pm I started feeling increasing pressure and the doctor was on her way.

One slight down side to only having the epideral for 2 hours was a lot more feeling. I definitely felt much more this time than other pregnancies. I hope I didn't upset other laboring women; I did scream a little. But, strangely, the part that bothered me the most (although it wasn't the part that made me yell) was feeling her stitch me up. I tried not to think about what she was doing but it was hard to ignore. Of course it wasn't as intense as delivering the baby, it was just such a yucky feeling.

So once the labor really started, it was all over in four hours! That sure beats 18 hours with Jaden! When she was plopped on my belly all covered in blood and goo, the first thing I thought was, "She's so pretty!" Second thought, "Wow, she looks just like Carter did as a newborn."

The kids have handled the change great. Jaden is so great with her, he loves to give her kisses and soft little hugs. Carter is a little curious and a little oblivious (hey, I'll take that!). I think they are really enjoying having Daddy home, as is Mommy.

Here is the first time they got to hold their baby sister:


Our beautiful little girl! I know she'll have Daddy wrapped around her little finger in no time!

If I didn't just upload this picture I would think this is a picture of when Carter was born. Except that was pretty much the last time Addison cried that night, which was very different from Carter.
Addison is our easiest baby yet. She only cries when she wants to eat or be changed. She nurses calmly and usually lets me sleep three hours at a time after feeding her at night. She is just completely snuggly and cute. We all adore her.