Lainey is home!

Elaine Marie Hudgins arrived Friday October 31, 2008 at 12:55 pm. She weighed 6lbs. 14 oz. and was 18 3/4 inches long. We have been in baby bliss since she arrived! John and I are amazed by her every move. She's such a blessing and we just love her to pieces. Her delivery was relatively uncomplicated. I had had what I thought was going to be another round of false labor that evening, but around 12:30 it started into the beginnings of real labor. I decided at 2:30 that it was the real thing and we went to the hospital at 3:30. I tried to labor as long as I could on my own and made it to 4 cm before getting the epidural at 6:30. From there things moved along quickly as my body was able to relax. Her birth was amazing. I've never felt such a rush of emotions. They had concerns about her aspirating meconium, so she was not able to be given to me right away. Waiting for her to come back to me was the longest few minutes and the hardest part of the whole thing. She did not have any trouble though and was in my arms soon after.

She has had lots of visitors. My Mom was there with John and I when she was born, helping to take pictures, videos, and of course to help me too. My Dad flew in in the afternoon and John's parents and brother David drove in. My brother Kyle drove in too! My stepdad, John, flew in today and he, Mom, and Kyle will head home sometime tomorrow. John's Mom and sister Michelle will be coming on Tuesday for a few days to help out and spend time with Lainey. We are so blessed to have such a supportive and loving family. Once our family have left, our wonderful church family has offered to help us with meals.

We've had a great first two days with her. She is a pretty quiet little girl and her cry is very petite. She likes to look around and study whatever is in her field of vision. She knows her Daddy's voice and turns her head when she can hear him talking. We are having a little trouble with breastfeeding right now (not unusual for new mom's at this stage I'm told) and have had to use a little bit of formula supplementation. She had tested coomb's positive for ABO blood type incompatability and this increases a newborn's risk for jaundice. She's had great bilirubin numbers so far and we've not had a problem. We will go to the doctor's tomorrow for another blood draw to make sure that she's in the clear. As long as her numbers are good, I think we will be able stop the formula supplementation completely.

I will continue updating here as often as I am able to. John is working on putting together Lainey's very own website with pictures, videos, and other fun stuff. This way we will have a great way to share her with all of our far off friends and family. In the meantime, thank you for all your prayers. I will leave you with a picture of Lainey and Daddy on her birthday. She is our light in the dark!