Addysen's Arrival

Addysen's birth play by play is a lot shorter than Kaden's play by play.

We heard that the second kid can come a lot faster, but we didn't think it would be THAT fast. At least we didn't have her at home like one of our dear friends (not on purpose).

So... on April 7, 2012 we got good news that our house got an offer that morning...and then we had a birthday party for Kaden's 4th birthday in the afternoon... it was a busy day in our house to say the least. We also had Good Friday service at our church the night before and a Sunday Easter service we were getting ready for. We wanted to squeeze in a birthday party for Kaden. And apparently baby Addysen wanted to join in all the fun that evening!

All day I was having minor contractions, but I was having them all week. On the Monday before we had a doctor appointment and I was already 3cm dilated and 75% effaced.

4:00 pm the last guest left the house, I sat down and all of sudden had a really big contraction. I told Joel...he freaked out just a bit and went downstairs to tell Kristina to help him clean the house cause we might be heading to the hospital. Kaden was getting a sugar crash and tired from all the partying. We were trying to prep him on leaving the house to have baby Addysen... he melted down. We tried to figure out where Kaden would go... Chi Thu and Anh Thanh (Joel's middle sister) was supposed to take Kaden...but they were at Wicked. So, we brainstormed and called our friends Annette and Nappy. Kaden loves playing with their kids. We distracted him enough to go ride his scooter over there with them and then Chi Thu and Anh Thanh would pick him up there after the show. We headed to the hospital from there. I started recording my contractions on my nifty app on my phone...I was about 20 minutes apart when we first left our house, then quickly was 10 minutes apart and when we got to the hospital we were 5 minutes apart. They came on fast and strong.

5:30 pm we arrived at the hospital. The nurse checked me when we got to the hospital and we were 5 minutes apart, 5 cm dilated, 100% effaced. She asked if I wanted any drugs to take the edge off, I declined thinking my epidural was on it's way. They also called the on call doctor and she was on the way in. We started to fill out some paperwork.

6:15 pm I felt like I needed to use the bathroom. Joel freaked out a bit thinking the baby would be delivered in the toilet. Nothing came out (TMI? Sorry). I had a BIG contraction as I was getting back into bed. I asked for the drugs that could take the edge off... and the nurse hesitated, and said the anesthesiologist was almost there. The nurse decided to check me again and she said I was 10 cm dilated... and if my water broke I definitely couldn't get my epidural.

6:28 pm my water broke just as the anesthesiologist walked in the door.  Joel said I looked really sad.  I had the realization that I'm about to push a baby out of me completely drug free.

6:45 pm Dr. Jennifer Miller-Davis got to the hospital. She was the on call doctor. Dr. Wendy Hall is my OB... I was bummed she wasn't on call that night. But she came to check up on us early Monday morning. I pushed through about three or four contractions. It was definitely a different experience than Kaden's birth story... glad Addysen came fast.

7:06 pm Addysen Thanh Thuy To came into the world at a whopping 5.5 lbs, 17 inches. She had a big bruise on her forehead, because she was "sunny side up" or face up when they are supposed to come out face down. That made it a little harder to push her out.        

8:35 pm Joel's sister and family: Chi Thu, Anh Thanh, Gabby, Nathan, Zachary and big brother Kaden came to visit! Kaden was holding his little sister and Chi Thu went to hold her and Kaden burst out in sad tears! He said he wasn't done holding Addysen yet. It was the cutest thing ever!

That's how Miss Addysen decided to come into the world. She was gracious enough to allow her big brother to have his birthday party. We were a little sad to miss Easter service at Missio... but we were so in love with the little peanut it kept us pretty occupied.