Haddie Christine Porter

It has been way too long since my last post to try to catch up on everything that has happened in our lives. So, I will simply write about the major things. First of all, we had a new baby girl! Haddie Christine Porter, on May 6 2013. She weighed in at 9lbs 11oz!!!BIG GIRL! She is absolutely perfect, and we could not be more happy! Aubry is seriously the BEST big sister! She is loving every minute of it! She has grown up so much in the 3 weeks we have had Haddie home. She has become so independent and she is such a good helper. It has really been pretty easy. Not half as hard as I expected, or as everyone told us it would be. Sure, I am tired. Sure, the house has been slacked on a bit. But, over all, it's not bad. Maybe we just got lucky and have great kids. All I know is I feel complete and content. Richard has been absolutely amazing! I have no clue what I would do without that man. He has helped me so much! That is probably what has made this so easy. Having such a great person to go through these things with makes all the difference. I wouldn't want to be sharing this life with anyone else. 
 The labor story is kind of interesting, so if you don't want to hear it, skip over this part :) The day after my due date(May 5th), I was induced. We got to the hospital at about 9 am. They checked me in, checked me, I was at a 2, and inserted a pill to soften my cervix. I had to lay flat for an hour, then I got to get up and walk around for a long time. I got hot and hungry, so we went back to the room, where I sat and bounced on a birthing ball. After a few hours had gone by, they hooked me back up to see what was going on with my contractions and to see if they needed to give me more medicine. The contractions started to go crazy, so they decided not to give me more medicine. We went to walk again, but I was miserable, so we went back inside and I bounced on the ball some more, and paced the room. At that point I started to get sick. They came back in and this went on for a while. I asked for some pain medicine. And it just made me feel drunk, haha! Once I got to a 5, I asked for the epidural. I just couldn't take it anymore. Once I got the epidural, I started dilating pretty fast. The doctor broke my water around maybe 9 or 10 pm and then things really sped up. They had me start pushing, around 11:30. I got sick in the middle of pushing, and me throwing up caused me to push. Well, Haddie started crowing! So, the nurse was telling me not to push, and calling the other nurse to go get the doctor. We waited for what seemed like an hour, but I'm sure was more like 5 minutes. then it was just one really big push and she was here! It went so fast! She was born at 12:22am. Which is funny, because I kept saying I didn't want a Cinco De Mayo baby, and she waited until just after midnight! She seemed tiny to me when they laid her on my belly. They nurses were all making jokes about how much they thought she was going to weigh. None of them said over 9 pounds...so when they put her on the scale they all gasped. I could NOT believe she was SO BIG!! I was terrified of that my entire pregnancy, and it happened! Haha! But, I was worried for nothing, because everything went smoothly! Aubry came the next morning to meet her, and it was amazing seeing her look at her baby sister for the very first time. I'm getting teary eyed remembering that moment. Our little family has grown, and it feels amazing! And, things have been pretty easy since we brought her home, like I said. She's doing great nursing. She is a good baby, she hardly ever cries. And, Aubry is GREAT! She really has grown and changed so much since having a baby sister. It's bitter sweet. 

  Another thing that happened to us since my last post is we lost a very dear friend. Chris Adams. He and Richard had been friends since they were kids. I wont wrote a whole lot about that, only because it is still hard. He was truly an amazing person, with a huge heart...He must have been going through some things he didn't let any of us know, because he took his own life. Richard got the call during Aubry's 3rd birthday party. He left the party to go to the hospital, and Chris had been flown to Tucson. So after the party, we went up with his sister. I can say, it was one of the hardest things I have ever been through. Sitting in that hospital room, knowing he wasn't really there anymore. Seeing my husband so heart broken. Knowing there was nothing I could do to make it hurt less for him. It was terrible. All we can do now is try to move on, and keep him in our memories. We chose Haddie's middle name after him. And we will tell her and Aubry both many stories of their Uncle Chris as they grow up. I don't think Aubry remembers him. I wish he could be around while they grow up. 
 We also went on a vacation to Pennsylvania last fall!! I hadn't seen my nephews in so long, I cried when I saw how much they had grown up! We drove all the way there, and it was quite the adventure! Aubry did great on the trip, and we had a lot of fun. Being there was awesome, and I did not want to leave! I can't wait to go back again! I wish we were closer so I could see them all more often! I will have to write a whole post about the trip later and post all of the pictures. For now I must go, because both of the girls are waking up from their afternoon naps!