Welcome Aralynn Elizabeth!

It's been a little over a week since my last post and not without good reason! I was admitted to Banner Thunderbird Hospital on Friday, October 1, 2010 and after no progression in my cervix, the doctors decided to break my water and start me on Pitocin. Five minutes after breaking my water, I was experiencing extremely painful contractions and asked for an epidural. The nurse (Jerri) called the anesthesiologist and woke up him from the doctor's sleep lounge to come right away. Unfortunately when he finally made it to my room and asked me to sit up, I could feel a head already being delivered. Regardless, he put in my epidural and as soon as I laid back down while he was setting up a drip pump to administer the medicine, I was already pushing. Three contractions later, Aralynn was laying on my chest being rubbed down. Beautiful and screaming. He finished setting up the drip anyway and twenty minutes later the epidural started to kick in. (pointless, but at least he gets paid) Aralynn Elizabeth Casey was officially born on October 2, 2010 at 4:07am and weighed in at exactly 7lbs. I spent 1 day in the hospital and requested to be released the next day so I could prepare for class on Monday (the next day.) Luckily, other than contractions to put everything back in its original place, my after-labor experience has been virtually pain free. Bleeding is also very minimal. This has by far been the easiest labor of all three. I truly enjoyed my experience. Lucky for us, Ian had a very light work week. He has been able to spend all day every day with me and the kids. He doesn't return to work until Thursday. He seems to really be enjoying Aralynn as well.

Today is my last day with Ian's help with the kids. Tomorrow I'll be going full force at my duties again. Today I am hoping to get some of the big tasks out of the way. I have three loads of laundry to fold and one more load to wash. I'd also like to finish at least two more Christmas gifts, clean off the office desk, clean off the chaise, vacuum, mop, and do one more load of dishes. Tonight I also need to start working on some big papers for class as well.

Last night for dinner I made apple bourbon pork chops with a side of mashed potatoes. It was devine! Dinner plans for tonight are spaghetti. We haven't eaten a simple spaghetti dish in a long time and I think tonight is a perfect night to go back to the basics.

Ambria has finally mastered using a spoon by herself! Aiden has his alphabet halfway mastered and can correctly identify the letters 100% of the time. Aralynn is only 4 days old and can already lift her head up to look around. I love watching my babies grow! Now that lunch is nestled into their bellies, we are going to go play at the park and then come home to play in the pool great aunt Nancy gave to them!