And the next thing you know...

You find out you are pregnant and the next thing you know... you have a baby! Yup, that's what I did on Tuesday night and Wednesday morning.

It all started when I went to my ultrasound appointment Tuesday morning. I've been being monitored on a regular basis because the baby has been on the smaller side. So, my docs didn't want to take any chances with the baby having "stress" and wanted to make sure there weren't any complications. The ultrasound showed that there was extra blood flow to the brain and that the abdomen was measuring a little smaller than the week before. The doctor gave me the update of what he saw in the ultrasound and said, "So, I know you probably have plans and everything so why don't you go home, get things situated then come back and we'll induce you. I would like to see the baby here by tomorrow morning."

I just kind of looked at him and said, "Soooo... you want me to come back ... to the hospital... to have the baby... today?"

"Yup"

Me with probably a really dumb look on my face, "Oh, okay. Umm, yeah, that would be great. I'll go get things put together and be back. ... so I just walk in to labor and delivery? Do I need to do anything?"

The Doctor, looking at me and probably thinking, "you really are pregnant aren't you? You're getting slower every minute." But instead says, "Yeah, I'll have it all set up just get everything situated and come on in."

I really was shocked because I didn't expect this so soon. Usually, they say something like, "Well, let's set an induction date. When would you like to do it?" I didn't wake up that morning thinking it would be that day. Crazy. Anywho...
Long story short, everything was situated and Jake and I went to the hospital ready to have the little lamb. After many hours of the most horrible time in my (and Jake's) life (I will definitely save the details), we had our little lamb at 4:39am on Wednesday morning.
Now, an important thing to note here is that this pregnancy, has been sooooo much like Gage's pregnancy. I felt the exact same, the baby was positioned the same, had the same cravings and all. Molli's was very different. So, with that said, we were almost positive it was a boy (although, we never chose to find out by ultrasound). We really didn't have many doubts and if you asked us, "what if it's a girl?" We would have said, "We would be way surprised but not dissappointed." We had Dax Henry picked out for his name and everything. Jake has even been referring to the baby as a "he" the whole time (I've been a little more reserved and stuck with "himmer").

When I was having the baby, the nurse said, "Here it comes. It's a..........................little girl!!!" Jake and I just looked at each other and said, "Really?!?" We were so shocked! I really couldn't believe it and still kind of don't. But that made the whole experience even more fun. It was just such a huge and fun surprise!

So, thus our little girl was born and the painstaking process of figuring out a name for her began.

Day 1, her name was Layni Dawn. I chose this one and was quite proud that we figured it out so quickly. However, it didn't take long before we started referring to her as "the baby" again because it just didn't fit.Day 2, her name was Elli Dawn. Jake's choice - I wasn't completely set on it - and back to "the baby" it was. It's funny because we even had a hard time referring to her as a "her" sometimes. It was weird yet really fun and exciting. Like a big Christmas surprise all over again!The night of Day 2. We had had it! I was being released the next morning and this baby needed a name. So we sat down and wrote down all the names we were thinking of and how we would spell them. All of them ended with the "ie" sound for some reason: Riley, Layni, Ellie, Jacey, Addy, and so on. But we just couldn't commit. (One nurse said, "well as long as you don't name her (it was said this way) 'Absidee', you are good." I asked her why that was. She said, "Every so often, we get a pregnant teenager in here that thinks it would be a great idea to name their kid that and spell it: Abcde.")

Our nurse the night of the 2nd day came in while we were hashing it out, and said, "Oh, are you the ones that were expecting a boy but got a girl?" I thought, "Sweet, we are totally going down in the record books here!"

"Have you picked a name?"

Us, "Well, no. We're still trying to figure that out."

She said, "What were you going to name it if it was a boy?"

"Dax Henry." And that got us thinking, what if we still named her Dax but added the "ie" ending to make it feminine. That way we're still calling her what we've been calling her all along. So, thus we finally came up with the name:

Daxlee Dawn Atwood

She was 7 lbs. 1 oz. and 19 1/2 inches longIt's kind of funny because if you look at the picture below, you will notice she has a crooked nose! It's so cute. I had a bi-lobed placenta and her head was always stuck in-between it. In one of my ultrasound pics (see previous post with ultrasound picture of bi-lobed placenta for reference), her nose was partially covered by the placenta and now it's crooked. The docs say it will fix itself but in the meantime, it's cute because she is always snorting.
Jake bought her a cute little soft pink piggy. It suits her well.The kids absolutely love her. It was really funny though, after I had just barely had Daxlee, I called the Foster's (who were tending Molli and Gage). Becky said that the night before, Gage kept talking about how he was having a baby brother. I got on the phone with Gage and said, "Hey buddy! Guess what? We had a baby girl!!"

Silence.

Then, "Mom, your just tricking me aren't you?"

I laughed and said, "Nope buddy. She's a cute little girl."

He said, "Oh,... well, is she still sleeping in my room?"

"Yes."

"Okay." Then, he gave the phone back to Becky.

He cracks me up. Molli and Gage can't get enough of Daxlee though and think she is the greatest gift on earth. I love our kids so much and love this new little addition... even if we forget she's a girl... and can't remember her name because it's so different.... and still catch ourselves calling her "the baby".