Aimee at Home: The First Few Days

Steve went to church on Sunday. While he was gone, Aimee and I had a photo shoot. This is one of the first times that she was awake and happy.

Aimee was almost born on the 4th of July, so I decided to give her a 4th of July shoot. The skirt I made myself. 

She actually doesn't really like pacifiers very much. I am surprised she took this one for about 2 minutes.

I also love purple. The "socks" Marianne got Aimee are to die for!

Breastfeeding is going well (so far) and I am really glad that she is sleeping at night. Steve has been so helpful!


Jenna is coming home today from an extended stay with Grandma and Grandpa. I can't wait to see my little Bear! I am sure that it is going to be an adjustment having both, but I will have help for the next three weeks.

Aimee Marie Hamm's Birth Story

On the morning of July 2, 2014 (Wednesday), I wanted to have a fun time with my little Jenna (age 2 1/2 yrs). We went outside, blew bubbles, played with chalk and then around 11 I proposed playing with balls. Jenna was so excited about this and got me the balls herself. I got up with her and kicked a few balls around and did a little bit of bouncing/jogging. Not much really. Around noon, I had a few contractions, but they weren't very often, much like the ones on Sunday, June 29th. I was rather annoyed with them by that point, so I ignored them.

Around 1:55pm I decided to count the contractions and they were 3 to 5 minutes apart and lasted approximately 50 seconds. I waited about an hour and called Steve. While I was waiting for him to drive the 30 minute commute to reach me, my dad called. The contractions weren't bad and since I didn't know if they were going to last, I didn't tell him about them. While I spoke to him, I did laundry. Steve was home from work by 3:15pm. By then, Jenna had almost been asleep for 2 hours. We woke her up and left for the long drive (45 minutes) to Clovis.

We got to the hospital by 4:15pm and I think I was finally in a room by 6:30.

I wanted to have an all natural birth (I'm glad I didn't!) but I realized that it probably wasn't smart, so I got an epidural. Not sure the time on this. 9ish?

I kept changing sides on which I labored. The doctor was supposed to come in to break my water around 11pm, but she was in the OR doing a c-section. At around 11:45pm, when I was moving from my left to my right side, my water broke! I had a lot of amniotic fluid (level 23) and it was a mess to clean but luckily the nurse was there and was able to get it cleaned up for me. She checked and I was 6 centimeters dilated.

At 1am the nurse checked again and I was 8 centimeters dilated.

Around 1:25am, I started shaking really badly. A nurse confirmed that I was at 10 centimeters. I would know that a contraction was about to start because I would get back pain and start to shake. The nurse said that I needed to wait to push until the doctor and my nurse could get there, since they were both in the OR. I thought, "Forget that!", but I didn't want to deliver without the doctor so I did small pushes to relieve the pain.

I wasn't supposed to have any liquid in case they had to operate, but Steve snuck me ice chips.

My nurse finally came to my room around 1:50am and she coached me through long pushes.

Around 2:30am the doctor came and I wasn't quite close enough so she left.

At 2:40am I was a lot closer so the doctor was fetched. She helped me push through a few contractions and checked to see if the baby was face up (she was). This was the reason I had the c-section last time and when she told me that I might have another c-section, I was motivated to push harder. At this point everyone was telling me to push hard. I tried to push as hard as I could. I would literally fall asleep between contractions. What a feeling! The doctor also said that I might want an episiotomy and rather than risk tearing, I took it!

I had Aimee at 2:58am. I could tell when Aimee's head was out. Getting her body out was so easy! Also, as soon as I got her out, the shaking was gone. I found out later that I had some kind of infection and got a fever of 102. Aimee also had a little fever, but that calmed down soon.

Compared to having Jenna, this recovery has been so much better! I can walk around now and get out of bed. I can actually live life a little! Don't get me wrong, I am still in pain and a of course sleep deprived, but I feel so much better! Aimee is eating and sleeping better than Jenna did too.

What I love about this delivery:
1) I went into labor on my own.
2) My water broke its own.
3) I had a vaginal delivery. I had a successful VBAC!!!!

Steve had given me a Priesthood blessing and I knew that God would help me. I said so many prayers and they helped to comfort me. Hurrah for modern medicine too!

Our sweet angel

She loves being held by Daddy

Jenna loves to hold Aimee too

Our hospital gifts