An Aggie's Life...: Alexis Michelle Hager

She's here! Lexi was born on August 5, 2014 at 0546

7 lbs 0 oz; 19.75 inches long

Alexis' birth story:

Starting early Monday morning (4 Aug), I started having contractions. I knew I had an appointment scheduled with my OB at 1130 so I decided to wait until then to have her check me. I had made some progress from the week before but I was only 2 cm dilated. So we went home and I took a long walk on the treadmill and then Michael made the infamous Scalini's eggplant parmesan that was supposed to induce labor. It wasn't an hour after eating (approximately 830pm) that my contractions kicked into high gear and I felt some pain! The contractions eventually got to be about 15 minutes apart and were strong by 1030pm. We knew we didn't want to have the baby on I-95 so we headed to Ft. Belvoir (about a 45 minute drive). When I got there I was checked and I was still only 2 cm dilated. Ugh. So they sent me downstairs to walk for a couple of hours. I spent the two hours walking the first floor and having contractions every 2-3 minutes that almost sent me to the floor in pain - thank goodness for the wall railing that helped me breathe through them! After the excruciating walking, I went back up and was checked again. I was completely effaced, but still only 2 cm! They knew I was making progress so they offered to let me walk some more and see if my body would respond, or take some medicine to help dull the contractions and let my body work on its own. I opted for the drugs. They put me in a room and the medicine put me almost to sleep, but when the contractions came I started screaming again :/ No dulling effect at all! They thought my amniotic fluid was low and when they came to check it they found that my water had broken (around 0400 on 5 Aug). Because my water had broke they went ahead and formally admitted me and I was able to ask for the epidural (aaahhhh ... finally!). I had to bear through the pain to get the epidural in (didn't have to do that with Caleb and I have never felt such pain in my life and had to sit completely still)! The epidural was in by 0430 and when it kicked in both Michael and I thought we'd catch a couple hours of sleep before the big show. The nurse came in to check me at 0515 and I had gone from 2 cm dilated to 9 cm dilated! No rest for the weary! By the time they got the nurses, residents and midwife in there I was fully dilated and they were telling me it was time to push! I pushed from 0530 to 0546 when little Lexi came out to meet us! I felt nothing (even less than with Caleb) and it was glorious - thank GOD for epidurals! We were able to stay in the room until I had gotten the feeling back in my legs and was able to walk (Balboa kicked us out about an hour after delivery!), and then we were moved to a fantastic recovery room for the next 2 days. My parents brought Caleb in to meet his new baby sister on Wednesday and he was a little apprehensive at first, but he then started to warm up to her by the time it was about to leave - he even went and got her bink and lovey out of the bag to give to her when she started to cry! She has been the BEST baby from the first night she was in this world! She nurses well, sleeps even better and loves to look around with her big blue eyes when she is awake. She had a little bit of jaundice by day 2, but with great nursing and moving stuff through her system she was able to kick it naturally in 3 days!

Our little Angel: