It’s been officially 2 weeks with Casey! When I look at her, it’s hard to imagine how I was just carrying her inside me just a short while ago. She’s so big already and growing a mile a minute! I’ve been spending the last 14 days  just staring at her, memorizing her every curve and shape on her body, listening to her breathe, and just falling deeper and deeper in love with her. Needless to say, I didn’t get much done around the house haha!

I wasn’t sure if anyone would be interested to read about Casey’s birth story but it looks like SO MANY of you do so here it is. Just a silly disclaimer to throw out there: This was my personal birthing experience with Casey and so I hope some of you newly-pregnant mamas don’t think this is what you should expect too. Every birth story is so uniquely different! On a side note, the following photos were taken on our phones by the amazing nurse we had with us and also by Allen and my sister. They aren’t typical glamorous flattering birthing photos but they are so very precious to me. There was so much emotion behind Casey’s birth and I wanted to share these treasured photographs especially so that one day Casey can read this post and see what it was like in that room that night.

Casey’s birth story: We all thought Casey would come early because all we heard from parents of multiples was that their second kids all came early. Now I realize what most of them meant was that the second one can come quicker IN labor & delivery, whenever that happens. 

As the days got closer to my due date, I didn’t show any real physical signs that Casey was coming anytime soon. It was very hard to breathe and at times very painful especially getting in and out of bed and walking about. On top of that Joey started sensing something was very different and would be extra clingy and fussy around me. It was a pretty difficult week 38 and 39. After 40 weeks passed and no sign of Casey coming, I talked to my mid-wife nurse practitioner and we decided to go with an inducement. Casey was measuring to be a pretty big baby and I didn’t want to have any complications with her delivering so we decided to induce her on November 21.

What was great about having an inducement day was scheduling out things for Joey (who would pick her up from school and stay with her at home while Allen and I were at the hospital). We knew when we’d be checking into the hospital at a designated time so that made everything so easy to plan. Because Allen works 25 minutes away from our home and our hospital is also 25 minutes away from our home the other way, it was a relief to know that I wouldn’t be sitting in major contractions by myself until I get to the hospital like I did last time with Joey. (That car ride was brutal!)

So after Joey went to school on the 21st, Allen and I arranged everything needed for the hospital as well as for Joey who would be staying with her grandparents. We took our time and checked in to the hospital where we were sent to a triage room where I got checked to see how dilated I was. At this point I was contracting about 5 minutes apart but was only dilated 1.5 cm. Casey wasn’t moving as much so it was timely that we went to the hospital to get everything checked. We ended up waiting there for nearly two hours because there was a critical patient delivering right as we checked in plus so many mothers were in labor and delivering in all the rooms that morning! It was a busy day for L&D! A room finally opened up for us and shortly after, my younger sister Jasmin and one of my best friends Agnes joined us.

I opted for an epidural but when the anesthesiologist came to give me an epidural a few hours later, what ended up happening was the epidural affected mostly the left side of my body. She adjusted the administration of the epidural but it still ended up covering my left side more than my right. My left leg felt completely numb while my right leg was just tingly. I was told that the epidural would take effect entirely soon so I should just relax. Once my body felt more comfortable, I took a 2 hour nap and woke up to really strong contraction pains. I began to realize that the epidural wasn’t really fully working because I felt each contraction and it was starting to get more and more painful. At this point it was too late to administer another dose of epidural so I was left to bear through it.

The doc checked how far I had dilated and within the 2 hours I was napping, I went from 3 cm to 8 cm! From then on, I had contractions about 2-3 minutes apart and MAN did it really hurt! At 11:30 pm, I was told I was fully dilated and ready to push but the nurse asked if I wanted to wait until midnight so that Casey could be born on the 22nd which was Thanksgiving. It just felt so perfect that she would come on Thanksgiving so I decided to wait and sit through half an hour more of these painful contractions. Ouch!

The doctor came in shortly after midnight and after I pushed for 20 minutes, Casey was born at 12:24 am, weighing at 8 lbs!! The perfect Thanksgiving gift.

For those of you wondering about how we came up with her name, at first it was a joke between Allen and myself about how funny it would be to name our second child Casey after “K-Ci & JoJo” but when time came to really start thinking about names for her, we couldn’t get the name Casey out of our minds so we stuck with it especially after we heard that Casey means “brave.” Anne came from my love of Anne of Green Gables and my hope that Casey will be imaginative, adventurous and sweet like Anne.

We’re so in love with this girl. The past two weeks, we’ve been over the moon in love with her. I can’t stop staring at her! I was worried that I wouldn’t be able to connect with her as I have only known to love Joey with all of my heart but wow it’s true when parents of multiples say that you grow another heart for each new child. I can’t imagine our lives without Casey and Joey together. Joey has been nothing but the sweetest towards Casey. She loves to hug, kiss and gently stroke her hand and head. Every time she wakes up and comes home from school, she always asks where Casey is and will immediately go to her to give her a gentle pat. My heart bursts every time!

Thank you all so much for your sweet words of blessings to us leading up to Casey’s birth and for loving on her (and Joey) so much. We’re so grateful for you! And Casey, if you’re reading this many years later, you are SO SO loved!