"Hello World! I am HERE!" - Audrie Louise Case

The Story of Audrie's Birth from a Mother's Perspective:

About 1:45 a.m. on September 16, 2010, I was getting up from one of my many bathroom breaks during the night. As I was crawling back into bed....my water broke. I quickly grabbed my phone and headed back to the bathroom. I called Michael at work...no answer...again..no answer. Well, third time is a charm-he answered. I told him my water broke, and he asked, "Are you sure?" I looked down on the ground, and said, "YES, I am sure!" He responded "10-4" and hung up. (come to find out he was at a traffic stop.) So, I am home alone. I called all the family and the hospital of course. I thought I had three more weeks to prepare for this. We had NO bags packed! Once Michael got home, I wanted to pack, and he said grab your purse and lets go. Which makes a whole lot more sense than packing bags. But, I am a planner, and I had not planned to go into labor three weeks early. I believe it was God's way of saying, " I got this one, Katie."

We got admitted to the hospital and settled in about 2:30 in the morning. About 7 am rolled around with no real contractions, so they induced "real" labor. Here are some pictures of us waiting.

Michael and his Momma

Dad, Nina, and Me (yes, I am drugged at this point)

I couldn't get my epidural until my contractions were in a pattern, so they gave me a pain reliever that made me feel drunk. I was literally seeing two of everybody, so I went to sleep. Well, while I was asleep, my contractions got into a pattern and my medicine wore off. So, there was about 30 minutes where I was feeling EVERYTHING! I was squeezing Michael's hand (if you know my husband, he has really massive hands). He had to take his wedding band off I was squeezing so hard. But, after the epidural...I was a new person! Couldn't feel a thing! The miracle of modern medicine. I went quickly from 2cm to 8cm. When I got to 8cm, the nurse got everybody out of the room. Michael and I prayed together for safe and healthy delivery, because we both knew it was not in our hands, but in the Lord's. After our prayer, we took a nap until I reached 10cm.

Our last family picture with only two

After 45 minutes of pushing on September 16th at 3:09 pm , our beautiful daughter was born. Her chord was wrapped twice around her little neck. This was evidence and proof that God's plan is greater than our own. He brought Audrie safely into the world and into Michael's and my arms. She has some lungs on her!

The first time I held her.

First family picture with all three

getting weighed

6 pounds 15 ounces and 19 and 1/4 inches long

one proud daddy

Our sweet angel

Audrie with her Grammy

with her Uncle Luke

with her Memaw

with her grandpaw

with Ashley

with Emmylou and Whitney

All ready to go home in her dress that was handmade by Aunt Hilda

Finally home

first time to sleep in her bed

first bath

At her two day check-up, we found out Audrie had jaundice. So, she was our little Glo-worm.

Yesterday, we graduated from our Glo-worm status! Audrie is doing wonderful.

This first week of motherhood has been absolutely amazing! I have enjoyed every minute of it. Even the getting up in the middle of the night. Thank you to all our family and friends who have helped us. We could not have done this alone!