The Birthing Story at last....

I am going to hit the high points, because I don't want this to be the longest post in history and I know if I set it up in parts, I will never finish it, so here goes...

Wednesday, April 20--I go in for a visit to Dr. M. I am 3 days overdue at this time and he agrees that it's time for her to come out of there. I am still not dilated, at all. He arranges for me to come in that night so that they can give me Cyto.tek (no idea how that's spelled) in order to thin my cervix and such.
We check into the hospital at 8:30 p.m. and they start my IV and start the first dose of the above mentioned medicine. The nurse checks me (before the meds) and says I am at a 2, so that was confusing because that very morning I wasn't dilated at all. They give me an Amb.ien so that I will sleep and that did not affect me whatsoever, which I hear is crazy. I had never taken it before. I did however have a nice dose of Nu.bain (again with the spelling thing) and that eventually made me go to sleep for awhile.
That next morning the new nurse comes in and introduces herself and checks me...I think I was between a 3-4 at this time and she told me to go ahead and get the epi.dural if I wanted it. I should not have listened to her...stay tuned to find out why. Ha.
At 7 a.m. Dr. M comes in to break my water. That is just nasty of course and then the epi.dural guy comes in and does his thing. I was nervous, but that part was pretty uneventful actually. They placed the dreaded catheter and from that point on I was good to go. I wasn't feeling any pain, my family was there just hanging out in the room...no biggie and then Dr. comes into check me later that day. I think it was like noon or so and he says I am dilated to an 8. He kicks my family out because he thinks I will start pushing soon. He was wrong.
And instantly I started feeling the pain. OMG. I couldn't breathe, I couldn't talk, I couldn't function...I will never forget it. I just remember thinking that the epi.dural was a load of crap, and that's when the pump started beeping at us. Yep...the epi.dural was gone. To make a long drawn out story short...I was miserable. I felt like I needed to push and the nurse said it wasn't time and then she disappeared to go do a c-section. There are a lot of things that I don't remember, because I blocked them apparently, but I do remember jerking my blood pressure cuff off and throwing it the floor so that the alarm would go off and they would come back and check on me. LOL. I laugh now, but I wasn't at the time. Nevertheless, I started pushing when I reached a 9 because I basically refused to wait any longer and 1 HOUR and 40 MINUTES later....she was born. 9 lbs, 11 ounces.

I wouldn't say I handled the birthing process gracefully. Ha. The nurses and my husband say I did great, especially when they saw how big she was. Nothing could have prepared me for any of it...the pain, the exhaustion, the pride I took in her the instant she was born, even though I was hysterical. It was by far the hardest and best thing I've ever done.

1 Month!!!!!

*You weighed 9 lb 14 oz, 2 weeks ago. I would guess you at a little over 10 lbs today.



*You wear a size 1 diaper and have since birth. No newborn diapers for you!



*You wear very few newborn-sized clothes an fit mostly into 0-3 months.



*You eat 4 ounces every 3-4 hours, including nighttime but you (usually) go right back to sleep after feedings. Your Daddy and I consider ourselves lucky that you sleep that well.



*You aren't colicky and have spit up maybe twice in the entire month that you have been alive.



*From birth your eyes have been big and blue. We expect them to change because I have hazel eyes and your Dad has dark brown ones, but we'll see. So far they have not changed at all.



*You have very little hair and it is brown. It actually has started to look lighter this week. We may have a redhead on our hands. You certainly have the temper of one...it doesn't flare up very often but when it does...YIKES!



*You like your pacifier, but only the soothie ones like they give you in the hospital. You don't care for the others (the cute ones). You also like to suck on your hand and I have caught you with your index finger in your mouth a couple of times. I fully expect you to suck your thumb pretty soon.



*You are rotten. I say that with affection, but oh man. You have made it very clear that you prefer to be held. :)



*You LOVE to eat and are cranky if you aren't fed RIGHT when you think it's time. When we put the bottle near your mouth you will shake your head violently from side to side like you can't go another second without eating. It's hilarious.



*You are such a good baby and this has hands down been the best month of our lives.




Anndddd....you make a pretty cute frog too. :)

Quick update and some pics!

I'm still going to tell that birthing story. It makes me shudder just to think about it. Ha! The really fantastic thing about it all is that I have a GORGEOUS little girl sitting in the room next to me who gives me the what-for every time her paci falls out of her mouth and I am not there to poke it right back in...which isn't often, because I am usually there...just staring. Not in a creepy way but in a fascinated kind of way.

We have been home for 10 days now, which is just exactly as long as we were in the hospital and I will tell you that the home part has been a LOT more enjoyable than the NICU part. I just want to take a second to say to all of you parents who have had babies in the NICU...you are my hero(es). I know that our 10 days was nothing in comparison to the weeks and even months that a lot of you have had to deal with and I honestly had a really hard time with it. I couldn't even stand the IV's that were in her tiny little head, so I don't know what I would have done if it had been more serious...anyway, moving on...you guys have my full respect!!!

Mothers Day was amazing! My husband made sure of that although he says Isabel did all of the planning! :) We are just trying to get a routine down and enjoying every second with our LONG AWAITED daughter! And of course managing our volume of visitors! This baby is rather popular! Gotta go, someone thinks they are starving to death! Here are some pics!

ON ANOTHER NOTE....DOES ANYONE KNOW WHAT THE HECK IS UP WITH BLOGGER? Am I the only one having issues? Ok, thanks.

images by: http://brokenbikestudios.com/