Wednesday, September 10, 2014

Birth & One Week!

Well.. I have now skipped THREE weeks. So I'll short recap before I write out our birth story.

38-40 weeks was uneventful. Literally. At my 40 week appointment (39w6d),  I was 5 cm but stretchable to 6; 50% effaced and S was still -2 station. We made progress from 38 weeks but not enough to cause labor.   We did another membrane sweep in hopes to cause something.

40 weeks came and went with no sign of labor. At that point, I kind of gave up the idea of having my baby. It really got me down that I was still pregnant even with how far I was progressed. I knew deep down I wasn't going to have an August baby. In fact, I was pretty positive I was having a Labor Day baby. Something in me just knew.

September 1. I woke up at 3 am with mild contractions, I was able to fall asleep in between contractions so I thought nothing of it yet. I went with it and got sleep in between. Around 4:15 I couldn't sleep through it anymore. I laid in bed and dealt with the contractions, they were much worse by this point. S was still at work, I finally texted him at 4:45 to see when he'd be home. He called me asking why I was awake. I told him I was having some contractions and wanted to see when he'd be home. He was actually about to head to the gym but came home instead. By this point, I was in tears from the pain. My contractions got strong much quicker than they did with C. He walked in our room and knew. He woke his mom to let her know and I called mine to let her know.

We headed to the hospital at 5 and were checked in by 5:30. I was checked but hadn't had progress yet. I was asked if I wanted an epidural and at first I said no because I wanted to try the tub. S could see it in me that the pain was getting unbearable and asked me again after the nurses left. I agreed. We called the nurses back in to let them know so they could get anesthesiology to come up.

 We did another cervical check at 6 to double check for progress, I was at 6 now and had thinned a little more. Success and we were on our way to having our little girl. I labored for about another 45 minutes before anesthesiology got up to our room.

Anasthesiology got up to our room at 6:45 to go over paperwork, risks and to start set up. It took half an hour of talk and setup before they were finally ready. Epi was placed at 7:15, it was slow to take effect and also gave me the itches really bad. I got some meds to control the itching and finally was able to rest with my epi working.

We had to adjust the levels a couple times due to it not fully working then working too well. We finally got the perfect dose and all was good.

Around 8:30am I started getting localized pain in my lower belly and thigh so we called my nurse to let her know. She came in and we talked about what was going on then she went to get my other nurse to come in so we can do a check. At 8:45 I was 10cm and complete.

We did two practice pushes at 9:15. Two was more than enough to convince my nurse it was go time and I was ready. Had I kept doing pushes, she would have been delivering S. She ran out to get my midwife up to our room. She came in with our other nurse and started getting things prepped for delivery.

We started pushing around 9:30am. My midwife saw some meconium in her fluid that happened at pushing and called for the Peds team to come up just in case. Savannah Paige joined us in under ten minutes at 9:37! It was amazing. I felt her shoulders come out and was amazing at how quick it happened. I didn't even realize her head was out. I was so focused on getting her into the world that everyone around me didn't exist. She had no problems with the meconium and we were able to do immediate skin to skin and delayed cord clamping. It was wonderful.

She came out at 19 1/2 inches and 7.5 lbs! She was half a pound heavier and 3/4 inch longer than her brother!

We had an hour or so to ourselves before S brought in C to meet her as well as my mom and his mom.

It was all in all a wonderful experience. My recovery has been phenomenal as well. So different than the first. It's amazing how much easier this has been. I'm sure it helps I had no tearing or any of that stuff this time.


Fast forward to now. S is ONE WEEK! My how time flies.

She is doing well. We are exclusive breastfeeding and trying to get our perfect latch. She is at 7 lbs now. We had some issues with her gaining weight so we had to do a second check after we went home. She dropped down to 6.13 at our two day check up.

We are up one or two times a night to nurse. Though I have to wake her up for it. She does wonderful. She is a pretty happy little girl. Unless she is hungry and I don't get her latched on quick enough. Then.. She has a pretty big temper.

She has her two week appointment soon. Speaking of, I still need to call and make it. I think that pretty much sums up our recent weeks. I can't believe I have an outside baby now!