Well, now that our baby is almost one month old, I'm finally getting around to posting about her birth! Everything has been going really well...it was certainly a bit of an adjustment, but I've done pretty well at learning to live with less sleep. :)
I will also apologize ahead of time...this is going to be a LONG post. :)
On 3/31, her due date, I had my 40 week doctor's appointment at 1 PM. My doctor stripped my membranes for the second time after checking me and telling me I'd made a little more progress. The first time had been the previous Friday. It caused contractions then, but they never got regular. This time, they started happening almost as soon as we left the hospital. And they didn't stop. We had some shopping to do, so we went to Sam's Club and walked around for awhile. Donny had class until 8:30 that night, and I didn't just want to sit around the house, so my mom came up to go for a walk with me. We actually ended up going shopping (and she took me out to dinner at Perkin's), so that was nice. :)
By the time we were done eating, my contractions were coming every 5-7 minutes apart, so we headed home. I walked around the house while we talked and watched TV. Donny stayed late at class, so around 9ish I called him to tell him that my contractions were coming every 4-5 minutes & that he should come home so I could call the hospital. He told me he'd be home in 15 minutes, but that I should call the hospital in the meantime. I spoke with my doctor, who was the doctor on call that night, and she told me to come in.
We got to the hospital around 10, they checked me...no progress. I was disappointed, and in pain! The nurse reassured me that the doctor already had her prepare a chart, and so I wasn't leaving. I decided that I wanted to try relaxing (as much as possible!) in the whirlpool bathtub (it was HUGE!!!), so I did that for an hour or so. I was after midnight by the time I got back into bed, and after being checked again, I'd progressed to about 3cm. Since things weren't going super fast, I was given something to help me sleep (as much as possible through contractions), and then I'd be checked again during AM rounds.
I managed to sleep off and on, while poor Donny tried to sleep in a recliner next to me. My contractions were very regular, and painful. I'd started shaking quite a bit, and was told that was all the hormones. At 7AM the new on-call doctor came in to check me, and as she was lowering the bed, I told her I felt sick. After getting sick, she finally checked me. I'd made it to 4cm! She broke my water, and from there things progressed pretty quickly. At least to me it seemed quick. I ended up getting sick two or three more times before she was born. That wasn't so fun.
Since I was shaking so badly and throwing up from the pain, I requested an epidural. I'm so glad I did. Her birth experience was sooo much more enjoyable for me after that point. Donny was a huge help, even though he didn't think he was helping. He held my hand, talked to me and fed me ice chips the whole time. The nurse also talked him into holding one of my legs while I pushed, which he hadn't planned on, but said he was glad he did. :)
The epidural was finally in by 10ish (I'm trying my best to remember the times!), and although it made me itchy for 45 minutes or so, I felt amazing. I felt pressure, but no pain at all. Shortly before noon I was checked again & was at 10 cm! We were nervous, exhausted and excited all at the same time. I was told I could start pushing. We soon found out why I'd been having so much back pain with my contractions...she was "sunny side up," as the doctor called it. :) After getting her turned face down (that was a bit uncomfortable) and after about 45 minutes of pushing altogether, Adelyn Claire was born at 12:37PM!
Her daddy cut the cord and then followed her over to the scale and the warmer. He got to hold her first and then brought her to me. We spent a few minutes just staring at her, were immediately in love with her, and then she was ready to eat. She latched on immediately, and has been eating like a pro ever since! :)
On a side note, at the hospital I was told to feed her every 3 hours, and to wake her up if necessary. We quickly discovered that was just making both of us miserable, so I started doing on-demand feedings. It worked so much better for us. She'll often go 4 hours between feedings (never more than that), but usually eats every 2 to 3 hours.
We had a fabulous hospital stay, and left after dinner on Saturday. I almost didn't want to leave! It was nice having all my meals brought to me! :) Donny was very ready to go, though. He was anxious to take her home. :) She ended up being jaundiced, so she was put on the bili bed on two sets of lights in the hospital on Saturday (which is why we stayed there until after 6PM), and then we were sent home with a bili blanket. She absolutely hated it, and it made things very interesting. By her recheck two days later she was ok to be taken off the blanket, so we were very happy about that.
She was 6 lbs 12 oz at birth, was down to 6 lbs 5 oz when we left the hospital on Saturday (and at her re-check on Monday), but was up to 7 lbs 7 oz at her two week checkup on 4/16.
Since this is the longest post ever, I'll leave you with some more pictures now. :)
With Daddy right before we left the hospital
Hating her tub bath :)
Sleeping on Mommy's chest
With her grandparents (my parents). We took her to the Fireman's Brat Fry in my hometown on 4/17. She wore the "I Love My Firefighter Grandpa" onesie that I bought for her. :) You can't tell that my parents are thrilled to be grandparents, can you? ;)
