Raspberries and Limes: August 2011

Saturday, August 20, 2011

Well, she is here. Born yesterday at exactly 6:00pm. Weighing 6lbs 12 oz, and 19.5 inches long. She is an angel. She came out with a head full of dark hair, which Josh and I thought was funny. But I LOVE her hair! I think she looks so cute with it and I'm glad she isn't bald. HAHA. Well, here is the story, so we have it for the memory books :) Wednesday (August 17th) during the day I called my docs office because I had experienced some diarhea the night before (yes, gross) and out of curiosity I had googled if it had any connection with labor. Of course, it does, so I decided to call. They had me come in right away and checkedme. Still dialated to just a 2.5 but at about 50% effacement. Not too alarming, so I went back to work the rest of the day and was told to keep an eye on it and come back the next day for my regularly scheduled appointment. I also went into work the next day, had a pretty normal day (besides some new types of contractions that felt more like menstrual cramps). Josh picked me up for the appt and I was dialated to a 3 and at about 60% effacement. The doc also said no work the next day (Friday) and if the baby doesn't come over the weekend, he would induce me on Monday. Wowsa! So I let work know, and Josh and I decided to run around and get the rest of our errands taken care of just in case. I think we went to like four different stores, and the bank. My feet were killing me and I couldn't keep up with Josh walking. It was weird. My whole pregnancy I have been great, and then all the sudden this day I was all waddling and slow and aching. BLAH. Well, I should have taken that as a warning sign :) Josh and I joked around about different ways we could induce labor. We settled on on e method *cough cough* and it's good we did cause after the next day Josh would be with out for a while. HAHA. About 4:45am the next morning my body woke me up (which was not uncommon considering my bathroom habits the last 9 months) and I ventured into the bathroom. Well this time was a little different. My liner had a thicker red mucus substance (sorry for the graphics), and I was having much stronger contractions, about every 10 minutes. I couldnt go back to sleep, so I decided to just get ready for the day. Josh woke up about a half hour later and I let him know it was about time. I also called my dad (5:30am is the best time to reach him :)) and let him know we were probably going in that day. We drop Kim and Shay off to Ashlee every day at 7:00am, so we got everything we needed for the hospital before we left. It was odd how casual and relaxed we were. In the movies people are usually running around and screaming. HAHA When we dropped the girls off we let Ashlee know we were headed to the hospital, just in casewe couldn't pick the girls up. She was way more frantic than we were, she hurried the girls out of our car so we could go. I remember talking to Josh about how funny it was that we were the ones headed to the hospital, and we were so calm. When we got there, the nursing staff went ahead and put us in a room, but sounded iffy on keeping me. They seemed to think I wasn't in labor enough to be admitted. WRONG! lol. They kept me about 1.5 hours to "observe" my progress, then called my doctor. Right before they called him they again sounded like they were going to send me home. Thankfully, my doc knows my case and told them to keep me because I progress fast. YAY! I probably would have had a crappy day if they sent me home.

They had me walk the halls to speed up my labor until I was finally in enough pain from the contractions that I wanted my epidural. It was 10:30 by the time I got it. That also meant I couldn't get up to pee, so they tubed me, which was fine - I couldn't tell if I had the urge to go or not... I no longer could walk around, actually I could barely lift my legs an inch off the bed, so instead Josh hung out in the room with me and we talked and napped a little. All I could eat were ice chips and popsicles - I took advantage of the popsicles! Josh ordered lunch from the cafeteria and I was a little jealous. Around 2:30 I started to notice I could feel my contractions a little bit again. By 3:00 my legs weren't really tingly anymore. I tried to push the button to get a dosage boost, but it wasn't helping. We called the nurses in to check the machine, and it was fine so they called the epidural guy back in. He gave me a shot straight into the tube on my shoulder connected to the epidural spot on my back. We had to wait 10-15 mins to see if it helped. It didn't, and I was in so much pain I was crying. The guy came back and did another boost shot... same thing. By now I was all but screaming. My pain was at a 12 on a 10-point scale, and my contractions were coming every 1.5 minutes. The epidural guy came back and this time decided he would check the needle in my back - and found the problem! It had slipped and the meds were going into a nerve and not where they should. He adjusted it and voila! in about 10 minutes my contractions became mild and my legs started to tingle. He gave me extra dosages of meds to counteract the pain, and before I knew it not only were my legs tingly, I couldn't feel them at all. AT ALL. I was laying a little sideways on the bed, and my right leg kept slipping off, it was weird and funny. They also had a lady come in and break my water for me, and I felt it gush out. Very weird feeling. After the epidural fiasco was over, it was about an hour and I went from being dialated from a 4 to a 10, and effaced all the way. YAY! It was 5:00pm and it was time to start pushing. PUSHING? How was I to do that when I couldn't feel any thing? Josh was on one side, and the nurse on the other. They both had one of my limp legs, pulled it up, and I was told to hold my thighs, lift my torso up, take a deep breath and hold it while I "pushed" as hard as I could. I definately had no idea if I was doing it right, but they said I was. I could only push during a contraction, and after about four of them the pressure was too much for my tummy. I was suddenly sick and Josh barely got the puke bag to me in time. Wow there was a lot of ice chips and popsicles in my tummy. (sorry again for the graphics) And it was like water - Ive never had puke so non-solid HAHA. Well, after that was done I felt MUCH better. We pushed a couple more times and then had to stop and wait for the doc. Once he got there, I pushed a couple more times and they could see her head - full head of dark hair! Josh and I thought that was funny. We are both blondies! A couple more numb bum pushes and I could actualy feel her head pop out. Kinda like squeezing a bubble out of the end of a tube - it was weird and cool. He had me wait so that he could clean out her nose and mouth super quick. It also looked like she pooped inside me so they had a special team ready to help clean that out of her, if needed. Then he had me push again and I felt her come out. Again, so weird but so cool. I'm sure it took her a few seconds to cry, but all I remember is seeing her perfect little face. Josh got to cut the cord, and they put her on my tummy while he did.

Then they had to clean her and I needed to deliver the placenta. I did NOT want to see it, and thankfully it was fast. Then they brought her to me and it was the best moment. She is amazing and perfect and a miracle. We did the skin to skin contact and it was the best moment, getting my first cuddle from my little girl.They took her to clean her up a little bit more and I got stitched up. Then they brought her back to me and I was able to nurse her for the first time. She latched right on and it was very interesting. She fed for about 10 minutes each side. By that time my parents had arrived and wanted to see her. I spent time relaxing while they held her. Josh met up with the girls' mom and brought them up as well. Then it was time for me to get cleaned up the rest of the way and move to my new room for the rest of my stay. My dad held the baby most of that time and then when it was time to move, I was put on a movable bed and I got to hold her while we went down the hall.

Our new room was much smaller, but it ended up being just fine because most of the time we were there it was just Josh and I with the baby. I ordered dinner from the cafe and was so happy since I couldn't eat all day. It was amazing! My grandparents arrived about the time we got settled into our new room, and McKay and Rachel showed up a little later that evening. We loved having visitors! I fed the baby again after McKay and Rachel left and then it was time for her first bath! I think it was about 11:30pm, and I still wasn't able to walk on my own, so they took me in a wheel chair. The hospital didn't allow anyone to carry the baby down the hall, so Josh got to wheel her little bed. It was fun seeing her first bath, and she LOVED it. Didn't cry at all, just was calm and happy. I got to pick two bows for her head, and then back to the room we went.

Oakley fell asleep and we tried getting some sleep as well. The nurses came in every few hours to help me feed her and to check our vitals. In the morning Josh left to pick the girls up from my grandparents and drop them off to Ashlee. It felt like he was gone forever, probably because I was so worried about not knowing what to do with Oakley with him gone, so I thought about the time constantly. Eventually he was back, and I was totally fine while he was gone. :) Josh's parents, Rhocki and Auriyana, and Darin and Chandra all showed up that afternoon. It was fun seeing them all and I'm glad they came all the way down to the hospital to see us. Again, I enjoyed the food from the cafe, but felt bad that Josh felt like he needed to get dollar menu drive through. Again, that evening he left to pick up Kim and Shay so they could go to his parents' house for the night. That night the nurse visits were less frequent, but they still helped wake me up and get me feeding the baby. The next morning, Sunday, Josh drove all the way to his parents to pick up the girls, and then to Ashlee's to drop them off. It was the longest he had been gone the whole time (about 3 hours) and I was quite sad. I missed him and wanted him to stay with me, but knew he needed to go get the girls. While he was gone, some church members brought me the sacrament and I was impressed with being offered that opportunity while in the hospital. I watched a movie and some boring Sunday morning TV. The doctors also came in and talked to me about discharge from the hospital and taking care of Oakley once we leave. Josh finally got back and we were able to relax during the afternoon.

We planned to leave around 6:00pm, unfortunately Oakley was having a bit of a hard time eating this last day and her blood sugar was low. There was an RN on duty that was a lactation specialist, and she came in to help me a bit. Finally, we got her to eat using a syringe taped to the side of my breast that gave a little drop of formula to help her latch on. They checked her blood sugar one more time and approved us leaving. We were told to go into the pediatrician the next day to have Oakley checked again, just to make sure. We were so happy it was time to leave. All we wanted was to go home to our own house and get settled. Josh carried all the junk to the car and brought the car seat up. He had to go back down and move the car to the emergency area, but they let me walk. the nurse took some pictures of us leaving and then we were finally on our way! I was a nervous wreck, thinking every car was out to get us. Once we got home we immediately showed the baby to the cats so they could start getting used to her. Heidi and Jordan came over and we compared Paisley to Oakley. It was so cute! My grandparents also came over for a bit. It was an enjoyable evening and we were so happy to have our new little monkey home.