Our comings and goings

I decided not to find out the gender for this baby since we already had one of each and this might be our last one; I wanted to make it unique. If I had to guess I would have said boy, so I was a little surprised! Her first name is derived from my name and her middle name comes from my oldest and dearest friend.

If you don't want to read too many details, just know that she came quickly after arriving at the hospital and there were no complications :) Now you can skip to the pictures.

For me and anyone else who wants more info-read on.

I had been having a number of hard contractions about a month before delivery. I had braxton hicks with the other ones, this time I didn't. My mom's theory was that my body had been working so hard with these intense contractions that the delivery went quickly.

4:30 a.m. on Friday Dec 27th contractions started. Normally I can tell it is labor because I get kind of nauseous, but this time I felt hungry. So I alternate laying on the couch and bouncing on a ball while I watched a movie. I prayed and talked to my latest ultra sound picture, asking for baby to work with me and I am so excited to meet them (don't judge a woman in labor).

Hubby's sister and family were in town. She is a midwife. Oh, I forgot to mention that my midwife decided to retire unexpectedly when I was about 34 weeks. I was not happy :(. So we were joking that we might ask B to deliver the baby. Back to the delivery. I felt like I was handling things pretty well, keeping my breathing under control and staying relaxed. I took a lavender bath and when I got out decided it was time to go to the hospital. B had come to the house and offered to take the kids over to my mom's and meet us at the hospital.

The hospital offers valet parking during normal working hours. We had joked earlier that it was so fancy; we have never been cool enough to use valet parking. We get there and are deciding if hubby wants to the park the car and figure we will let the valet take it, just for kicks......

We get to the desk where we had preregistered, but they still needed hubby to fill out a form. It is 1:22. I have a pretty painful contraction and have to walk it off. They show us to a room and hubby is trying to help me get the gown on. I have another contraction and I am afraid my legs are going to give out so I climb on the bed without the gown done up. B walks into the room as does the nurse. It is 1:33. Another contraction hits and contrary to my relaxation efforts I roll onto my side and grab onto the side of the bed. Water breaks. The nurse is getting the computer up and is probably trying to ask me questions. However, I feel the baby crowning and try to communicate the baby is coming. The nurse tells me not to bear down....yeah right. B seems to realize quicker than the nurse that the baby is coming now. I have the presence of mind to realize I am on the side of the bed and attempt to scoot to the middle. B is talking to the nurse telling her she is a midwife and gets the okay to put some gloves on. 1:36 last contraction. Baby comes sliding out onto the bed. B catches her. It is rather chaotic as no one is prepared. I ask hubby what it is and he tells me girl :).

She was only 5 lbs 11 oz and 17 inches. She wasn't crying much because of my anti depression meds (don't worry, she cries plenty now). They bring her over to me where I fall deeply in love with her. Now comes the hard part. Since my doctor (whom I have only met with two or three times) isn't there, the doctor at the hospital stitches me up. My doctor arrives and finds out that not all of the placenta came out and I am bleeding heavily. He manually extracts what he can find. Of course the nurses are pushing on my belly to help my uterus to start to contract.

I have given birth naturally twice now (soapbox minute-there are as many different ways to give birth as there are people. I realize that and have no feelings whatsoever if you delivered differently. This is just how things went for me.) and the pain of this placenta business was horrendous. It took everything I had left to keep it together. Having baby on me helped, but good grief it was awful. They decided to get an ultrasound machine to make sure everything was removed. I was starving, but not allowed to eat anything until we knew all of the placenta was out. If it wasn't I was going to have to have surgery to get the rest of it out. It seemed like forever until the machine came and the doc gave the okay. I was still bleeding more than I should have been so I got a combination of shots and pills to help with that. They brought in some food for me, but I started feeling sick as all of the medicines started working.

They wheeled me up to the recovery rooms and although I was completely wiped out, I was feeling much better. Hubby even commented to the nurse that he hadn't seen me like this for months. Pregnancy seriously messes with me! Anyway, we started calling family and resting. My parents and sister brought the kids over about 7 to meet baby. The kids were kind of nervous around her, but now they adore her :). Hubby went home to get some rest. I finally got some food down about 11 p.m. It was rather peaceful to be alone with the baby. When I was sleeping she went into the nursery. I was able to leave the next day around 4 p.m.

She is my best eater and sleeper so far. I had to modify my diet with the other kids, but not baby. Although I am sleep deprived I feel night and day better than when pregnant. It feels nice to be back.

Now here are some pics-

Trying to keep it together during the after birth stuff