May 30, 2013

Yes, she is here. Yes, she is perfect and beautiful. Was my pregnancy and birth complicated? YES. I wrote the whole story out last night and it somehow was deleted. It took a lot out of me to have all that hard work deleted so I pray it doesn't happen again.

At 40 weeks and 1 day, at 9 am, I was induced. I got to the hospital at 5 am with happy thoughts and high hopes. I couldn't wait to meet my baby girl and I figured I would be meeting her later that day or into the night around 10 pm at the latest! My husband, mom and dad were all with me right away. None of us had slept very well so we were all falling asleep on and off in the beginning. Finally, at 9 pm, they inserted a foley bulb into my cervix and started me on the pitocin. I started having contractions right away. I dilated to a 3 in about half an hour with the help of the foley bulb. I called the nurse in to please give me something for the horrible pain the foley bulb was causing (it felt like a constant painful contraction) so she checked it and it was about to come out! She left the room to let someone know that it was about to come out and I gagged 4 times from the pain while she was away. On the forth gag, it popped out and I felt immediate relief. The nurse asked me if I still wanted pain meds and I said no.

About half an hour later they checked me and broke my water. I supposed that's when "labor" started but I start it at 9 am because that's when I started having contractions and a lot of pain.

Anyway, most of it was a blur, to be honest. I have no clue how much time went by between 3 cm and 4 cm. Then from 4 cm to almost 6 cm. Then from 6 cm to 8 cm. I can tell you that it was over 24 hours... That's not even the most wild part...

Because I progressed so slowly and they checked me so often (once every 2ish hours) I ended up with an infection called chorioamnionitis. I was shivering a lot and I thought I may have a fever but my mom thought it may have been from the epidural. They checked my temperature and I had a low grade fever of 99.7 so they started keeping an eye on me. Next time they checked, it was higher, then next time, even higher, then next time, much higher. As far as we know my temperature reached 103.4. I was shaking so violently that I thought I would just die. My heart rate stayed around 150 and Abriella's stayed between 190 and 210. I could cry right now thinking about it. My baby was in distress because I had an infection. They started me on antibiotics and started talking c section. I finally had myself mentally prepared for the c section when they came in and took my temperature and it was dropping. Abby's heart rate was still around 190-200 but the dr decided to wait to see if we could get mine and Abby's heart rates to go down. Once Abby's was only staying around 180-190 they started talking about putting me back on pitocin. We didn't feel comfortable starting my contractions back up so we refused the pitocin. They put me on oxygen and our heart rates started going down! FINALLY! After 2 or more horribly scary hours, things were getting better!!! Once Abby's heart rate dropped down to the 150's-160's we felt comfortable with starting the pitocin back up.

I wasn't having very hard contractions so none of us expected me to have dilated at all the next time they checked me. I had been ALMOST 6 cm for hours upon hours. When the delivering dr came in and checked me, I was 8 cm and 95% effaced!!! And of course I just got goosebumps and teared up thinking about it. The long, hard road was almost over!! The dr told me she would come back in half an hour to an hour and we would start pushing! The biggest sense of relief came over me. It probably came over everyone in the room. 45 minutes later, the dr came in, checked me and had the nurse "practice" push with me. I really was pushing though. I got Abby through the birth canal in about an hour and she was crowning. The dr then came in to deliver her. About half an hour later, Abby was in the world and screaming her little cone shaped head off.

The things I didn't mention in that paragraph were these: She was sideways in the canal for a bit before she started turning the right way and that's why she had a cone head. Also, we had a big scare. She suffered shoulder dystocia. I didn't get to hold her immediately after she was born because they had to make sure she was ok. Ryan stayed by my side until I told him to go be with her. I was bawling from the moment her head came out until the moment they finally gave her to me. They let me hold her for a few minutes after checking her shoulder and vitals but they had to take her away because she had a fever and had caught an infection because of mine (again with the weepy eyes). Knowing she was sick and she was brand new was the absolute scariest time of my life aside from being so sick while I had the infection. They finally brought her back to me about 20 minutes or so later. She had an IV in her arm because she needed to get antibiotics for the infection. Her temperature was down and she got to stay in the room with me. I held her until Ryan got back with my food. Then I gave her to him so he could finally hold our baby girl. Then we finally shared her with my mom and dad.

2 days later we got to go home. Abby was fine, I was fine. She latched to my breast immediately when they brought her in to me and continued doing so (until my milk came in that is. But that is a story for another day).

Without further ado, here is our princess, Abriella Jane. 8 lbs 10 oz and 22 1/4 inches long:

And here she is now at 8 lbs 6 oz:

She is our world. There are a lot more pictures to come, but that is also for another day. I can't believe this tiny miracle I hold in my arms. She is truly amazing.