Introducing Madeline!

 

First I should apologize for this post taking years. Its been a long week and a half and on top of all the adjustments with the baby, I just haven’t had the time to fool with my computer. In fact, I’m using Derek’s now because I still don’t have the patience to deal with my broken battery.

So the story of Madeline’s birth…..

We went to the doctor on Wednesday the 6th and I was still showing no signs of labor at all. Despite reservations, we decided to go ahead with the induction the next day. As Derek was looking for a parking space while I was in the doctor’s office, his car started smoking. He replaced the coolant and we thought everything would be fine. We never made it home in that car. By the time we got halfway home it was smoking again and we had to basically pull into the first repair place we saw. They said they couldn’t have the car fixed until Friday morning.  So then we had to have Enterprise pick us up and ended up with a rental car. Derek was disappointed it didn’t come wrapped in brown paper with a bow (like on the commercial). Quite frankly, for the price they charge, it probably should. After all that I think we both had some trouble sleeping that night …at least I know I did.

The next morning was spent going back and forth to the airport or waiting for my parents to get here in their car. Derek and I left for the hospital around 5 and got there around 5:30. It took awhile to get registered and all that, though it only took a minute to get me in the room. Around 8 the doctor came in and inserted the foley bulb. It is basically a catheter with a balloon in the middle. They put it in your uterus, then they fill the balloon with water or saline, and its suppose to force your cervix open and start the labor process. I wasn’t allowed to move off the bed after that and I couldn’t have any pain meds (well I could, but apparently they cause people to hallucinate, so I decided against them). What followed was the most painful 2.5 hours of life. I mean…seriously painful. The pain was constant and intense until 10 ish and the bulb fell out on its own around 1030 when I tried to use the bed pan.  We were pretty optimistic at this point because it falling out meant I had reached 3 cm dilated and pretty fast at that.

The doctor came in shortly after that and started me on pitocin and told us to get some sleep. I got a few hours on and off but the contractions started that night and it was a little uncomfortable. By 10 AM on the 8th I was having really strong contractions fairly close together. They checked me earlier and I was at 4 cm, so they said  I could go ahead and get the epidural whenever I was ready. At 10 AM I was definitely ready. The pain wasn’t too terrible but I was exhausted and just plain done hurting. So they put in the epidural and all was well with the world. My mom came in the room at that point but I was going in and out of sleep from that point on. Although my epidural did come unattached at one point and I wasn’t getting any more medicine, so I was definitely awake and feeling things then.

Everything was fine until the baby’s heart rate started dropping. At first it was just every once in a while but I guess it started to be every contraction, so the doctor came in around 4 or 5 and shut off the pitocin, to give the baby a break. I was still contracting on my own, though I don’t think they were as effective. She came in to check me sometime between 6 and 7 PM and said that I was still at 4 cm dilated and the baby was still at –2, which means she hadn’t dropped at all, and that it was pretty much 24 hours later and still no change. She told me that it was time for a C-section and I pretty much had an emotional breakdown. I should add that at this point, my epidural had worn off, so I was in pain for about an hour and a half, on top of being exhausted, hungry, and thirsty. It was all just a combo of stuff that set me off…tears and yelling and it was just not my best moment.

After a nurse butchered my name (she was so confused), a rude resident came in confused and tried to get me to sign another consent form for the surgery, and no one came to replace my epidural I was finally wheeled back for surgery. No one seemed to know what was going on in the operating room and it was all just a mess. They gave me some medicine for the reflux I was having and about 3 minutes later I threw it all up. I was pretty irritated until the epidural kicked back in. Derek came in at some point and I think the surgery started sometime after 8.

At 8:28 Madeline was born weighing 8 lb 2.9 oz and she was 21 inches long. She was so stuck in me that they had to vacuum her out during the C-section…baby was happy where she was! It seemed like it took forever before they let us see her and I only got to see her for like 30 seconds before they took her away. She had to go to the NICU because she had fluid in her lungs, which is really common for C-section babies. Derek went with the baby and I was sewed back up and taken to the recovery room. I was kind of concerned because I was definitely feeling a spot on my right side during the surgery but they reassured me it was nothing. Derek and I think it must have something to do with my appendix scar tissue because it still hurts there more than anywhere else. I got a chance to see all the family in the recovery room and they had all seen the baby on her way to the NICU and Derek got a chance to go to the NICU and take some pictures of the baby. After they left, it was almost time for me to go to my room. After I got set up in there, Derek left for the night.

I didn’t get to see the baby until the next afternoon and I didn’t get to hold her until around 1230 that day. Thankfully she was off the CPAC and she looked so healthy. All the fluid was out of her lungs and we were just waiting on a test to see if she had an infection to come back clear. She got to leave the NICU on Sunday afternoon and I got to spend that night in the hospital with her. We both went home Monday afternoon, after what felt like my whole life. The hospital was terrible and I’m so glad I never have to have another baby there.

Now what you’ve all been waiting for….pictures!

 

Last preggo picture

Baby in the NICU the first night

(Have I mentioned that Derek is the best daddy ever? He is)

Finally in the room with daddy and mommy

Saying bye to Lolly and Poppy the second day home :(

Just posing

 

First bath

More posing

 

Stretching on Daddy’s lap ..she is so long

Ari discovered the boppy and attempted to claim it as his own…he is content to share most the time

 

So I have a few good ones from an attempt at a photo shoot …she woke up both times we’ve tried and started crying. I’ll have to edit them a little and then I’ll put them up. Right now Derek is trying to keep the hungry baby happy with her paci so I can finish this…I think I’ve kept her waiting long enough.