She's Here!

NOTE: We are about 90% sure we are naming her Abigail, but the name is still subject to change. I decided to post it anyways and "try it out" for a bit. :)

Sweet little Abby joined our family on Tuesday, January 26 at 8:32 AM. She was 7 pounds even and 19.5 inches long. She has lots of dark hair and the cutest little face (we're not at all biased). Most people say she looks like Garrett when he was a newborn. Obviously, we are absolutely thrilled with her! Due to the swine flu, our hospital doesn't allow children under the age of 14 in unless they are patients, so Garrett hasn't been able to meet his little sister yet. We are going home in the morning and are so excited for the two of them to meet!

For those who care (mostly women who have had children and probably my MD brother-in-law), here's the lovely story.

I visited the doctor Monday afternoon. I was dilated to a 4, 80% effaced, her head was way down (unusual for a 2nd baby), and my bag of water was still bulging. He basically said I was just waiting to go into labor and said he wanted to induce me on Wednesday if I hadn't already her by then. I told him I really wanted to go into labor on my own, but we would think about it and let him know. He asked me if I wanted him to strip my membranes and I told him to go for it. He told me I would likely experience some pretty good cramping and sent me on my way, saying he was 80% sure he would be seeing me soon. (I guess I didn't realize what "soon" meant.)

I went home and was doing fine. A little cramping, but nothing major. We went to bed about midnight and the cramps started getting worse, but I was able to somewhat sleep through them. I woke up about every half hour or so, but was able to go back to sleep. At about 4:00 AM, the cramps got bad enough I couldn't sleep and had to get out of bed. I got on the internet and tried to research how I could figure out the difference between cramps and contractions, but I didn't really find anything that seemed to fit how I was feeling. I called the Labor & Delivery floor at the hospital and the nurse told me it was most likely just cramping and to get a big drink of water, walk around for awhile, lie back down, and see if they stopped. I did what she said and was lying in bed when I was hit with what I know now was a pretty painful contraction. I got up again and walked around and had another one a few minutes later. They started coming every few minutes and were intensifying in pain, so I called my mom at about 5:30 and told her what was going on. She said we better hurry and get to the hospital. I woke Greg up and we grabbed Garrett to drop him off at my parents' house. By the time we got to their house, the contractions were coming about every 3 minutes and were starting to get really painful.

Greg was still half asleep and was not driving as fast as I would have liked (ironic because I'm always telling him to slow down), so I had to ask him kindly (or not really that kindly) to please speed it up a bit. Luckily the weather was good, so we booked it to the hospital. Greg even ran two red lights--I've never been more grateful for anything in my life. :) We got to the hospital at a little after 6:00 AM and the contractions were coming strong. We got checked in and it seemed like it took forever for the nurse's aide to get me to my room and settled. I was planning on getting a picture of me in all my glory so I would have one to document me at 9 months pregnant, but I could barely stand up at that point, so I just got the gown on and got in the bed.

The aide finally got all the monitors hooked up to me and I asked her how soon I could get an epidural. She informed me it would probably be awhile because the anesthesiologist was just going into a C-section (which would occupy him for awhile) and they still had to examine me and see if I was really in labor. If I was in labor, they would have to get an IV started and at least one bag of fluids in me before they could even start the epidural. I consider myself to generally be a

really nice person, but I probably would have kicked her if I could have moved.

The nurse finally came in, took one look at me, and asked me if I was going to want an epidural. I said, "Yes, PLEASE!" and she got right to work. She quickly examined me and I was dilated to a 7! She said the end would probably come fast, but they were going to try to get the epidural in and hold me off because my doctor just happened to be the one doing the C-section. Thankfully, another anethesiologist was supposed to be coming on shift at 7:00 AM and had just barely called to see if he should come in early. They told him to come fast and he was there within minutes. (I'm thinking he must live in the hospital parking lot or something.) I will admit I was not doing too hot at this point. The contractions were only about a minute apart and were getting worse each time. (Keep in mind with Garrett that my water broke, but I had absolutely no contractions and was barely dilated. They started me on Pitocin and gave me my epidural at about the same time, so there wasn't much pain involved with the contractions in that labor. I was in labor for about 12 hours with him and did have to push for over 2 hours, so it wasn't a cakewalk, but it was nothing like this.) Anyways, he got the epidural in and the relief was wonderful--I could have kissed him! (Kudos to anybody who actually CHOOSES to have a baby without an epidural. You're tougher than me. And maybe partially crazy???)

At that point, the baby was ready to come, but they held me off for about 45 more minutes while the doctor finished the C-section. At about 8:00 AM, they started getting all the equipment ready for the delivery and said the doctor would be in shortly and he would break my water and deliver the baby. I was like, "It can't be that easy," and they told me not to jinx myself. The doctor came in a few minutes later, broke my water, I pushed about 5 times, and out she came! The cord was wrapped around her neck, but they got if off and suctioned out her mouth and she cried almost immediately. We were shocked at all of her dark hair--definitely expecting another redhead!

We're all doing great! The recovery from 5 minutes of pushing has been much easier than it was with the 2+ hours I did with Garrett. The doctor told me a few weeks ago, "Second babies are why people have thirds," and I would definitely agree. I feel really good and am looking forward to going home in the morning and figuring out how we are going to swing it with two kids. Any advice??? :)

***More pictures to come tomorrow (or sometime soon)!!!