Thursday, April 26, 2012
Monday, April 23, 2012
Monday, April 9, 2012
Saturday, April 7, 2012
Friday, April 6, 2012
Monday, April 2, 2012
Here's our birth story. After a long day of walking the 5k, our house flooding and flood cleanup I started having sporadic contractions. Not wanting to get my hopes up I tried not to get too excited. Around midnight Aria started really bouncing in my belly so I walked over to Lance to show him. "Look, she's really trying to get out" I told Lance. Then all of the sudden I felt a gush and grabbed Lance's shoulder. "my water just broke." We planned to wait a few hours before heading to the hospital so I showered while Lance packed a few last minute things. We tried to nap but I had a hard time lying still while fluid kept coming out so I ended up downstairs finishing up the dishes and laundry.
At 4am we headed to the hospital. They confirmed my water had broke but I wasn't having regular contractions. Because of the risk of infection rises significantly after my water had broken the hospital limited how often I was checked for dilation. When first admitted we were starting at 1cm. We had a long way to go and I was hoping for an unmedicated birth so we tried walking the hallways in an attempt to get things moving. By 10am my contractions seemed to be stopping completely and we started discussing using pitocin. 10:30am we started the pitocen. By 6:30pm I had progressed to 3cm without any pain medication although I noticed I was having some good back labor pain and wondered if I could hold off. After 7:30pm the contractions started to become unbearable.
I finally requested some IV pain meds which allowed me to sleep for a short while. Apparently the also gave me interesting dreams that caused me to talk in my sleep. In one dream I told Lance that "the cat is guarding our cell phoned. At 10pm I was checked again and still at 3cm. Very discouraging. I started thinking about getting an epidural since things were moving slow and just before starting the epidural at 12:30pm I was checked again with 6cm of dilation. Unfortunately the epidural only worked on one side of my body. At this point they had been watching my temperature and noticed I was getting a fever- good sign of infection. I think I was given some antibiotics but I was in so much pain I had no idea what was going on.
I knew it had only been an hour since hitting 6cm but I was so uncomfortable down there that I couldn't help but push a little during the contractions. I was hoping to speed things along. At 1:30am they noticed my contractions seemed to be more intense and asked if I had been bearing down and pushing on any. Since I admitted to pushing a bit they checked me and found that in an hour I had gone from 6cm to 10cm. Thank heaven there was finally an end in sight! The staff helped me push and I was able to watch the baby crowning in a mirror- something I said I'd never do but it helped so much to see progress.
Aria Deanna was born at 2:22am after 20 hours of being in the hospital. She weighs 7 lbs 13 oz and is 20.5" long. I had wanted her to go directly onto me after birth but in addition to coming out blue, she needed to be checked out for effects from the medicine and possible infection. I was able to hold her for awhile, maybe 30 minutes, while they stitched me up a little. I tried to breastfeed but she was to tired and upset from the meds.
Lance went with Aria to the NICU for a couple of hours where she could receive antibiotics and be monitored for a little while. I took a nap and waited to be moved from labor and delivery to the mother/baby unit. Finally around 6:30am we were able to move Aria from the NICU and settle into our room. I finally got to hold my baby for awhile. She's having a difficult time breastfeeding but we're working with a lactation consultant and think she'll be just fine after a day or two.
The rest of today has been a rotation of 20 minute naps and an endless stream of staff, volunteers and well wishers. I think we're all going to be exhausted tomorrow. Today has been one of the most intense and best days of my life. We feel very blessed to have Aria in our lives.
Since Im posting this from my iPhone I only have a few pictures from the last two days but here they are in no particular order.
At 4am we headed to the hospital. They confirmed my water had broke but I wasn't having regular contractions. Because of the risk of infection rises significantly after my water had broken the hospital limited how often I was checked for dilation. When first admitted we were starting at 1cm. We had a long way to go and I was hoping for an unmedicated birth so we tried walking the hallways in an attempt to get things moving. By 10am my contractions seemed to be stopping completely and we started discussing using pitocin. 10:30am we started the pitocen. By 6:30pm I had progressed to 3cm without any pain medication although I noticed I was having some good back labor pain and wondered if I could hold off. After 7:30pm the contractions started to become unbearable.
I finally requested some IV pain meds which allowed me to sleep for a short while. Apparently the also gave me interesting dreams that caused me to talk in my sleep. In one dream I told Lance that "the cat is guarding our cell phoned. At 10pm I was checked again and still at 3cm. Very discouraging. I started thinking about getting an epidural since things were moving slow and just before starting the epidural at 12:30pm I was checked again with 6cm of dilation. Unfortunately the epidural only worked on one side of my body. At this point they had been watching my temperature and noticed I was getting a fever- good sign of infection. I think I was given some antibiotics but I was in so much pain I had no idea what was going on.
I knew it had only been an hour since hitting 6cm but I was so uncomfortable down there that I couldn't help but push a little during the contractions. I was hoping to speed things along. At 1:30am they noticed my contractions seemed to be more intense and asked if I had been bearing down and pushing on any. Since I admitted to pushing a bit they checked me and found that in an hour I had gone from 6cm to 10cm. Thank heaven there was finally an end in sight! The staff helped me push and I was able to watch the baby crowning in a mirror- something I said I'd never do but it helped so much to see progress.
Aria Deanna was born at 2:22am after 20 hours of being in the hospital. She weighs 7 lbs 13 oz and is 20.5" long. I had wanted her to go directly onto me after birth but in addition to coming out blue, she needed to be checked out for effects from the medicine and possible infection. I was able to hold her for awhile, maybe 30 minutes, while they stitched me up a little. I tried to breastfeed but she was to tired and upset from the meds.
Lance went with Aria to the NICU for a couple of hours where she could receive antibiotics and be monitored for a little while. I took a nap and waited to be moved from labor and delivery to the mother/baby unit. Finally around 6:30am we were able to move Aria from the NICU and settle into our room. I finally got to hold my baby for awhile. She's having a difficult time breastfeeding but we're working with a lactation consultant and think she'll be just fine after a day or two.
The rest of today has been a rotation of 20 minute naps and an endless stream of staff, volunteers and well wishers. I think we're all going to be exhausted tomorrow. Today has been one of the most intense and best days of my life. We feel very blessed to have Aria in our lives.
Since Im posting this from my iPhone I only have a few pictures from the last two days but here they are in no particular order.
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