She's here!
We are beyond thrilled that our little girl is finally here safe and sound. She is just so sweet and we are loving getting to know her.
We had prayed so much about the timing of her arrival and truly felt that if a VBAC was a safe option for us, God would bring this little girl into the world before my c-section date... and he did!
I had been having contractions for a couple of weeks. However, when I woke up on Wednesday morning I could tell the contractions had intensified. Drew went off to work and I went about my morning routine. My mom, Cole and I dropped off Sam at preschool and then went to Target. While walking around Target I was having contractions every 5 minutes, however, after picking up Sam they had fizzled. After lunch, they were back but gone by mid afternoon. However, by supper they picked up again and didn't seem to subside. I rested downstairs for a while, got up to help put the boys to bed, and then went to bed myself to try to get some rest. However, by 10PM it was clear that I was not going to be getting any sleep. I walked the house for awhile, spent a lot of time in the shower and by 2:00 AM I told Drew that I thought we should call the hospital.
On the way to the hospital and in triage I was contracting every 2-3 minutes and it was taking a lot of effort to breathe through them. However, after they checked me they said I was only at 3cm (I had been at 2 the day before)...so frustrating! The nurse figured they would send me home however, after talking to the on call doctor the nurse told me they would admit me as I was trying for a VBAC.
The nurse who then came to attend to me was a bit of a character. She told us that she had hurt her back earlier and was pretty uncomfortable. Really? Who says that to someone in labor? She was zero help and seemed to be annoyed that my contractions made her have to bend with her sore back and prevented her from putting in my IV line, or drawing up my labs. I figure she thought I was overreacting as I was only 3 cm. However, by this point my contractions were right on top of each other and I wasn't able to get my bearings about me before another one hit. I remember looking at Drew and saying "why won't anyone help me?" The doctor on call arrived, took one look at me and asked the nurse what she was doing to get me some help. The nurse then checked me again and in that half hour that she spent slowly getting me settled, I had gone to 6cm. Suddenly the room got a little frenzied as another nurse arrived to help me get on top of my breathing, the doctor started prepping for a c section (just in case) and anesthesiology arrived.
After getting my epidural the doctor advised us that even though I was progressing quickly, she thought it would be best if we tried to get some sleep. By now it was about 4:30 AM so we hunkered down for a bit. At 6:30 I was told my doctor was on her way as she wanted to attempt the VBAC so again, we waited for her arrival. By the time she arrived, I was fully dilated but she said she would go and do her rounds and let me breathe the baby down more. She returned from rounds about 45 minutes later and only a few short pushes brought our little girl into the world at 8:08 AM.
We are beyond thrilled that our little girl is finally here safe and sound. She is just so sweet and we are loving getting to know her.
We had prayed so much about the timing of her arrival and truly felt that if a VBAC was a safe option for us, God would bring this little girl into the world before my c-section date... and he did!
I had been having contractions for a couple of weeks. However, when I woke up on Wednesday morning I could tell the contractions had intensified. Drew went off to work and I went about my morning routine. My mom, Cole and I dropped off Sam at preschool and then went to Target. While walking around Target I was having contractions every 5 minutes, however, after picking up Sam they had fizzled. After lunch, they were back but gone by mid afternoon. However, by supper they picked up again and didn't seem to subside. I rested downstairs for a while, got up to help put the boys to bed, and then went to bed myself to try to get some rest. However, by 10PM it was clear that I was not going to be getting any sleep. I walked the house for awhile, spent a lot of time in the shower and by 2:00 AM I told Drew that I thought we should call the hospital.
On the way to the hospital and in triage I was contracting every 2-3 minutes and it was taking a lot of effort to breathe through them. However, after they checked me they said I was only at 3cm (I had been at 2 the day before)...so frustrating! The nurse figured they would send me home however, after talking to the on call doctor the nurse told me they would admit me as I was trying for a VBAC.
The nurse who then came to attend to me was a bit of a character. She told us that she had hurt her back earlier and was pretty uncomfortable. Really? Who says that to someone in labor? She was zero help and seemed to be annoyed that my contractions made her have to bend with her sore back and prevented her from putting in my IV line, or drawing up my labs. I figure she thought I was overreacting as I was only 3 cm. However, by this point my contractions were right on top of each other and I wasn't able to get my bearings about me before another one hit. I remember looking at Drew and saying "why won't anyone help me?" The doctor on call arrived, took one look at me and asked the nurse what she was doing to get me some help. The nurse then checked me again and in that half hour that she spent slowly getting me settled, I had gone to 6cm. Suddenly the room got a little frenzied as another nurse arrived to help me get on top of my breathing, the doctor started prepping for a c section (just in case) and anesthesiology arrived.
After getting my epidural the doctor advised us that even though I was progressing quickly, she thought it would be best if we tried to get some sleep. By now it was about 4:30 AM so we hunkered down for a bit. At 6:30 I was told my doctor was on her way as she wanted to attempt the VBAC so again, we waited for her arrival. By the time she arrived, I was fully dilated but she said she would go and do her rounds and let me breathe the baby down more. She returned from rounds about 45 minutes later and only a few short pushes brought our little girl into the world at 8:08 AM.
Eliza was way bigger than we thought she would be. At 8lbs 12oz she was the same size as Sam when he was born. If we had known she would be the same size, I probably would have just c sectioned as Sam was a bit of a difficult labor so I am glad we were oblivious! This was my first baby that I was able to hold right after delivery and it was just so wonderful. She just snuggled right up to me, quieted at the sound of my voice and took her first look around. So sweet!
She is doing great and is just a perfect fit for our family. The boys love her and are constantly stopping to check in on her or see what she is doing. She is eating great and giving us plenty of sleep in the night which is such a blessing. The recovery with this labor has been the easiest by far compared to Sam and Cole which just allows me to really enjoy these first few days with our girlie. She is such a little blessing!
Here are a few pictures of our first couple of days.
Comments