Hi everyone!!! I can't believe I haven't been online in over 2 weeks!!! My sister posted a message a while back, and like she said I've been dying to share everything with all of you.
It sure has been crazy, but we are blessed with the most beautiful baby in the world, we are just so crazy about her and life is good!
I haven't written my birth story anywhere yet, but I guess I can start here. My water broke 4 days before my EDD, it was Tuesday the 9th at 1:30 am. I never, ever thought that I would be in the 15% of women whose water breaks first. I went to sleep as usual and woke up and the sheets were soaked, at first I thought I peed my pants! I woke Peter up and he called my MW, she said, 'Contractions will start soon, try to get some rest'. Obviously we didn't get much rest that night. DH decided to call into work and start his vacation that day, since we knew I would give birth in the next day. We spent the next morning packing and waiting for contractions to start. My father came over, the 3 of us went to the diner, we waited and waited (and I leaked water all day long) and still nothing.
I found out that most Drs would tell you to go to the hospital immediately, but my MW called in the early afternoon and told me to meet her at the hospital at 5:30pm. I still wasn't sure if I was going to be admitted, but we brought the hospital bag. I tried to pack as much as I could that day, and I felt so good the whole day, I had tons of energy. So, I left instructions with my father about moving related stuff, and had no idea if I would ever see my apartment again!
So, when I got to L&D, they hooked me up to the monitors and my MW told me she gave me a chance (14 hours), but that they would have to induce. I had no idea what that meant, I did know that a water birth was not going to happen, but slowly it became clear to me that not only was the WB not happening, but that I was going to be restrained to the bed, on monitors, and not able to eat or drink! I was prepared for anything, but not prepared for not being able to walk around during contractions, and not prepared to use a bed pan.
At 9:30pm, my MW did an internal and said I was 1cm. The attending Dr. wrote an order for pitocin, and they started it at 10:30. I think I felt my 1st contracton at midnight, but I still wasn't sure. DH was in the room with me and we trying to get some sleep. My sister and SIL were there, but both went home at around midnight. I remember watching all the late night shows while DH slept. I was so uncomfortable in the bed, so it was hard to sleep. By 2am, I felt the contractions more, and I kept trying to read the monitors, but the nurse and my MW kept saying they still need to be closer together and more 'intense'. Well, by 3am, I told DH I felt like I had to push, and to go get a nurse. They told him it was too early, but got my MW anyway. I figured I still had 10 hours to go, and was ready to ask about pain meds. The whole time I felt like I was on drugs, everything was surreal, and I tried to use sounds to relieve the pressure and pain. My MW did and exam and said 'you're not going to believe this, but you're 9cm'. At that point I was relieved, but didn't know how I was going to make it. By 3:30 I told myself okay, I can get through each contraction and in a 1/2 hour it will be over. I just wanted to keep pushing, but my MW told me to make certain sounds and it was th hardest thing I've ever done, but with her and DH by my side encouring me, it was okay.
I didn't even know what I was doing by the end, but I remember things like when she was crowning, my MW said, he/she has black hair. That helped me to continue to push. The baby came out, the cord was really, really long, and sort of tangled around her. She put her on me to nurse and I couldn't beleive how small she was (6lbs), she looked right at me with her big black eyes, and gave me a nice kick in the face! Til this day she is still 'big foot'! She came out looking perfect, and so gorgeous!
I guess I've very luck to actually only have 2-3 hours of contractions and only 1 hour of pushing, it definitely made up for being confined to the bed!
She lost 10% of her birth weight, but gained it back. I have had more trouble breastfeeding than I expected, I thought she was supposed to eat every 2-3 hours, but many nights she's wants to eat every 1/2 to 1 hour, so I had to pump and supplement, b/c it is really draining on my body to get absolutely NO sleep day after day! I was pretty disappointed and upset with this. She's tiny and has problems latching on, it takes about 10 minutes for her to latch on properly, and then she falls asleep after 20 minutes of eating. Then I try to put her down and she wakes up after 15 minutes to eat again and when we're both frustrated and tired, and hungry we both start crying! We're getting better and DH has been doing everything he can to help.
There's so much more to tell, I will post more. I have about 50 pics on my digital, but am having trouble transferring them to my computer. My scanner will be hooked up today, but I don't have that many to scan. My uncle put a few pics on his website, so you can see Lyla when she was a week old.
Oh, and we love our new place, it's a great neighborhood, the neighbors are so friendly and we are excited about being here.
Lyla
