Our Growing Family: May 2012

Our dreams truly have come true! Sarah Elizabeth was born Wednesday May 16th, 2012 at 14:12. She weighed in at a whopping 7lbs 1oz and was 20.5 inches long. Everybody, including the doctors and nurses were convinced that she was going to be at least eight and a half pound baby!

The process of induction was anything but speedy. We were admitted into the hospital Monday night at 8pm. After processing was finished and I met the doctor on the floor that night I was started on Cervidil. This was a 12 hour process to ripen the cervix. When admitted I was dilated 1cm. After the 12 hours of Cervidil I had progressed to 2 cm. Tuesday morning was upon us and so was the next phase of induction with Cytotec and Pitocin. Contractions started to come more frequently and the intensity increased as time went by. At one point in time my IV was pulled out of my hand and was replaced on the side of my wrist...ouch!

Late Tuesday night things started getting rough and although I really wanted to do it all natural I opted to get the epidural, primarily since things were not progressing very quickly and I was getting no sleep on top of the pain. The anesthesiologist came in and started the epidural but it was not given correctly. Not only did I want to jump off the bed and out the window while he was digging in my back with what I was told to be a very large needle I felt the entire thing. The epidural did give some relief to the pain but I still had complete mobility of my legs, hips and upper body. There was no problem maneuvering myself to which the doctors looked at me strangely and question the efficiency of the epidural themselves. By the next morning the pain had increased and a new anesthesiologist adjusted the epidural medicine.

I was on a roller coaster of Pitocin. At times it would cause Sarah's heart rate to drop so they would either turn it off or lower the dose. In order to get a better reading on Sarah's heart rate and a true measure of the intensity of the contractions the doctors wanted to place internal probes. During the placement of the heart monitor probe they were not getting a good reading and the numbers were too low which started a panic. Doctors and nurses started piling into my hospital room, surrounding me, repositioning, rotating and adjusting every monitor and piece of equipment hooked to me and Sarah searching for a good reading. Then all of a sudden the doctor in charge stopped everything and said "I don't know what's going on with your baby right now but she needs to be delivered right now!" I was only 3cm...there was not going to be any pushing this baby out so it was time for an emergency cesarian. I was rolled down to the operating room where everyone was rushing and running around and in the mess of it all someone got caught up in my IV lines and pulled #2 out of my hand! OMG!!! The my new anesthesiologist was extremely upset and irritated with the mess of everything. He put my third IV in my arm and refused to use the epidural that was done wrong and instead gave me a Spinal Block. He did a wonderful job, didn't feel anything more than slight discomfort and then nothing at all.

Having the C-Section was a little scary. Mostly I just wanted them to get my baby out as fast as possible so we could know how she was doing and address any needs she may have. Tim was able to come in the operating room. He was so sweet, touching my face telling me everything was going to be ok. He came prepared with a camera and the video camera in hand. Tim said he was able to see the surgery and watched my insides taken out and set on top of me. But no pictures were taken of that. Tim was able to cut Sarah's umbilical cord and it was caught on the video camera. While they were working on getting Sarah out I was fine but as soon as she was out and they were finishing up I got sick and had to vomit. Once that was finished I was much better and soon after saw my daughter for the first time. She was perfect! Healthy and beautiful. Tim got to take her back to the room where Grammy was waiting and I came shortly after.

It was a long recovery in the hospital, slightly unnecessary on how long they kept us there. Friday May 18th we left the hospital around 4pm. Which brings us to today. Frequent feeding, sleeping when ever it is possible and loving on our sweet baby girl.

So sorry for the delay in photos but life's priorities have shifted. Enjoy!