My Daughter
10/18/2008 07:06 a.m.
So Its been a very long time since I've visited the site, and for that I apologise. I guess I have good reason though. I was on bedrest from September 22-October 13th even though I broke it a time or two. My pregnancy was dragging on slowly, and i was just trying to get everything situated in life. We got a new apartment, a second car, we got married, my husband is working his butt off at a worthless job, and we have just been busy all around. I'm here now though, and here's the story of how little miss Emma Jean was brought into the world.

I went into the hospital at 5 p.m. on the 13th of October to get induced. They were running a bit behind schedule and I didn't even get my cervidil until about seven thirty or eight p.m. I was up most of the night waiting to see if anything happened. I was hooked up to about forty seven billion machines, making sleep very difficult. They had me on a contraction monitor, Emmas heart rate monitor, a fluid Iv drip, a blood pressure cuff that took my pressure about every 30-60 minutes to monitor my hypertension..I think that covers it. Anyways it made for a hard nights sleep. Then the alarm that was hooked to my blood pressure monitor kept going off all night long. I was awake nearly every hour on the hour just waiting for something to change. Cervidil usually makes people dilate to 2-3 centimeters on its own. I went into the hospital at half. Yes, half a centimeter. After being on the cervidil until five a.m. I still only dilated to 1 cm. They took it out then, and let me take a shower before the "festivities" began.

At 6 a.m. they started me on pitocin. By 7, I was having contractions that were a little uncomfortable but nothing too bad. At 7:48 a.m. Dr. Gernt came in and broke my water. Thats a feeling you just don't forget btw. I didn't know that it just kept leaking after that, I thought it was a one shot thing. Anyways, my contractions got so strong so fast, that even the dr and nurses were shocked. They kept telling me "Girl, you are just banging out these contractions." I still wasn't in *too* much pain. Then, about an hour later they were so strong, and so close I felt like I wasn't getting a break. The nurse told me It would probably be a while before I could get my pain meds, but she checked me anyways. From 8-9 a.m. I went from 1 cm to 3 cm, and they gave me my epidural!! Yay. The epidural...was a bit of an ordeal with my scoliosis. It actually took them 5 shots of the numbing medicine, lanicaine If I'm not mistaken. Then it took them three tries, in three seperate locations on my back before they could thread it into my spine. Every time he tried to get the tube in, he would hit bone since my spine curves. I was a little jumpy, but honestly its nothing like people say it is. I felt the tiniest pinch of one shot of lanicaine, and after that I was fine. I was too busy trying to breathe through contractions, while he was trying to thread my spine to really even notice what was going on. Once I was all hooked up he gave me an injection or two right into my Iv so that I would feel better right away. I was so happy. I was only in painful labor for 1 1/2 hours before I got my epi. After that, things progressed rather quickly. It was about 10:15 when I got my epidural, and after that things were fine. They checked me throughout the day, and I was pretty much so high that I slept a lot. Andrews parents came in and our friends Andrew and Megan stopped by as well. I didn't look the best, but I really didn't care.

Once about 12:30-1:00 o'clock rolled around they noticed that with each contraction Emmas heart rate was dropping, so they had to put me on an oxygen mask. That was probably the most annoying part of everything. I was on it for about four hours before they let me take it off again. My entire mouth was dried out, and my lips were cracked. It was a pain in my butt. I was happy to have the mask off for a while though. I sat around for a while again waiting to see what would happen because my nurse checked me at 3:50 and said we should be ready to push soon. My in laws were still in the hospital room then, and we all just sort of sat around chatting. By 4:00 Andrews grandma had shown up and it was really just everyone waiting to see what would happen. The nurse sent everyone out to check me one last time, and then decided that it was time to push.

I started pushing at 4:45 and Emma was actually born at 5:18. I was only in active labor for about 8 hours. I hear that is pretty awesome for a first time baby. The pushing wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. I waited until I felt pressure to the point where it hurt through my epidural, and then I pushed. Its true what they say, all modesty goes out the window. I had my husband on my right, a nurse down between my legs, another at my left, and then people coming in and out of the room as I'm ass naked up in stirrups. Haha. Anyways, I wont say it didn't hurt but it was no where near as painful as I thought it would be. Even my dr was impressed by how fast I pushed Emma out. She told me during my labor that she thought I needed 4-5 more pushes to get Emma out, and I had her out in two. I was bound and determined.

On a more gruesome and gory note, I was really surprised that I didn't rip or tear much. My dr knew I didn't want to be 'cut' and she respected that. I did end up with a first degree tear which was so little its barely noticable. The dr. went ahead and sewed it up while they were cleaning up Emma, and all is fine and well now.

Emma was born at 5:18 p.m. and she only weighed a tiny little 6 pounds, 14 ounces. She isn't tall like her mommy either, she was only 18 inches long when she was born. She has a ton of dark brown hair, and her daddies brown eyes for now. (We'll see if that changes over time or not.) She also has her mommy AND grandmommies (my moms) crooked pinky toe. It's a family trait, and a cute one at that.

For now however, my little m&m is crying and Its almost feeding time, so for now I must go. I promise to update more soon!!

Peace and Love
I am currently Awestruck
I am listening to My daughter whimper and my husband snore