I originally wrote this post sometime in November 2013, but the craziness of new parenthood kept me from getting around to finalizing and posting it... I hopeful now, a month into 2014, my blogging will return to my life!
Oh, did you notice my sudden disappearance from the blogosphere? I bet you'll never guess as to why that might have happened...hmmm....
BABY DOROTHY LOUISE ARRIVED!!
I won't go into the long details of those final weeks and days... There were definite signs in the final three weeks, like losing my mucous plug just before 38 weeks and I definitely had more Braxton Hicks contractions, but the first real ones came on Saturday evening, Oct. 12. They lasted several hours before stopping all together. Sunday was normal and we had our 39 week appointment on Monday Oct. 14. I was 1cm dialated that morning and around 3 p.m. that afternoon the contractions--very light-- started at about 12 minutes apart. From there they never stopped even though Dorothy ended up not being born until Oct. 16 at 11:40 p.m.! It was a long, long labor... the tough contractions really began Monday evening around 8 p.m. Living so far from the hospital we went up around midnight to check my status...over the hour they monitored me I went from 1 to 2cms and contractions were about 3-5 minutes apart. However, we did not get admitted and instead spent the next couple of hours wondering Walmart in attempt to move things along... Thank goodness it was the middle of the night with mainly just workers stocking shelves, because when my contractions hit I was quite a site to see!
Unfortunately for me, when we went back to the hospital, I had not progressed and the contractions, while more intense from my perspective, were further apart! At that point we went on home, but with the contractions so close I couldn't sleep... I just pushed through them the entire day and Mingus stayed home with me...trying to get the place cleaned up and what not, assuming the baby would be coming soon. At 4pm Tuesday we went back to the hospital, wanting to get checked again while our doctor was still in the office. Again, my progress was small...which was disheartening considering it had been over 24 hours of painful contractions and I hadn't been able to sleep. Instead of going home, thank goodness I have family that lives in town and I went to their house to walk for another few hours. In my next hospital trip, I had progressed to 3cms and contractions were close enough we went ahead and got admitted around 9 p.m. I stole a bite to eat first since I wouldn't be able to after the fact.
From there it was still a long haul with no sleep and only candy and Popsicles for me to eat. Mingus did an excellent job helping me through the contractions as they got worse and worse but basically the little Peangling wasn't progressing enough. I got to 5cm and nothing changed no matter what the contractions were like and my water wasn't breaking. In the end we chose to have them break my water the next afternoon... I did progress then but only to 9cm. She was face-up so that may have had something to do with her inability to move on down. I tried all sorts of tricks to get her to turn and drop--all while in crazy amounts of pain with contractions lasting as long as 2 minutes and only a minute or so break in between. Mingus took a true beating from me and the nurses couldn't help but laugh at my "manners" throughout the process. (I was still saying 'please' and 'thank you' despite screaming it.) After so long, since my water was broken, we had to make a call and chose to get the epidural, as a C-section was the next option. (They couldn't let me go too long with my water broken due to risk of infection.) Our doctor's hope was that the epidural would be enough to relax my body and allow the contractions to move the Peangling on down. It really only gave me about 30 minutes of true relief (which was awesome after over 50 hours!) Either way, finally being able to push was great. Our doctor was amazing and able to get the Peangling to "flip" and be face down and after an hour or so of pushing she came out with a head full of hair! 7lbs 8 oz and 20 inches long.
Excited, but so exhausted. The process was so different from what I'd imagined. Even though we did not go 100% natural, I have no regrets. I know we did what was necessary when the time came and we were so grateful for a wonderful nursing staff during the entire process, as well as a doctor who did an excellent job guiding us through each step and decision. I never expected labor to be so long, and even though I knew labor would hurt... It was so much more than I could have imagined, especially with being so tired (no sleep for three days!) and hungry. I'm just so grateful for the great conditions, a wonderful husband that was there through the entire thing, and to have come out perfectly healthy myself as well as a perfect and beautiful little girl!
There really is a baby in there!!
We had our final ultrasound last week. It was primarily for the doctors to get measurements and check on a few things that all is A-OK, but it also meant the opportunity to see our little baybo and to have the chance to take a glimpse at the face!
All is good healthwise as far as they can tell, so we are grateful for that. My weight gain is good, the heartbeat is good, all looks good and it's up to about 4lbs--for what that's worth. It's still showing ahead of the original due date and leaning towards Oct. 17 rather than 21st, but that only means so much of course. It'll come when it comes!
It was a'movin' when we were there. It's foot was up near it's head and from the angle they had the picture it looked like it was sucking on its toes--bizarre! (It's already weird just like us!) It was also facing down with its face to my back (the way it should be) but it made getting a good face picture tricky. It had its hand blacking the face also. Luckily there were two ultrasound techs there and one was more experienced so she gave it a shot after the other lady had little lucky getting a good face shot and the second one actually got some great ones.
I always think the 3D pictures look a little alien-like, but I guess it goes to show it's all a different story when it's your own baby! We were thrilled to see the little mouth and nose all scrunched up in there. I'd say it looks like me but that's just because I was so scrunched up looking in the face as a newborn--and I'd say any baby is going to look scrunched in the womb!
So grateful for continued good health and I pray I continued to do all the best things I can to help nurture this little soul!
I'm trying to use some of my extra time to do some reading about AFTER the Peangling arrives. At the beginning it's easy to get hung up on reading about the pregnancy and maternity process. It definitely is beneficial reading, but, at the same time, I began to realize that most of the "advice" and guidance I was finding was really just common sense about being healthy and safe in general. I admit that it is good, however, to know that some of the oddities with my body are normal--weird skin blemishes, leg cramping, peeing constantly, etc.
Instead I began to realize that understanding some of the "normal" things to expect once I get the baby home is a bigger deal. I do trust my natural instincts to guide me but the more I can prepare myself mentally for what is normal or okay to expect I feel will help me especially in those first weeks when I'm sure the changes will be overwhelming. Maybe it can at least help me to know when I should be concerned as opposed to having read what's normal. The other piece is even if my little brain can only retain so much now. I figure reading some and saving articles on Pinterest will maybe at least store somewhere in my mind that I did bookmark an article on a topic when I come up on a problem or question amid my new motherhood fog.
Here are a few of the articles I've read today or found useful:
Budgeting
Bringing Up Baby on A Budget: More than just tips themselves, I like this article because it includes lots of links to resources that support whatever tip she is giving.
Breastfeeding
Timeline of a Breastfed Baby: I like how this takes you through the first 2 years and starts out by only going by the day. I'm sure I'll learn a lot in the breastfeeding class, but this could be a great resource to fall back to when I'm trying to figure out what is/isn't normal.
Things I Didn't Know About Breastfeeding and Breastmilk: This hits on a lot of the same points but is a quicker read and more concise read. The end has links to a lot of other resources.
Products
Advice & Products I Wish I Knew About with my First Baby: Some of these don't apply until babes are to toddler age or so, but a good resource for me to turn to later. I know every child is different but it's helpful to hear what has worked for other parents.
There is some crossover here, but this is by the same author: My Favorite Products for New Babies
First Weeks
Tips for Surviving the First Few Weeks of Motherhood: Some of these I've heard and read elsewhere but still good reminders and may be worth my looking at when the time comes...
It's easy to go down the rabbit hole in researching baby-anything. I've pinned these and more on a Pinterest Board: Learning to be Mom. I'm sure I'll add to it, but please share what articles you found useful or what type of research you're glad you did prior to birth (or that you wish you had done!)
