She's Here!!!

Wow, so much has happened in the last 4 days. I don't even know where to start, I guess the beginning would be good.

Friday after I wrote my little rant, Josh and I had a barbeque for Josh's family and our friends, pretty much anyone that had helped us in the last little while, at our new house. It went really good. Around 9pm I noticed that I had lost my mucous plug (was having my bloody show) and it made me wonder if I would be having Rachel soon. Well about an hour later I was having strong contractions that were about 5 minutes apart. I called the hospital about an hour later and they suggested that I take some Tylenol, drink some water, and lay on my left side and see if that gives me any relief. Nope, they just continued to get stronger and stronger. Josh, mom and I ended up going to the hospital around 2am. I got checked in and when they checked me I was 100% effaced and 3-4 centimeters dilated.

I don't remember all the specifics (I was a little preoccupied with the pain of contractions) but this is what I remember. About 2 hours later they checked me and I was 5 centimeters I believe is was around this point when the pain was getting a little more than what I wanted and I asked for some Demerol. It didn't take the pain away but it helped me fall asleep between each contraction. I'm guessing about 2 hours later they checked again and I was 7. It just seemed like the next bit went by pretty fast because it was a little while later and I was 8 1/2 and then I was 9 1/2 centimeters dilated. So around noon my nurse checked me and said that I was complete and that I could start pushing. (I still haven't had any pain relief besides the Demerol and was starting to really wonder if I could continue.) I did a couple practice pushes and the dr came in to check me. He said that I was not fully dilated, that I still had a little more to go before I could push her out. At this point I could not deal with the pain any longer. I think in my head I was like, ok just little more and I'll be done. But when he told me I still had longer to contract I freaked out and I begged for an epidural.

The whole time that I was going through the contractions Josh was by my side. I would not have been about to make it that far without him there. I would tune everybody and everything else out but when he would talk to me I would listen. He helped me breathe through the pain and supported me when I decided I needed the epidural. There is no way that I would want to go through that again without him by my side.

Back to the story. Around 1pm I got an epidural and I passed out for about 2 1/2 hours. I woke up at 330 and they checked me and I was still 9 1/2. They checked me twice more and at 430 I was finally able to push. I still had a little bit of cervix left but it was anterior so the doc said that the baby would be able to push past it fine. They brought in a mirror so I could watch and that was amazing. Also, pushing when your legs and bum are numb is really weird. I could still feel the pressure of the contractions but no pain, it was amazing. I pushed for about 30 minutes and on the last set I could see her head coming out. The doc had to give me a pretty decent sized episiotomy in order to let her big head out, I think it was a 2 inch cut. Once that was made her head just popped out! She had the cord wrapped around her neck twice. One more push and her little body came out. That felt weird, I really don't know how to describe it but it was amazing. I know I wouldn't have handled that part of her birth very well if I hadn't had the epidural. I was rested and happy to see her.

The second her head started coming out Josh started bawling. I have been married to him for a year an half and I have never seen him cry the way he did when he saw his little girl come into the world. He was able to cut the umbilical cord too.

Little Rachel Anne was born August 23rd at 5:00pm weighing 7 lbs 13.8 oz and 20 inches long.

Right after she was born is was obvious that she wasn't breathing right. She was still pretty blue and grunting a whole bunch, she was working too hard for her breath. I got to hold her for a little bit but then they decided to take her to the nursery and get checked out. She ended up having a whole bunch of fluid in her lungs and was breathing a lot faster then she needed to be. They told us that it could be a type of newborn pneumonia where she would need antibiotics for 10 days or TTN which is the fluid in the lungs and all she would need to do is get rid of it.

The last couple days have been hard. I wasn't able to hold her or to fed her. They didn't want her to aspirate the liquid back into her lungs so she just had an IV. Because I didn't have a baby to fed I was just pumping so that I would stimulate my breasts and my brain telling them that I need to be making milk. It was a little frustrating. Seeing her hooked up to all kinds of alarms was difficult. Yesterday they did an ultrasound on her heart because they thought she might have a murmur but that's ok. Last night I got to hold her for the first time. But today is the best news of all. Everything came back negative and she is breathing on her own so tomorrow we will be able to take her home! Today she is in my room with me and I have been trying to breastfeed her but she doesn't want it. I really hope that we will be able to do this. I think it'll be better once my milk lets down so now I am just pumping to help it a long.

Sorry if this was long. I'm so happy that she is finally her and healthy. I will continue to post on here just don't know how often. Thank you all for you prayers and support.