The labor and delivery experience.... WOW!

So, I haven't really had the chance to go into full detail of my birthing experience of the most beautiful little girl in the whole world...bias? No way!! I really am so in love with her. I love staring at her and holding her and feeding her, and yes, even staying up for a full 3 hours b/c of bad gas with her... Or finding every place in the house possible for her to sleep comfortably...um, that would be in mommy and daddy's arms, of course. Cradle? Crib? Yeah right. Someone has got to invent pretend human arms to put around my child so mommy can get some sleep...b/c she has got our number... She knows what she wants, and well, she gets it. We did, however, have her sleep in a wedge last night... 2 hours in it, 1 hour out of it, 1 hour in it, 3 1/2 hours in it...YEP!! She slept from 2:30 to 6 am STRAIGHT this morning... Thanks to my sister who brought the wedge over last night AND to Mylacon...gas reliever!!! A friend of a friend of mine called it "Jesus in a Bottle". It is pretty great stuff. And Miss Tooty over here, is resting much better b/c of it.

Okay, so I digressed a little...back to the beginning.

We went into the hospital Tuesday night, November 25th to check in. They immediately got me started on a little bitty pill that they stuck right up next to my Cervix... Couldn't feel the little tablet, but I sure felt them putting it up there...lovely thought, I know. It was used to soften the cervix and get it ready to dilate more...I was already at a 1 when we checked in. Again at 2:30, they put another tablet in me... That really got me going to start me on Pitosin, to induce labor. I didn't feel any contractions at all until about 10 in the morning... At first, it just felt like I was really working my abs hard, and they were kind of sore. Then about 11, WOW! Up to a 4, and then quickly up to a 5... That was NOT FUN!!! The anesthesioligist had an emergency C Section and emergency delivery, and I was told I wasn't top priority b/c me and Sadie were doing so well...hahha.... They gave me bit of a pain reliever to "take the edge off"... Um...if they took the edge OFF, I'd hate to feel the EDGE!!! B/c good gracious, I thought I was going to absolutely die. No cussing, no yelling, just lots of breathing. Lots of holding onto Craig's hand - he was AMAZING by the way...he just stood there and endured all of my grunting and moaning... helped me breathe and rubbed my back...so sweet. We also had the absolute BEST NURSE EVER, Erin Peterson... absolutely a God-send!!! She was so great, and so nice, and so helpful. Just loved her to death, and hated seeing her leave that night...I wish I could've kept her.

Epidural time!!! That was not fun either. Between the contractions and them sticking the epidural in me...well, lets just say I was in the worst amount of pain I believe I have ever had, ruptured spleen, broken ribs, all ten toes broken...all nothing compared to this!! But once it kicked in, and my other pain meds were making me sleepy, I took about a 2 hour nap, I think...Craig can't remember, and well...I can't either. The nurse woke me up, asked if I could push... I couldn't feel a thing...NOTHING from the waist down. Couldn't move my toes, bend my knees...I pinched myself...nothing. It left a bruise later...but I felt nothing. The strangest feeling.

Pushing!! the nurse had Craig hold one leg and I held the other, felt like a ton... and I pushed like I had never pushed before...and couldn't feel a thing...so it was kind of hard to push... I'm not going to tell you what Erin told me to pretend to be pushing for...but it worked... She started coming and coming and coming. After 4 or 5 big pushes during contractions, Erin could see Sadie's dark hair. Craig, as weak stomached as he is, even grabbed a glimpse accidentally... bless his heart...I didn't want to see it either...God put that area down there for a reason...so my eyes could not see. Dr. Parrill came in, not my dr., but a dr. in the offices I go to, she had me do a few more pushes as well... then all of the sudden...there she was. 40 minutes of pushing, and this gorgeous, chunky, dark haired, healthy lunged baby came out of me... Just the most amazing feeling anyone could ever experience.

Afterwards: I held her immediately...she was GORGEOUS!!!! And chunky! And just amazing! They started cleaning her up and doing what they do over there... and started noticing that she wasn't breathing correctly. She'd take a big breath, then stop, then breathe again, then stop. Her coloring was beginning to turn "dusky" as they put it. So they took her for a little bit, examined her, and brought her back...she just needed a little help.

The rest of the day was great! We held her and loved on her and just adored God's little miracle! They kept her in the nursery most of the night. Every time she started smacking her lips or sucking her thumb, they'd bring her in to feed. Unfortunately, mommy didn't have much to give her and she wouldn't latch on long enough to get much. She lost 1 pound in 2 days, so we started her on formula to get some meat on her little skinny bones. It's amazing what 1 pound will do to a little 8 lb. chunk. She was so skinny...I was so sad, but she gained 4 oz. in one day on the formula. Finally, mommy got her milk in on Sunday, and immediately started pumping, but tried very hard to get her to latch on...not interested. Once she had the bottle, I wasn't satisfying her at all. I don't mind, I thought I would, but as long as she's getting the nutrients that she needs, that's all I care about. I haven't weighed her since Monday at the pediatrician. She was up to 7 lb. 6 1/2 oz. She's growing again.

Home:

She's wonderful!!! Sleeps a lot during the day, but has a lot of gas at night! THANK goodness for Mylacon and all of my girlfriends that told me about it. Her dr. said that it was fine, and she's doing much better and sleeping much better.

She's my doodle bug!!! I love her so very much!!!