The doctor came at noon to check me, and I'd progressed a bit, but she decided to break my water. Not only was that quite possibly one of the most painful moments of labor, but I felt like the world's most giant zit! Silly me, all this time worrying if my water broke when I felt the slightest dampness. They're right. You KNOW when something like that happens! I'd been happily bouncing on a birthing ball until that point, but I couldn't imagine moving after that, since I was leaking everywhere. Well, I didn't get my way and they threw me right back on that ball. GROSS.So after about 4 more hours of bouncing, my labor took a turn for the worst. I'd been having strong contractions, strong enough to do breathing and a little whimper now and again, but I was fine. I really wanted to do this drug and epidural free. However, then my contractions became irregular. Meaning, I'd have a nice almost 5 minute break, then have 2 or 3 contractions literally right on top of each other (like, NO break), and those would last for around 4-5 minutes of constant pain. I started to panic because I couldn't get calmed down in between those short contractions and the big break wasn't enough to make up for it. As it was going downhill quickly, we made the decision to skip the drugs to take the edge off and go right to the epidural. I was still thinking I had maybe 2-4 hours left of labor and I didn't see me making it that long with that much pain, and still having energy and focus to push. I wept through the epidural (mostly because it was scary and hurt, but also because I was going against exactly what I'd wanted, and I felt I was getting cheated). I only felt that way for a few minutes and I took another blow. I was STILL at 4 cm. So then I was a little happier about that epidural since I still had so far to go.
A few hours later, still at 4 cm, we got the talk about a c-section. Basically, I wasn't dilating any more. There could have been a lot of reasons, but the plain fact was, the baby didn't like the contractions (especially the same ones I didn't like, which hadn't resolved themselves). There was already a c-section for 8 pm, so I was going to wait until 9 pm to have mine, unless I showed some progress (it was after 7 at this point).
When the doctor wanted an update in an hour, I'd made it to 5 cm. I was hoping that was enough progress to keep me out of surgery, but I knew better. However, my contractions had picked up so much that I could literally feel them through the epidural. It was NOT comfortable. It was BEYOND pressure! The doctor wanted another update (I'm imagining so we could just seal the deal on c-section), and at around 9 I'd made it to 9.5 cm! I was ready to push by the time the doctor got there and all my birthing things were assembled. I dilated 5 cm in 30 minutes! When I started pushing I was scared because I thought it was going to be terrible. I couldn't believe what I was doing was good work! I pushed through around 4 contractions and skipped one or two to put a monitor on the baby's head to check her pulse, and then she was out at 9:53 pm!
She had the cord wrapped around her neck twice, so I was really scared, but she came out very pink (or at least, much pinker than we'd been prepared for) and she started squealing right away.
Right away she was pretty observant and looking around, only squealing occasionally. I was trying to focus mostly on her, since some pretty scary things were going on "down there" for me! We all bet on her weight (I lost, I picked my sister's birth weight because I'm ever so hopeful she won't be a short little lady like me). Here's the winning score:
She came into the world weighing 6 lbs, 12 oz, and 20 1/2 inches long (which IS longer than I was, so, maybe she does stand a chance at being a little taller!).Here is Momma and Baby Claire all done after 16 hours of labor:
At this point I just felt sleepy--my eyes were so heavy! I wasn't sweaty or anything from labor (I don't sweat a lot though anyway, so, take that as you wish).Baby Claire was taken to finish up her shots and work, and I took a break. We actually couldn't spend the night together because she'd inhaled a lot of fluids and was coughing up a lot and I basically keeled over trying to get my first trip to the bathroom to get cleaned up, so I wasn't in any shape to be jumping to help baby (I was kind of upset about this, but I guess they were right).
So in the morning we were reunited and Matt and I were able to marvel at our little creation. We think she looks a lot like me, but has his nose! She was so peaceful yesterday and slept a lot. We were so excited to show her off. My favorite feature is her eyes! Right now they're blue, and we're hoping they stay, but Matt has brown eyes (with a recessive blue, from his dad) so we do have a shot. But I just love how she opens them and looks around. This is my favorite face from her, thankfully, she looks at me just like this a lot!
Also in this picture she's wearing one of the hats I made (the green hat is from the hospital). She LOVES this hat. She's been wearing it all day today. I've got to find time to make a few more, since some of her hats are a little big, and she likes the flaps over her ears.We were a little disappointed with the "premiere baby hospital" of central Missouri. Although labor and delivery was great, postpartum was another story. We didn't receive help when we asked, we were constantly referred back to these stupid videos over and over again, instead of having questions answered or demonstrations given from the staff. We DID get a cute Swaddle Me swaddler that says "I'm a Boone Baby", and a hat, and some cookies... but I don't think that quite took the sting out of some of the treatment we received.
Matt was great through the whole ordeal. He was supportive, sweet, and helpful. He let me dig into his hand during the epidural, he cut the cord, and can change a diaper! He has been super attentive to baby Claire--I think he's officially wrapped around her little finger! I'm very glad I could share this experience with him. You know it's love when even the scariest moments aren't so bad because of the person you're sharing them with. Claire is very lucky to have such a good Daddy!
Now we're home, not even 48 hours old! Baby Claire is trying to adjust, and I'm sure we'll have more to report. Right now though, I'm pretty sore and tired, and she's having trouble taking everything in. Of course, right now she's sleeping next to me on the couch, so, that's a good sign, right?
We're just so very excited and blessed. She's so adorable. We are very lucky parents.
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