Meet our newest little sweety:
Born February 20th at 4:33pm
8 lbs 9 oz, 20 1/2 inches
I'm starting a trend here. I had Charlotte on my littlest sister, Marissa's, bday and Audrey just had to come on my oldest sister, Jennie's bday. I just like to be like my mom and labor on the same days.
Audrey's Birth Story:
Not sure where to start here. Hard to say the moment labor commenced. I labor for weeks really. So here's a little back story:
Pre-labor: When I was first checked at 37 weeks I was 4cm dilated, which ensued a chorus of "you'll never make it past the weekend" from all of my OB's staff. I knew better, and told them all I'll see them next week. Granted I did still take the weekend to deep clean my house, pack the hospital bag, prepare frozen meals, etc... but sure enough I did make to my appointment the next week. This time 5cm dilated. The OB was shocked I was still walking around. He simply asked me what I wanted to do though. My reply was that as long as all was well with me and baby I'd continue to let nature take its course.
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| At the hospital ready to blow. |
I admit though I was pretty batty that weekend since I'd been at a 4 for a while before, but never to a 5. I started wondering at what point my body would finally go into active labor and worrying that by that point it would be too late and that baby would be born in the tub, car, anywhere. I wanted to avoid induction, but then I did not want something to go wrong and would never forgive myself if something happened to the baby. I should have just planned a home birth as a back up, but even then it might go to fast to get help in time.
Anyway, I had another appointment the following Wednesday morning, the 20th. I wasn't sure how things were going to go. I was trying to prepare myself to know what to do and to trust what the OB advised. I walked into my appointment (Charlotte in tow) with a "ta da! I'm still here". More shock, shaking heads and laughter. I was at 6cm dilated. Without hesitation my Dr. told me he wanted me to go right in as soon as I could to the hospital. He was afraid to even let me leave his office and had worried about me all weekend and like me, was convinced that when this baby came it would be too fast. He felt that all he needed to do was break my water and baby would be on her way. No induction necessary. I kinda figured that would be the end result of all this (that or a car baby).
Boz thought that this would be the case, so he wasn't surprised when I called him (probably very relieved too), but for some reason I was still a little in denial. It took some effort on my part to mentally prepare myself, but I felt it best to go in. Anyway, on to the hospital events:
Action time: We got to the hospital around noon, got checked in and hooked up to an IV. That was actually an icky moment. For some reason my blood pressure dropped dramatically and I lost all color in my face and of course felt awful. After several minutes of deep breathing I started stabilizing. I was praying that wasn't an omen of things to come.
1:15 the Doctor showed up and ordered my penicillin (a safe guard for my history of Group B strep, though I tested negative this time). He returned at 1:35 to break my water. After 2 hours of just a few weak erratic contractions, some Pitocin was ordered. Before the pitocin was administered though my contraction started picking up and intensifying around 3:30ish. Must have just been the mere mention of pitocin :)... Unfortunately as I feared for weeks based on my erratic contractions and back pain, I was having back labor which made me fear pitocin even more. I had back labor with Elyette and it was far less manageable than my labors with Jack and Charlotte. This was good ole back labor again, so I was starting to doubt my ability to do things naturally again.
The pitocin was put in at 3:45, but the nurse thinks I never even got any in my system before we turned it off. I'm not sure, cause there was a contraction at 4pm that felt "pitocin" like (harder, doesn't ease up as much, etc.). I kept changing position (thanks to the back labor). At 4:10 the nurse decided to turn off the pitocin and check me since she had a feeling things would "melt fast" now that things were intensifying.
I was 8cm. She called the Dr. The very next contraction was my first "urge to push" contraction. I was actually thrilled to have it cause I knew things would be over REALLY soon and the back labor wasn't prolonging things. Each contraction of course was much more intense than the last and I got into "hold this baby in" mode. I felt her crown at the end of the next contraction. Back up was called in and the nurse prepared herself to deliver the baby. She was crowning more and more each time, but being more familiar this time, it was easier to control her not exploding out of me than it was with Charlotte. It felt different though because Audrey head was against my tailbone. Boz said it looked like she was coming from far lower that she was suppose to be. She was.
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| Meeting the Sibs |
The Dr. flew in at 4:30ish. I was amazed to see him work so swiftly. I tried to hold back a bit, but the relief of the Dr. being there made me let her go a bit and she was born at 4:33. I think the Dr. was there for 2 contractions. He administered a local anesthetic, episiotomy (since she was coming in so low- would have torn me up) and caught Audrey in just 2 minutes. I was rather impressed. Not to mention, extremely grateful. The long 10-15 of being stitched up was torturously long in comparison. I'm also SO grateful to my nurse for being ready for anything!
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| First Family Photo :) |
That feeling once they here and you really get to see your baby... wow... I made a very audible "Ah". Awe for the relief and awe for seeing this beautifully little person for the first time.
She came out pudgy, pink, and with a healthy wail. She has Elyette's complexion and light hair color and crazy long eyelashes (it was kinda funny seeing these long lashes coming off of those puffy newborn eyes). Oh and a bit of a squashed nose, like her sisters:
She looks a bit like all of her siblings. I see mostly Elyette and a bit of Charlotte in her. We'll see as she grows. Basically, she looks like our kid :).
We took quick notes of when what happened when Charlotte was born. Which has actually been really cool to refer to. So we did the same with Audrey. Here are Boz's notes:
12:00 - check in 6cm (-1 station)
12:40 - IV start - weird cold sweat thing
1:15 - doctor shows up
No contractions yet
1:35 - break water
2:00 - first light contraction starts
3:00 - Contractions still sparse and weak.
3:25 - get up to go to the bathroom, started a couple goodish contractions
3:45 - Start Pitocin
4:10 - 8 cm (0 station) Pitocin off
4:12 - urge to push
4:32 - Doctor shows up
4:34 - Baby born
He was off a minute on the birth :).
There were a lot of babies being born, so the postpartum unit was packed and the rooms are shared. My roomate had some very late vistors and kept the bright lights and TV on all night. I got about 3 hours of sleep the entire time in the hospital. I was given the go ahead to go home the next morning but they have SO much stinking stuff you have to do in the hosptial (much of it fluff it seems) and they were busy so it wasn't until 4:30 the next day that I finally got to go home. For me at least I get NO rest in the hospital and cannot wait to get home with baby. It can't come soon enough. It is soooo good to be home.
The pitocin was put in at 3:45, but the nurse thinks I never even got any in my system before we turned it off. I'm not sure, cause there was a contraction at 4pm that felt "pitocin" like (harder, doesn't ease up as much, etc.). I kept changing position (thanks to the back labor). At 4:10 the nurse decided to turn off the pitocin and check me since she had a feeling things would "melt fast" now that things were intensifying.
We took quick notes of when what happened when Charlotte was born. Which has actually been really cool to refer to. So we did the same with Audrey. Here are Boz's notes:
