The birth

I'm going to go ahead and recap my birth story, for me and anyone interested. If you don't want the gory details (and I don't blame you) just skip this post. You've been warned.

I was really on the fence about an induction. I didn't want to force her out before she was ready, but given Mabes' size and speed, my doctor was willing to induce a little early. We had the date set for today, but last night I kept going back and forth. Plus, with it being the last day of the year, I thought we might get bumped. I decided that if L&D called this morning with space for me, then it was meant to be, but if I got bumped, I'd try not to be too disappointed.

I slept pretty poorly last night, and at 6:24 L&D called and offered to let me come in. I said we'd be there, hung up, and turned to Dave, "So...you want to have a baby today?" We took a picture before heading in, and I appreciate Dave standing in for comparison.



We got to L&D shortly after 8, I changed and settled into my bed and went through all the questions. A little after 8:30, my doctor came in, checked me (4 cm, still 80% effaced, -2 station), broke my water and started the pitocin. No going back now! Contractions were steady but bearable, though they warned me that if I wanted the epidural, it would take 30 minutes. I was feeling fine. Not much changed in the next 2 hours, though my nurse was happy with my contraction pattern. She checked me after an hour, and I was still 4 cm. I was starting to rethink the induction and worry that my body wasn't ready, this could take all day, and possibly end in a c-section (yeah, I'm impatient).

I wasn't sure about the epidural, because on the one hand, I didn't want it to stall labor, but on the other, I had heard that some women progress faster with the epidural because it allows their bodies to relax. The contractions were still bearable, but I didn't know how long they'd stay that way. So I told the nurse I might be wanting the epidural soon. A couple of contractions later--"Um, do you think I could get the epidural now?" Still not terrible (not like with Mabes), but I knew it wasn't going to get better.

Putting in the epidural seemed to take longer than with Mabes, but it was in by 11:30. I was feeling a lot of pressure (like I had to poop), but they said that was normal and just the baby slowly descending. I only remember back pain with Mabes. With the epidural in, the contractions soon subsided, but the other pain was increasing. My nurse checked me and I was at 6 cm, -1 station. Progress! I was relieved that the epidural seemed to be helping my body do it's job. A few minutes later (maybe 11:45 am), I was feeling great between contractions, but when one would hit, I told my nurse "Seriously, I need to poop." She said it was probably the baby and she'd check me again--8 cm! She left to page the doctor and get the delivery cart.

At this point, I'm still thinking I've got a way to go. Even when I was fully dilated with Mabes, it took 2 hours to push her out. Everyone assured me that it would go faster this time, so I was hoping for 30 minutes, but bracing myself for 45-60. Let's be realistic here, right? The nurse was gone for all of 5 minutes and I was still feeling terrible. I pressed the nurse call button, and Dave asked what was wrong and what he could do. I just clenched the bedrail, "It's embarrassing."

The nurse came back and I just said, "I'm going to poop. Now. I know it happens in delivery and you're used to it, but I just thought I'd give you a heads up. I'm really sorry, but I can't move and I need.to.poop.now." I was mortified, but the pain was greater. The nurse assured me I wasn't pooping and that it was the baby. I wanted to argue that I was only 8 cm and that I was, in fact, about to crap the bed. (All dignity flies out the window during labor.) She checked me and turned to the other nurse, "10 cm, +3 station--has the backup doctor been paged?" Then she turned to me, "The doctor will be here in just a minute. Until then, breathe like you're blowing out candles and just try to hold it." Awesome. I never had the urge to push with Mabes, so this was a whole new (rather disconcerting) sensation. People kept coming in--techs, baby nurses, it was quite the audience--but no doctor.

Dr. Bland came in at 12:15 and I've never been so happy to see someone. "I can push now, right?" No, he needs his gloves on. This made no sense to me, as he could do that during the practice pushes, right? It's going to take at least a half hour, and surely he can get his gloves on by then. But I blew the freakin' candles out through one more contraction, they put my legs up in the stirrups, and while we waited for the next contraction someone commented on the baby having a lot of hair. Uhhhh...you can see her head? And hair? "Okay, push!"

I pushed once, but knew I could do better. Took another breath, then pushed hard. Then all of a sudden, I just felt an odd feeling of something coming out. "What IS that?" I look down and see a head. "Okay, Allison, one more push--not too hard--and she'll be all the way out" my nurse calmly told me. I did as I was told but was thinking, 'how is this possible? I thought we were still on practice pushes?' And then she was out, crying, and I was crying in disbelief.

Delivering the placenta was not as easy, and the first couple of hours after delivery were rough. But comparing it to the pain and discomfort of the last few weeks, and being able to look at this adorable little girl made bearable.

She's an absolute doll and I can't wait for Mabes to meet her.

She's here!

It got late and I'm tired, so I'll post more tomorrow. But here's a glimpse of what we're ringing in the New Year with!



Still no name. She was born at 12:19 pm weighing in at 8 lbs 9 oz (respectable, but still a full pound less than Mabes) and 21 1/4 inches long. I've had a great day just holding her.


And Moom, I know I said I'd email first, but I'm tired and I'm going to sleep now. Promise. I figured you'd like that more...

Well...

We're headed to the hospital. I've waffled back and forth on this, but they have room, I'm having contractions, my doctor is on call today, so we'll see. We'll update soon!

Christmas

Christmas was lovely. After a hectic couple of weeks (months?) of packing, moving, unpacking, preparing for Christmas, and preparing for baby, Christmas was the first time in a long time I was able to just do nothing. Well, after presents and a breakfast with homemade cinnamon rolls. (I use my mom's dinner roll/cinnamon roll recipe. The dinner rolls the night before weren't as good as my mom's, but I must say, the cinnamon rolls were among my best.) Once breakfast was over, Mabes spent the day playing with her new toys, riding her new bike, and playing Wii with Dave. I did nothing. It was perfect.

Here's Mabes in the nightgown I made for her. I forgot that kids' patterns run big. It's kind of huge on her, but hey--she can wear it for years to come! She was very excited about her "princess Barbies" and insisted on holding all of them.

Riding her new bike from Grandma Jackie. It was raining so she couldn't ride it outside. Thankfully, we have a lot of space and not much furniture, so she could ride inside. She's wearing her crown from her Christmas Cracker.

And I'm still waiting on my big present. I woke up yesterday at 2:40 with contractions, crampiness, and back pain which continued for an hour and a half or so until I was able to fall back asleep. It started up again when I got up, and just as I was about to call the doctor, it eased up. This happened all day yesterday--timeable, regular (3-5 minutes apart) contractions for a couple of hours, then they spread out/stop just before I call. The contraction-timing app on my iPod is getting quite the workout (yes, they have apps for everything!). I didn't sleep well last night due to said contractions, and Mabes has impeccable timing and is able to whine or throw a fit while I'm having a contraction. Awesome. I was telling people at church on Sunday that I felt surprisingly good and thought the baby might be staying there for a few more weeks. After yesterday? Let's just say that Mabes and I are going for a long walk as soon as all the frost melts.

Oh, and happy birthday Nancy! I'm doing my best to let this baby share a birthday with the most awesome aunt!

Mabes realizes we're ridiclious

We were (again) talking names, and given the time of year, I had been saying I'd be open to using a Christmas-y middle name as long as it wasn't obvious like Noelle or Santa. Dave said that he actually really liked Noelle (and Santa, but that's a given), and Mabes just snorted and gave us a look.

"Mommy, you can't name da baby Noelle! Dat's not a baby name, dat's in a Christmas song! You can't name a baby after a song, dat would be ridiclious!"

Yes, yes it would.


And as a sidenote, yes I'm still pregnant, and yes I'm huge. I'm getting the giant eyes/crazy comments when I go out. The Hee Teeter checker told me it looked like the baby was so low she was probably coming out any second, and I swear she breathed an audible sigh of relief when I left the store, bag of waters (::shudder:: I hate that phrase, but weird people call for creepy phrases) still in tact.

Goals, people

Some friends threw a "last girl's night out before baby" for me last night and I just laughed when I opened this gift from Alisa. She says she's thinking positive for me. I'll admit I'm not the most patient person, and I really want to meet little Miss Corleone, so it could be fun to have her before Christmas. But then I realize that would be sometime in the next week, and holy ned, that's soon. Plus I was banking on having Mabes weeks early and that blew up in my face--not fun. So I put it out of my head. But then my mom says, "You know, I'm going to Arizona next week, and people have babies when I go to Arizona..." (One person, one baby...not exactly statistically significant.) Fortunately, there are plenty of other things going on to distract me from wondering when she'll make her entrance.

It was a great night with plenty of delicious food, fabulous friends, lots of laughing, and did I mention food? Awesome friends make what could be the miserable last weeks of pregnancy quite fun.

Things I've learned...

(in the last couple of days, at least...)

1. How to make fudge.

My mom is a fudge snob. Years ago, she was complaining to a friend about how she had yet to find a good fudge recipe. Sue modestly said, "Well, I think my recipe is pretty good." It is perfect. So she showed my mom how to make it, and has even returned several times to give my mom refresher courses. Having been to one of these, and with the recipe in hand, I decided to attempt my first solo batch of fudge.

It was 9 pm Sunday night. I looked over the recipe and decided it should only take about 15 minutes, so hey, I'll make it while Dave's on the phone. By 10 I was calling my mom wondering why my sugar/milk mixture wasn't heating over 220 degrees. Stupid fudge! She figured it out (I didn't know I was supposed to use a ridiculously large pan), offered some other advice, and I was on my way. Totally worth the expected reprimanding I got for being up late making fudge. Come on, Mom. The only thing more important than sleep to a woman late in pregnancy is fudge. Or any other chocolate-based treat.

But then the milk started to burn, and as I stirred it into the other ingredients, it was clear that this wasn't my mom's fudge. Hers is pretty. Mine looked greasy. And things weren't melting right. Stupid fudge. I poured it in the pans, shoved it in the fridge, and left the kitchen a mess. I was fed up, and decided to stick with what I know: cookies.

Monday morning, I opened the fridge and looked at my fudge nemesis with disgust. Well, I might as well try it before throwing it out. I'm certainly not going to be able to give this crap away. To my utter disbelief, it wasn't terrible. It wasn't grainy or blooming or gritty, like so many other fudges I've tried. It was fantastic. Smooth, creamy, delicious. I'm still not sure if I'll give any away...it's quickly disappearing from my fridge. Thanks, Sue, your recipe is so awesome that it couldn't be screwed up by me.

2. Mabes and cough syrup don't mix.

I had a growth ultrasound and doctor's appointment Monday morning. Since Mabes has been talking about ultrasounds for months, I decided to bring her to the appointment. She was very excited to see her baby "stister." She had a cold and cough, and while that's not a big deal at my doctor's office (as long as there's no fever, which there wasn't), I still felt bad bringing a hacking kid in. Plus, she was complaining about her throat hurting when she coughed, so I decided to give her a cough suppressant. I know--I usually just let these things run their course, but in light of the circumstances, I made an exception. I shouldn't have.

On a positive note, her cough *was* suppressed. But that wasn't really noticeable, what with all the bouncing. Seriously. Mabes tends to be rather energetic as it is, but this was nuts. She was good for the ultrasound, and loved seeing the baby. But by the time I met with my doctor, she was jumping up and down telling him about her Nutcracker movie and how bad the mouse king is, how she saw her baby stister on the special computer and her hands were by her face, and how Christmas was coming up and we have a tree and presents and stockings! And at least she was bouncing in place and not running around the office--that counts for something, right?

I assured Dr. B that I wouldn't bring her to next week's appointment, and he just laughed and said he'll miss seeing Mabes after I have the baby. Really? I mean, really. But I appreciate that he cares enough to say nice things that may not be true to make me feel better.

3. Thanksgiving pictures don't post themselves.

I still need to get on that. And I should probably also pack a hospital bag. And figure out what exactly we're doing with Mabes (we have ideas/offers, but don't have anything concrete). And make sure Dave knows where we're going.

4. I'm giving birth to the Godfather.





















Before this, my latest ultrasound was 20 weeks, so it was really cool to see the detail at 37 weeks. You can see her nose! Mabes loved seeing her move around and the ultrasound was great. My doctor decided to order an ultrasound to check for fetal macrosomia, which is basically a big baby. Last week, he said "I don't think you're carrying a larger-than-average baby in there--I don't know where you'd be hiding a 9 pounder!" But then he caught himself and said, "But I bet your other doctor said that with Emaline, huh?" Yep.

The baby is measuring 7 pounds right now, so that puts me on track to deliver a 7.5-8.5 pound baby, depending on when she decides to make her debut. I know, I know--ultrasounds can be off by 2 pounds. But until I hear otherwise, I'm going to assume this baby will be 7.5 pounds at birth. The ultrasound tech said she's looking great, though, and despite the picture, the images of her moving around were fascinating. I was surprised to see her face well enough to see a strong resemblance to newborn Mabes, and am pretty sure she'll come out looking more like Mabes than Marlon Brando.