One week old!/Birth story

It's only been a week and I feel like Emma has been here forever. It's been a very long week though, so that's probably partly to blame.

Wednesday morning (the 22nd) I woke up right at 5:00 with some pretty strong contractions. I started timing them and they were between 6-8 minutes apart-so I just tried to rest a bit and kept timing. Patrick got up for work at 5:30 and I let him know what was going on and to not be surprised if he got a call in a while.

He left, they continued. I couldn't fall back asleep so I just decided to get up then for my shower just in case it was labor-then I would be all ready. They crept closer together and by the time I got out some of them were only 2 1/2 minutes apart and some were more like 5-6 minutes-so it was time to call Patrick. Since my water broke the past two times this was so so confusing to me-I was pretty sure it was real but was nervous that I would get the kids around and to our friend's house and it would be nothing.

We ended up leaving the house a little after 8 and got to the hospital after dropping the kids off a little after 9. Even driving there I wasn't convinced (and then I'd have a serious contraction and retract that thought!). We went in, got checked, and sure enough-6cm dilated and 85-90% effaced with a bulging bag of waters. It was officially baby day!

It was a slow slow afternoon. I guess I only labor quickly when my water breaks! Since I tested positive for GBS it was a good thing, as it was ideal to get 2 rounds of antibiotics in my system. When I was about to get the second round (somewhere around 2:00) they hooked up a pitocin bag at the same time. Not a fan-I let the nurse know that I only wanted it if it was absolutely necessary and even then only on the absolute lowest setting. We kept on waiting, and contractions started getting more and more intense-I could tell it was getting a lot closer. By 4 I was a 9 but the doctor still had to get there and break my water and I knew that there was no way I would make it through without a little relief. Contractions were so strong that I was lightheaded breathing through them and the end of them left me almost in tears (and I can tolerate pain-I delivered Maya with an epidural that didn't work, and then delivered Patrick breech just fine) so I asked for an epidural. I was so thankful that they were quick with it-looking back at it I'm still glad I got it, and almost wish I had before then. Once I asked for it I made a comment to the nurse that it was a good thing she didn't turn the pitocin on because it would have made things so much more intense-and she said that oh, she had turned it on-so I asked her to turn it off and she did, but it was going to take a little while to get out of my system. Apparently I'm hypersensitive to just 2mL/hr-well no kidding, my body didn't need it.

Not long after getting the epidural the doctor arrived and checked me. I was almost almost there-she tried to stretch that last little ridge out and that hurt like the dickens so she broke my water instead. I want to say that was at like 4:55, and a few minutes later I was ready to go.

I had to wait and breathe deep through the last contractions as they were prepping everything. I knew I was ready, so when the doc told me to go ahead and push I told her not till she was standing right there-so she grabbed her paper thing, walked over, nurses grabbed my legs and I pushed and she was out!

The next part was the wonderful part and even though I was annoyed at the pitocin and wussed out on an epidural, it didn't matter. With the other three I didn't get to hold them right after delivery and that always bothered me. You know, the push baby out, baby goes right to mama moment-got it. And it was amazing. She was bloody and waxy and just plain wonderful. I held her for quite a bit while I delivered the placenta, and when I was ready to be stitched up (2nd degree tear since she barreled through so fast) she was weighed. She was officially 7lbs 11oz and 20in long, born at 5:21pm. Right away I could tell she looked just like baby Maya and we could see her shoulder dimples immediately too! She nursed great right away too-yay!

Maya came up pretty soon after. She was completely in love as soon as she saw Emma (surprise) and held her for a really long time. I was moved to our room and Maya and Patrick left and then there were two days of boredom, soreness, too many people coming in and out, and not sleeping-at all, but lots and lots of snuggles.

The days after that were more of a challenge than any other delivery-physically, at least. I couldn't sit without being in incredible pain and Emma apparently had a bad latch but I didn't realize it until it was much too late. There ended up being blood and gore and pain and horrible. I've been pumping around the clock and we are feeding poor Emma with a syringe-but, however, once we were able to see what she was getting she actually started sleeping (which before the weekend she was only doing in 10-20 minute bursts).

She's wonderful though. Maya's a little mama to her and Ava and Patrick think she's pretty ok too. They like to do simple things to help-like bring her pacifier or blanket. I can't get enough baby snuggles either. I don't want time to ever pass from right now!

Now, almost a week after writing that, I'm finally getting to the whole uploading pictures part so I can publish this thing. Photos were taken by the fantastic Kristi at Kristi James Photography-visit her site here! Please do NOT copy, share, or save these photos-I am giving zero people permission to do so-thanks. For family, if there are some that you'd like, please ask me for them!