Birth Story-Paisley Reece

SHE'S HERE! I've tried about 543 times to sit down and write this. But it becomes so low on the priority list when your baby girl needs to be fed, diaper changed, cuddled, stared at while she sleeps, dishes everywhere and you've had no shower (oops!).

We welcomed our sweet baby into the world on Friday, October 22, 2010 at 3:58PM! Meet Miss Paisley :)

I was due on Wednesday and had a Dr's appointment at which they told me I had made really no progress. I was still not dilated and I was 50% effaced. I had actually been having some stronger contractions that day, so I was hoping that when he checked me, I would be dilated.  So we scheduled an induction for Saturday, October 23rd. I was 4th on the patient list and they were going to give me a call when a bed was ready. Andrew and I were OK with this plan because that meant that there would be no rushing to the hospital in the middle of the night or while he was at work! After the appointment, we went to the movies and I continued to have contractions. I just ignored them because I wanted to be the real thing but knew that it wasn't. Fast forward to Friday morning when I awoke at 330am with a good contraction. I REALLY had to pee, but another contraction came pretty quickly, so I laid in bed through it. Right after that, I felt a kick and pop and knew my water had broken! I got up and woke up Andy and told him it was time to head to the hospital! So we got in the car for our hour long drive about 45 mins later. Andy was getting very worried because on the way down, my contractions were coming about 5 mins apart (thank you, Contraction Master App!), which is when the Dr. told us we needed to be heading to the hospital. We always thought we would be way ahead of this! Of course, it took us about 45 mins to get ready and get outta town, and we also needed gas :o) Ooops! But I wasn't skipping out on my last shower for a day or two!

By the time we arrived in triage, I was most definitely in active labor already. The pain was excruciating and my contractions were coming about 3 mins apart. They checked my dilation and I was already at a 4. I was begging for any pain meds at this point! But they told me I had to finish a bag of fluids and wait for my Dr to be notified I was there and my condition prior to administering pain medication. I was having terrible back labor, so each contraction I would beg Andrew to massage my lower back through it. I kept telling him "harder, it hurts!" and he massaged so hard that his hand kept cramping up. He most definitely worked too! The next day, my entire lower back was bruised from where he had beaten massaged me. By the time they got me a room, the anesthesiologist arrived to skip the Stadol and go straight for the epi. Since I had a contraction through the epidural, I didn't feel a thing (thank god!). I was really getting upset when they were asking me my pain level on the cute little 1-10 scale. Mmm, I don't know- 30, 40, 50, 100!! Needless to say the epidural was the best thing ever!! To those who have had natural births, you are off your rocker, but I SO give you craploads of credit! :) I layed there like a rag doll for a few more hours as my labor progressed and even took a nap!



Makeup for the arrival of my girl :)

Before I knew it, they came in and told me I was dilated to a 10 and it was time to push. (Eeee!) I made a few comments about how numb I was and I was concerned if my pushing would be effective. Secretly, my nurse turned the epidural off right before pushing to help me regain some feeling. Then, we started pushing. The contractions were coming very far apart, so they decided to administer some pitocin to get them going again. I told the nurse that I started feeling some pressure. She said that my pushes were working and she was going to call the Dr. and see if we could get the baby out in a few more pushes. The Dr. came in and checked me and said that not only was I not ready, I still had at least an HOUR of pushing left and he recommended a c-section if I didn't have the baby in an hour. I knew I didn't want to have a c-section,and the nurse kept telling me that we were so close and she thought I could do it! So after the Dr. left, Andrew, Deli, (the wonderful nurse) and I all decided that we were going to push this baby out and prove the Dr. wrong! 15 mins later, I was told to breathe (and not push) through the contractions because the baby was coming and we needed to call the Dr.!! They also had respiratory therapy standing by in the room because some of the fluid was not clear during labor. A push later and she was out with a little cone head! After only 12 hours of labor, she was here. (I'm told that's pretty good for a first baby!) They put a tube down her throat and made sure her lungs were clear, and she was perfectly fine. It's absolutely amazing the love that you immediately have for your baby when you see and hold them. Nothing in the world is more beautiful to you and you don't care about anything else. Paisley, mama and daddy love you so much.

Now I'm already behind on my weekly posts, so lets hope I can get caught up! So many things have already changed since she was born, I can't believe it!