A New Arrival!

Guess what?  Monday at 6:51pm, our daughter was born!  For the sake of this blog, I'll be calling her A (funny joke, we didn't name her for 2-3 days, and my brother suggested we name her 'A', and the next one 'B'... etc, lol).  This is our birth story.

Wednesday, before my due date, I started getting a lot of timeable contractions at 10min apart.  They would quit for an hour or so, and start up again, so I knew they weren't the real deal.  I had them when sitting, standing, shopping, sleeping... it was ridiculous.  They continued through the whole weekend.  By Sunday I told my husband I wasn't timing them anymore.  I was done.  I had been questioning labour for 3-4 days now, and my emotions were a wreck.  I spent the day blissfully ignoring contractions, praying that God would just let me know.

Midnight on Sunday/Monday I woke up with another one of those silly untimeable light contractions... which gave me the runs and the shakes all at the same time.  We went to the hospital to find out why I had shakes so bad for 20 minutes straight, as I was still shaking when we got in the van and strongly felt something was wrong.  My in laws came to watch the kids. 

Everything seemed fine, and they checked me and said I was 5 cm.  We stayed at the hospital, and hours later was said to be 7 cm.  No pain, and I was thrilled.  Day shift nurse tried to get me to help these contractions get closer, and later on checked me to find... I was 3 cm, and probably had been there awhile.  Baby's head was making measuring difficult.  So, we waited a little longer to check once more to see if there was any change.  None.  Left the hospital around noon.  Went home crying.  I was so hoping to leave with a baby, and instead I was leaving as having been in false labor... and I didn't go in thinking I was in labor to begin with, just concerned with why I was shaking.  I felt a little ridiculous.

After lunch we went for naps and I was having those same stupid contractions.  When I woke up they were different... closer.  5 minutes apart and stronger than they had been.  Chuck was about to go to the barn, and I told him to wait (it was shortly after 4 when I woke up).  Within 15 minutes we figured out this was probably the real deal, and went in... again... this time arriving at 5pm.

I was not allowed to leave the room as the contractions were right on top of each other very quickly.  I used the ball, which was nice until they needed to strap me into monitors on the bed yet again.  Then they got me the phentanol since anything else could harm the baby at this point.  I didn't have it for terribly many contractions... they checked me and I was almost done... only a tiny bit left.  I was to lean forward to help that little bit finish quicker.

The doctor came in to check me and found I was ready to push... which I could have said since my body tried pushing already the previous contraction.  My water broke then, and with only 6 minutes of pushing, baby was born at 6:51pm, February 25.  But my goodness, that was not a fun six minutes for me!  I was thinking it would be more like it was with my son where I didn't even have to think about pushing, my body did it all on its own... I had to actually force myself to try to push this time.  It was strange.

"You have a beautiful daughter" we were told, and my little girl was placed on my chest for a little bit.  She was almost 20inches long, 8lbs, 11oz, and had a head circumference of 35cm.  The placenta came out fine, my husband cut the cord, and then the worst thing started.  I bled.  And I shook.  And my husband had to hold our daughter while the nurses called the doctor back in and did everything to stop the bleeding. 

All I could do was pray... pray to stop shaking so they could put in the two IVs, the catheter, and some kind of pill... praying that they could stop the bleeding quickly, praying that God would place his hand on me and protect us.  He did.  Apparently I overheard that they calculated more than 2 L of blood lost.  The nurse that went to check came into the room and it sounded as though she thought the numbers she got were wrong.  Another nurse had gone to her and I overheard her saying that she got over 2L, but that couldn't be right (she wasn't in the room when all of this had happened).  The nurse that went over to her said that sounded very possible.  I guess they were suprised I hadn't passed out or something?  I was still completely coherent and talking, clenching my fist for the blood test done shortly afterward (more blood?  Really?).  Thankfully my hemoglobin levels weren't as low as they suspected, so I didn't need a blood transfusion (which is apparently rare in a loss of that amount).  I was able to nurse at 8:30.  When they took another test 2 days later, my levels were stable.

We stayed in the hospital for 3 nights.  The first night I spent flat in bed.  They couldn't raise the bed at all either due to the fear of more loss of blood, or of me fainting.  I never once felt faint either.  That morning they were able to remove the catheter and the needle from the one IV, which had been removed once it was finished at some point during the night.  The other IV was also removed that morning.  I actually felt a little more myself, but extremely weak and tired.  Our little girl didn't have a name yet, and none that we'd picked was something we liked... I told my husband it could wait.  I did not feel well enough to try to think about names at the moment.  Early morning, the doctor came in and said that my hemoglobin was low.  I could either have a blood transfusion, or take iron supplements.  I opted for supplements. 

My husband left the hospital for some breakfast.  Oh... interesting thing... he went home for a bit and found our fridge and fridge freezer not working.  It was defrosting.  He got someone in to see if it could be fixed, and they found out that someone had turned the dials both completely off.  How?  When?  This is the mystery.  Our door had been left unlocked, so my husband suspects someone decided to have some 'fun' on our behalf.  Why anyone would do that, I have no clue.  Not to mention I had a lot of our freezer meals for when baby had arrived in that freezer.  Thankfully, they caught things before they completely defrosted.  I figured maybe the dials had been 'brushed' over to zero.  They aren't easy to move though, so that makes no sense either.  The kids wouldn't be able to reach them, or turn them off either.  Just a little... aside... I suppose.

The last night I was actually transferred to a different room that was a regular room outfitted as maternity overflow.  I was forgotten, and couldn't ring nurses (I actually had to go out to look for one when our daughter wouldn't stop crying as she wanted milk and mine hadn't come in yet due to all the blood loss... they gave her some formula so I could get some sleep, and my milk came in an hour later, causing the shakes and more runs and everything... I'm guessing my colostrum was getting ready that early monday morning shaking session... as it seemed to follow a bit of a pattern).  They had forgotten to tell me how to lock the shared bathroom doors, or where the nurse call button was.  The only reason I knew how to adjust my bed was because my son found the buttons at the foot.  I didn't know there were side rails or how to raise them until 5am that morning when the nurses I got out of my room to get showed me.  They even forgot to bring my iron supplements to my room that day.  Apparently, that was a busy night for the maternity ward!  I'm not upset at all, it just made my decision to go home a little easier... even though I felt tired and weak, had the shakes randomly, and couldn't hardly walk long, I was still doing everything myself at the hospital, too.  At least at home I had my own shower, my own bathroom, and my own comfortable bed.

I finally went home on February 28th, late in the evening.  My hemoglobin is low, but the doctor says it is manageable. I'm taking iron supplements and looking into the foods that I can eat to help raise this quicker. I want my energy back.

I cannot take the stairs more than once a day (to go to bed, and then in the morning to come downstairs).  My husband is doing so much, and the kids help a lot too.  Our little girl is doing well, and slept better since we arrived home than she did the entire time at the hospital.  It may also help that our house isn't as dry.  It is so nice to be home again.  I found out that M has been cleaning in the house when I was gone.  She took a cloth and washed the table of the crayon my son had gotten on there, she cleans up the toys when they are done playing with them, and she has been helping me since we got home to get stuff put away, or on the table, whatever she can!  It is so sweet.  She also loves her baby sister.  She's been talking about her nonstop, wants to hold her, and when I have her on the floor, M is there, touching her face and stroking her hands... it is absolutely adorable.

So, now we are home.  M keeps reminding me that now there are 3 of them... her, Bram, and A.  Bram likes to watch his baby sister on the floor, and if he accidentally drops something nearby, you hear him say 'sorry'.  The kids have been real troopers through all this.  And my husband has been wonderful.  He is doing so much, making most of our food, helping me with diaper changes when he's around, and lifting the baby to me in bed when I find myself struggling to do so myself.  I feel really useless right now as I cannot walk much before I'm exhausted.  I can read the kids stories, take care of A's basic needs, go on the computer, and nap.  I'm in a lot of pain right now as engorgment has hit (seriously, you'd think I wouldn't produce much milk since my hemoglobin is so low).  I need to try to work that out soon.  It's the same as it was with M.  Actually, A reminds me a lot of M in her mannerisms, everything.

I am tired, but I feel so blessed to finally be home again.  Thanks for reading (if you managed to make it through it all, haha).  It is almost time for breakfast... would you believe it is difficult to get ingrediants out of the fridge to make pancake batter?  Pancake batter.  Seriously.  I can't wait to feel normal again. 

And now, in the words of Tigger (whom the kids have had me reading many many stories of lately), T.T.F.N... Ta ta for now!