Okay so it has definitely been awhile! So sorry about the delay - I'm sure those of you out there who follow my blog were wondering what happened! Well anyway, our precious little girl, Kaylee Joy, arrived just 3 days late, on December 5th, 2013! She was born after just a 12 hour labor (which I thought wasn't too bad for a first time mom), & amazingly I was able to stick with the all natural, unmedicated birth we were hoping for! She weighed 7 lbs 7 oz. & measured 19 1/2 inches long, & was so cute I was amazed. I believe the first thing I said when they set her on me was "wow, she's real!!" It was just so amazing. The first thing she did was pee on me, lol, & I seriously didn't care at all. She is so beautiful, & as she is 6 weeks old today (which is so crazy to me!) I swear she gets cuter every day. Not going to lie, life as a mom is difficult, & harder than I ever thought it would be, but at the end of the day so worth it. She is smiling a lot now & it seriously melts my heart!
And now for the birth story! As far as the labor part, I'll tell you there is NOTHING like that kind of pain. We took a 12 week Bradley course in preparation for the birth, & while I'm glad we did (I never would've done all-natural w/out it), I still think that nothing can really prepare you. Not to scare anyone (sorry!) but it's more pain than I EVER would've thought my body could handle. It's crazy how just when you think you can't handle any more pain, somehow you do. My labor started at night (around 11pm) on December 4th, & w/in an hour my contractions were immediately less than 5 minutes apart. We went to the hospital around 3 or 3:30am, & when we checked in I was at 4cm dilated & we were admitted. I spent a good amount of time in the shower in my room during labor because it helped with the back labor (oh, which is terrible!). The best thing that helped with that was that we had brought tennis balls & my hubby would dig them into my back which felt so awesome! Counter-pressure is your friend during labor. Well once I got to 7cm I started telling my DH that I didn't think I could do it (natural birth), over & over. Then by 9cm I started BEGGING for an epidural. I won't go into the whole story but it was really emotional for my husband & my parents (but especially my husband) since they knew I had worked so hard for a natural birth, but in the end it was my decision.
I told the nurse I wanted an epidural & they started getting me set up for it (gave me some fluid through an IV). By the time the anethesiologist made it to my room though, I was already at 10cm & couldn't even sit up straight & stay still enough for them to be able to do it, so thankfully (yes, I say thankfully) time had kind of run out & I was forced to do what I had really wanted to do. Looking back I'm definitely glad it ended up that way. Then after just 45 minutes of pushing, she was born! At the end I had to push her out pretty quickly (after being urged by my OB) because little one (LO)'s heart rate was dropping. When she came out we found out why - the umbilical cord was wrapped around her neck twice & around her shoulder once! She was a little purple when she came out, & they rubbed her a lot to "pink her up" initially. I didn't even know about the cord being wrapped around her til later. She was so beautiful I could hardly believe it!
I ended up hemorrhaging after she was born, but not so badly that I needed a blood transfusion or anything, although my OB did have to do some things to stop the bleeding. One thing that I thought was really awesome about the birth was that my own OB was the one who delivered Kaylee! I never expected that, since I have Kaiser & the physicians rotate, so you pretty much get whoever is on call. My OB was not in L&D that day, but when she knew I had been admitted she re-arranged her appointments at the clinic so that she could come & be there to deliver my baby! I thought that was seriously amazing of her! We received really amazing care during & following the labor & delivery, the nursing staff as well were truly incredible. I'm grateful we had such a good experience!
There is more to share, as I had some complications after coming home, but I will do that later. Just wanted to finally say yes, she is here!! :)
