Monday, November 29, 2010

a baby story

4:30am- Craig and I get up, shower, and get ready to leave for the hospital. It's baby day.
6am- I have Ciel take a few belly shots with my camera before we leave, we make sure to leave the last few instructions, then we head out the door.
6:10am- We arrive at the registration desk, and for some reason, the girl has trouble getting my information entered in properly. She keeps mixing me up with another woman named Brooke that is already admitted to Labor & Delivery. Finally we get everything straightened out after about 20 minutes, and they take us back.
6:30am- They take me to my room, one I have never been in before, and my nurse, Connie, gives me my gown to change into, and a stack of papers to fill out. She is very sweet, and I know instantly she will be an awesome delivery nurse.
6:45am- Connie gets a call that she is needed to help wit the other woman there in labor, Brooke, her delivery is imminent. I finish filling out the pile of papers, and Connie lets me know she will be back shortly. In less than 5 minutes we hear a newborn baby crying. I am happy for Brooke. It suddenly dawns on me that I know who Brooke is. She is about my same age, about the same number of kids, is in our ward and our due dates were 3 days apart. When Connie returns, I ask her a few questions and I confirm my suspicions. I was right. So fun!
7:15am- I send Craig home to get the kids off to school, Finn on the schoolbus, and then drive Ciel to school on his way back. I knew we had time and he wasn't going to miss anything, so off he went.
7:45am- Connie tries to insert my IV so that she can start my Pitocin. After two sticks in my hand she stops, afraid of hurting me, and calls the other nurse on duty in to see if she has any better luck. Nope. Instead the anesthesiologist is called to do my IV and my epidural at the same time.
8:10am- The anesthesiologist arrives, gets my IV line inserted in less than a second on the first try, with his eyes closed and both hands tied behind his back. Not really, but I swear he probably could have.  He then moves on to my epidural. He gets it in but when he flushes the line, it doesn't work. So he has to re-do it. Connie and I talk about my past labors and when I mention that I have given birth 4 times without any pain meds, the anesthesiologist asks me why I would ever do that. He felt that if we have the meds to make birth less painful, we should use it. I tried to explain, but he was kind of irritated with me. Oh well. He gets a call from surgery saying he needs to be there asap. He gets the second epidural in and dashes off. He calls over his shoulder that he will return after surgery to dose me with the meds to numb me since I am not contracting yet and he has only inserted the epidural catheter in my back in preparation for the meds for later. Connie and I have been chatting away the entire time, and I am so thrilled that she will be my delivery nurse, she is the best.
8:30am-My Dr. arrives, checks me (I'm a 3 still) and decides to break my water first thing (the nurse noted the time it was broken at 8:33am, and they consider this as the start of labor).I tell the Dr. I will deliver this baby in about 2 hours time. He laughs and says he's not so sure about that, every labor is different and not to get my hopes up. Then the nurse starts the Pitocin. It takes mere minutes for my contractions to start and become regular. Mild, but regular.
8:40am- the Dr. leaves and minutes later Craig is back. The kids are safely off to school, and we settle in for labor.
9am- I call my best friend Jodee and make arrangements for Finn to be dropped off at her house just in case my Mom is held up and doesn't get to our house in time to get him off the bus herself. Once I know everything is settled, arranged and the kids will be fine, I totally relax and stop worrying about it.
9:30am-My contractions are  getting stronger. Connie checks me and I'm a 4. I ask for the anesthesiologist to come and give me the numbing meds. He arrives and doses me up, then another tech brings in a epidural pump, my first time using one, and sets me up so I can dose myself as I go. The tech tells me that when I am ready to push to hit the button to give myself one last dose to make things easier at the end.
10am- the epidural meds have kicked in, but only to take the edge off of the contractions. My feet feel kind of numb and tingly, but I can feel everything else. Not wanting to be a whiner, I don't mention anything. I figure it will kick in soon and I won't be in pain anymore.  I try to get some rest. Connie turns out the lights and I lie down for a bit to see if I can take a little nap.
10:30am- My contractions are getting stronger and my epidural is still not working on my contractions and I can't sleep. Rest is out of the question. I finally break down and tell Connie I'm hurting, and she helps me to breathe through the contractions. They are very strong and reminiscent of my drug free labors. Connie pages the anesthesiologist immediately to see if he can help. She helps me continue to breathe through them, they are really getting  hard. Connie is a so kind, and the breathing is getting me through.
10:45am- I ask Connie to check me again and I was a good 5, almost 6 cm dilated.  I am disappointed, I was sure I was at least a 7 or an 8. Ugh. More contractions and breathing.
11am- I get hit with a whopper of a contractions. It took my breath away. I instantly know. This is it. I tell Connie she needs to check me again. Now. She does. She looks at me in total shock and says I am 10cm. I'm complete. It's time to push. She runs to call the Dr.
11:01am- The anesthesiologist arrives, checks my epidural to make sure it;s still inserted properly. Asks me how much I want to feel while I push, totally numb, or just enough to feel some pressure. I opt for the second one. He doses me up and within one minute I am pain free. Oh sweet relief.
11:04am- My Dr. dashes in, throwing on a gown in a quiet panic.He says I was right after all, it was only about 2 hours since he broke my water. Connie and the other nurse Jamie are prepping me, raising the bed, and scurrying to ready everything.
11:05am- The Dr. has me push on the next contraction, counting to 10. A deep breath, and push again counting to 10, but I only make it to 8. One tiny push. The Dr. tells me to look up, look up, and I see my baby's face as he delivers her and lays her on my stomach.
11:06am- She's born. Our sweet little babe is here, safe and sound. She looks like a little chub, and she is barely making any sounds. The nurse is rubbing her off, and I am staring at her in disbelief and total adoration.
They whisked her over for assessment since she was struggling the tiniest bit to breathe at first, but within minutes she is totally fine. They weigh her and by her looks Craig and I both think she will be an 8lb baby at least. During my pregnancy I was convinced she was going to be around 7-7 1/2 lbs. Turns out she only looked chubby, she weighed in @ 7lbs. 6oz. instead. The nurse cleans her up and hands her to me, and I can't get enough of her sweet face. And she has hair. Lots of dark hair. And big dark eyes too. What a little doll.
The Dr. told me later that the reason I was feeling my contractions, even though I had an epidural, was that my labor has progressed too quickly. Simply put, the epidural just couldn't keep up with the speed and intensity of the contractions. But, regardless, it was a fantastic labor and delivery, one of my best. As much as it hurt, the epidural still took the edge off of the worst of it, and I was fine. It took us until the second day to finally decide on her namne, but she suits it. And Jensen she is.

 

Sunday, November 21, 2010

38 weeks pregnant, and prepping for thanksgiving


Nope. Still no baby. Yet. But it won't be much longer. So...I am currently preparing as much of our Thanksgiving dinner ahead of time as possible. This way, even if I am still totally pregnant, I can enjoy the day and meal without knocking myself silly getting the food made and onto the table. I want to be able to enjoy the day as much as I can. I made the mashed potatoes using a make-ahead recipe with potatoes, cream cheese, sour cream, and milk. They will keep in the fridge and only need to be re-heated the day of, and they still taste like you made them fresh that day. The yam casserole is a new recipe I am trying out since I can make it ahead of time and store it in the fridge until the day of, where I just have to toss the pecan topping on top and then bake it. I have a turkey breast defrosting in the fridge that I will be cooking in my crock pot so as to free up the oven for the other dishes, as well as make my life, and day, that much easier. I made three pie crusts and tossed them in the freezer, and all I have to do is pull them out to defrost, throw the fillings together and bake them up the day before. I have a bag of Rhodes rolls that will be thawed and baked the day of, and some veggies that are simple to throw together, the recipes take next to no time, and they're all prepared on the stovetop so the oven will not be overcrowded. And the stuffing is half way prepared and I will only have to wait until the day of to mix together the onion/apple/celery base with the cubed bread, season it, and then heat it all up. I am so ready. This little baby has the green light to arrive anytime she wishes. Like now. Right now. This very minute. Tonight would be perfect. Please? I am so done with the waddling.

Saturday, November 20, 2010

fondue fun

For dinner tonight, I decided that fondue sounded like a fun idea. The cheese fondue recipe was simple and fast, and I paired it with steamed veggies and cubed bread from a baguette. Seriously, my kids were crazy for it. You never saw little ones so excited to eat their veggies. I used a bag of frozen broccoli florets, a bag of frozen cauliflower pieces and a bag of baby carrots, which made my prep time even faster. I steamed the veggies to a crisp tender stage so that they were cooked, but not mushy making it easy for the kidlets to dip without everything falling apart. I also bought a 2-quart mini crock pot at Wal-Mart for $9.88 that was the perfect fit for the fondue. Seriously, this little gadget is the BEST for keeping hot dips hot, I love it!