She's here!

Woo Hoo! Our little Jaycee was born February 9, 2010 at 10:07 pm. She weighed 7 lbs 9 oz and was 21 inches long. She was 3 days past her due date and Mommy and Daddy were getting VERY anxious, not to mention Grandparents and Aunts and Uncles. Here's the story. It's a little long, so I wouldn't be offended if you didn't want to read it!
At 3:00 am my water broke, but we weren't exactly sure that's what was going on. It didn't happen like all the books said it would so we were a bit confused. We later learned that it was a high tear and they actually had to break my water again later that day cause there was still a pocket of water that was under her head that was preventing me from dialating more and preventing her from coming down like she should. Well, we got to the hospital at about 5:30 am and they tested me and my water had definitely broke and we were there to stay...finally!! We called both of our parents and they moved me to a delivery room. They started me in pitocin because the contractions I had been having were just not strong enough and they immediately gave me my epidural. I was surprised that they offered it so quick, and I thought about just putting it off until I was in more pain, but then I decided that 16 weeks of contractions was enough, and I went for it! I was completely calm until the anesthesiologist got me to sign the consent. I got really nervous then. Tom acutally said he had never seen me that scared before! The anesthesiologist had me lay on my side and gave the lidocaine. That was painful, but then when he started putting the catheter in the pressure was worse. (Thank goodness for the lidocaine!) The hard thing too, was that I was still getting over the strep throat and had to cough, but I knew that I couldn't. Tom was so great! He just held me and had me look in his eyes and I am happy to say that I made it through! The rest of the day went pretty good! I was dialated to a one until about 1:00 pm. They broke my water again around 11:00 am, so it took a while, even with the pit to get things going! I was totally comfortable though, so I didn't mind. I was just glad to not be sent home! My mom got there around 3:00 pm and I was dialated to about a 5 at 5:00pm. At some point they rushed in and put me on oxygen and made me lay down on my side. Aparently her heart didn't like the fact that I was sitting up, so we did that and everything looked great again. Within the next couple of hours I increased to 7 cm. The nurse said I was doing good, about 1 cm per hour. Then about 30 min later I was feeling pressure and they checked me again. The doctor said, "You don't have a cervix." I actually looked at him and said, " Where did it go?" Not my best moment! He had to remind me that it meant I was fully dialated! We were so excited! We were about to meet our little girl! He said she was still high, so we needed to let the contractions work a little more to bring her down. He needed to go check on another patient and said I could probably start pushing in about 45 min. It was actually a good thing that he gave us this time, cause it kinda hit Tom and I like a ton of bricks that we were almost parents! We were both pretty emotional! Tom suggested that we say family prayer. (I love what a Spiritual giant my hubby is!) My mom said the prayer and it was beautiful! We were all 4 bawling at this point, Tom, I, my mom and Tom's mom. I didn't quite make it 45 min before I was feeling like I needed to push. Tom and I had decided ahead of time that we wanted to be the only ones in the room when we had her(along with the staff). So our mom's went out into the waiting room. Tom was absolutly the best coach EVER! He kept kissing me and telling me I was doing a good job! He would help me push even if the nurse had to step out of the room. Tom vowed he would not watch her come out though cause he thought that was gross. The nurse was like, "Oh, my gosh! She has dark hair!" That was it! He had to see this hair! He kept telling me that he couldn't believe how much dark hair she had! I was so excited to see this! About an hour and 15 min into pushing my epidural started to run out and wear off! I really wanted them to dose me again, but I didn't want to pay for another bag, but the biggest reason is when they dosed me that afternoon the numbness went up to my armpits and I couldn't cough, which was really hard, cause I was still getting over this strep! Tom's mom kept having to pat my back to I could keep coughing! I was so grateful she was there!! Plus I didn't want to be all numb for hours after I had her! So for the next 45 min the pain just kept getting worse, and I was getting really tired! The nurse finally at almost 10:00 pm said would you like me to go get the doctor to see if he could help! I told her I don't care if they had to use the vacuum to get her out or whatever, I was getting way too tired! Dr. Barton came in and we didn't need the vacuum. He gave me a small episiotomy, only 2 stitches worth. It was all kindof a blur and all of the sudden she was here. Tom said she came out and Dr. Barton moved her around just a bit and her eyes opened right up! They put her on my belly and of course Tom and I were immediately crying! It was such a spiritual experience! Tom was able to cut her cord which was also pretty special! They took her over into the warmer and Tom got to go watch them do their assessments and give her the vitamin K shot and put that stuff in her eyes. In the mean time, I was over in my own little world bleeding way too much! I was watching her be cleaned off and weighed and I could feel myself falling asleep! Dr. Barton was getting a little concerned, I could tell! He was massaging my uterus from the outside and the inside to try to get it to clamp down. They gave me 3 meds, I think, to help me to stop bleeding. In the midst of all this one thing I could never forget is how Tom thought she was so cute! You see, he doesn't think newborns are cute! I told him that Jaycee was going to come out as a newborn, and was probably not going to be that cute either. He said if she wasn't cute, he would tell me! Well, while they cleaned her off, he came over and gave me a kiss and said, "Babe, she's absolutely gorgeous!!" He was in love!! While they were trying to get my bleeding stopped I remember saying, " I want my baby!" They gave her to me and I tried to breastfeed immediately. She latched right on, but I didn't remember much after that! Tom went out and got our mom's but I don't remember them coming in! My mom was really concerned that I would drop Jaycee, which was a valid concern. She was also really nervous because she hemorrhaged really bad when I was born too! I don't remember them taking her away from me! Well, they got things under control and I woke up a little more! They had me move over to the stretcher to take me up to maternity. They put her in my arms and we were off! We got upstairs and they took her into the nursery to do her assessments there. Tom got to go with her. They brought her back and bathed her right in the room! I fed her and we were all exhausted! At about 2:00 to 2:30 am my mom went back to my house, Tom's went back to hers and we sent Jaycee to the nursery because I didn't feel like I could take very good care of her because of how tired I was and how much blood I had lost! I was up about every hour trying to go to the bathroom, and by 6 ish I couldn't handle it anymore and wanted her back! So they brought her back to me! I was feeling much better at this point! All in all, it was a great experience, and yes, I will do it again! She is absolutely gorgeous and we love her very much! We thank the Lord all day every day for this beautiful addition to our family!!