Welcome home Devin!

OK, so it has been a week since the whirlwind started. Here is my official birth story for those of you who like details! This will probably be a long one! Don't read this if you are currently pregnant and don't want all the details of my birth. It really isn't as scary as it sounds. I have already forgotten the pain of labor and would happily have another child!

Last Monday afternoon I went to my weekly appt and Dr. B wasn't happy with my blood pressure again. She sent me home and put me to bed the next day. She gave me permission to run to the office to pick up some work but I had to report to her first my waking BP and my BP right before leaving the house. I texted her my numbers that morning and hadn't even gotten down the street before she was calling me back. She told me that I failed, turn around, get your bag and go to the hospital. We are having a baby today. WOW! So I turned around and told Chris he wasn't going to work today. I finished getting things together for my hospital bag and he freaked out a little and started calling people. I was still in a little bit of disbelief about all of this happening so fast. I think we both were.

So we got to the hospital and met with her and had some IV's put in. They had quite a few woman come through whose water had broken so they kept me in observation for awhile. Around 11 we went to labor and delivery and they started the pitocin around noon. By 1 I was having regular contractions that were anywhere from 1 1/2 to 3 minutes apart consistently all afternoon. At this point I was still only dilated to a 1 but was 90% effaced. Around 4 PM Dr. B came to check on me and broke my water. If I remember correctly, I was 100% effaced and dilated to a 2 or 3 when she did this. It all really picked up then. Within 15 minutes the contractions where quite strong. Our nurse who was in the room with us all day knew I wanted an epidural at some point. She could see I was really starting to have to breath through them and in quite a bit of discomfort. She asked if I wanted to go ahead and get it and couldn't have asked at a better time b/c I was wondering with every contraction if it was too early to get one.

So they came in and gave me an epidural shortly after. I was having contractions one on top of the other while they were trying to put this huge needle into my back. They made Chris sit on the couch but did let him watch. My nurse helped hold my body in place b/c my reactions had also gotten really jerky with the pitocin so I jumped everytime they poked me. My nurses during labor were both really awesome. So they got that nightmare done and another one started. The epidural only worked on one side of my body. I could feel everything on my left side still while my right was quite numb. They moved me around trying to get it to move to my left side and after 2 hours of this decided to re put in the epidural. Apparently this is really common. I had to sit through that big needle again, although I was already a little numb so it wasn't half as bad the second time around. Finally, a little relief on the left side too. They suggested that I try to get some rest b/c we had a long night ahead of us. I sent Chris to get himself some dinner, I watched House and talked to Dr B who was now hanging out in my room watching the contractions and baby's heartbeat to make sure everything was going OK after the 2 hour fiasco we just had. I snoozed here and there. The epidural machine kept beeping at them telling them something was blocked and finally they untaped everything and got it fixed.

After this I have no real perception of time. Sometime after 8 they came and moved me to a different room b/c the heartbeat monitor on the baby had a short in it and was spontaneously picking her up and wasn't making any noise. Right before they moved me, I had started feeling a little bit more cramping and after they moved me, I really started feeling it gradually more and more until I was feeling full contractions again on my left side. They dosed me up again and got it under control for about another hour. At this point I had progressed to 6cm in an hour and a half which was really fast. I had been told earlier that the average was 1 cm per hour to hour and a half. So I was golden for about another hour and then they made me change sides from my left to my right side. Well you guessed it, the epidural wore off again on the left side. So they moved me back to my left side but it was too late, so they dosed me again with a different medicine. All I can say is thank God for my awesome husband and coach. He did a great job of getting me through the contractions when I was feeling them. I didn't scream or say mean things to him through the process. In fact, I was really calm and quiet. I wanted to cry one time and he told me it was OK to but I told him I needed to be able to breath. I didn't want to waste any energy crying or screaming b/c it wouldn't do any good. I was exhausted from the contractions. I never felt the need to scream or say mean things. The epidural wearing off is just something weird about my anatomy.

All I remember at this point was that soon after the last dose of the epidural, Dr B came and checked me and told me it was time for me to push. I had been a 9 in there somewhere but can't remember exactly where. I had gotten into a zone with breathing through the contractions and entering a different stage of labor. My eye was on the goal and that was it! So I did look at the clock when I started pushing and it was 10 till midnight. Wow, a full 6 hours before she thought we would be delivering. I pushed for 20 minutes. My legs were so numb that I couldn't feel anything, but I was able to focus my pushes into the right region b/c the Dr, nurse and Chris would all yell out "good push" so I would mimic that. They stopped and got me a mirror so I could see what it looked like when she was crowning. I had my eyes closed through most of the pushing but did look a few times. It was such an amazing sight. Chris watched the entire thing and his rendition of my giving birth is better than mine b/c like I said, I was in some sort of a zone by this time. After about 20 minutes of pushing, which didn't seem that long, I heard the baby's hart beat dropping. She told me we had to get her out and got the forceps and had her out in a matter of minutes. I think her umbilical cord was wrapped around her neck. Dr. B said 10 more minutes and I would have had her on my own. Chris tells me that all I said when she came out was to take good care of her. The whole thing was really dramatic to Chris and I but I think it is just b/c we have never had a baby and everything seemed to happen so fast. I don't remember a lot of details from the next 2 days in the hospital b/c they had me on some pretty strong pain killers.

Devin Elain M. was born at 12:07 AM on 12/10/08 at 7 lbs 10 ozs and 20 inches long. Anyway, she is here, safe and sound and we couldn't love and adore her more. We got to go home Thursday afternoon and I have been feeling better each day. I was feeling really bad the first day so we really didn't have a lot of visitors. She is adjusting well to being home. We are so thankful not to have any complications thus far. The dogs are both really curious about her...especially Izzy who loves to smell her for dirty diapers and try to lick her anywhere she can. The only thing missing through all of this was Kortnee but she will be here this weekend to join us with her little sister. I have posted some pics over the past few days and will post more soon!