All In A Day: Baby Emily is here (and already a month old)!!!

Yeah, so I've been the worst blogger ever. But, I have a great excuse!

Emily Paige Waller was born on November 3, 2010 at 12:44am. She clocked in at 19.3 inches long and 7 pounds, 2 ounces! She is absolutely beautiful. The most perfect creation I have ever seen (ok, so I might be slightly biased).

The labor part was actually not that much fun. Here's the story:

We checked into the hospital at 6:00pm on Monday, November 1, 2010. We were scheduled to come in to be induced since I was a week past due (my due date was October 25th). So we got all checked in and settled into the room. The nurse started my IV, as well as inserted the Cervidil, which was supposed to soften my cervix. I had to have the Cervidil in for 12 hours. So, we threw The Hangover into the DVD player and got cozy. The next morning, Dr. McAlpine (my doctor) came in and checked me. Nothing had happened and the Cervidil was a joke. So, he broke my water around 7:45 Tuesday morning. Shortly after, they started a Pitocin drip on me. Around 9:00 the contractions were in full swing. I could feel them, they were getting stronger, and definitely closer together. By about 11:30 I had had enough! The contractions were so strong and coming about every 45 seconds to a minute. It was ridiculous. I barely had time to catch my breath in between contractions. So I asked for the epidural. I had pretty much made up my mind that I was definitely going to do the epidural but I didn't want to say for sure until I got to the hopsital and just saw how things went. I was thinking maybe I could handle the contractions, but no siree. Not with the induction. The Pitocin made it 50 times worse, I think. So, at about 11:30 I got the epidural.

Praise. Jesus. Amen.

Seriously, the epidural was the best thing ever. I couldn't feel a thing. My contractions were bouncing off the charts and I was totally oblivious. It was great. The only bad part was that my legs were dead weight and they kept shifting me and turning me to different positions on the bed. It's hard to scoot and move around when you absolutely cannot feel your legs. Weird. But the epidural was honestly a savior.

So, I sat and sat and sat in the hospital bed just waiting for my cervix to dilate. I wasn't making much progress. At about 5:00 I was 5 centimeters dilated. Dr. McAlpine started talking c-section since I wasn't progressing. The nurse suggested I try one more position to try to get her turn (she was sunny-side up) and move down some more. So we decided to try that for one more hour and if I hadn't made progress in that hour, we would talk c-section. So, flat on my belly I went (the medical staff called it TTM = Titties To The Mattress. They were too funny.). I laid like that for an hour, very uncomfortable, and feeling very nauseous due to the epidural medicine. But, within that hour I dilated all the way to 9 centimeters!! Thank you, Lord! We thought we were home free and that I would just do maybe an hour of pushing and we'd be proud parents of a beautiful little girl. So we waited a little bit longer and sure enough I was fully dilated and it was game time. I started pushing at around 9:00 I think it was. 10:00....still pushing. 11:00......still pushing. 12:00.....still pushing. And by this time, I am OVER IT! Let me tell you! I just wanted that baby out of me and I wanted to stop pushing. I was so tired and I was so hot. I had been giving it my all for the past 3 hours and she wasn't budging. Since she was sunny-side up, she had a hard time fitting her head past my pubic bone. So Dr. McAlpine tried one last hail-mary and pulled out the vaccuum. He tried to suction her out, but no luck. She was not going anywhere for the love of money. So after the vaccuum was a fail, he immediately called for the c-section. That's when things get blurry.

I do remember that as soon as Dr. McAlpine got the words c-section out of his mouth, the door flew open and about 6 or 7 nurses came flying in. They were all unhooking me from the IV's and preparing the bed, and putting a cap on me, and all sorts of stuff. Before I could even process what was going on I was being wheeled out of the room. I didn't even get a chance to tell my husband bye and that I love him and that everything was going to be okay. I was out the door and on my way to the Operating Room. The next thing I remember is Dr. McAlpine poking on me and asking me if I could feel anything.....and I could!! So they upped my dosage of the anesthesia. He made the incision and then they let Scott in. Poor guy. He had to walk in to his wife laying on an operating table with her guts hanging out. He was freaked out to say the least.

So, at 12:44am I heard the most beautiful cry ever. It was the most comforting sound I had ever heard. But that was all I could do was listen. I couldn't see her. They didn't lift her over the drape like you see on TV. I tried to look over to the table to where she was being cleaned off but the drape was blocking my view. I went a good 2 to 4 minutes (which is ETERNITY when you're dying to see your newborn baby) without seeing her. They finally realized that I couldn't see and they moved the drape. I was so excited and so relieved, but I was so worn out and out of it. I just remember my head being in a fog, but I was still coherent. Scott went over and cut the umbilical cord. Then, they took him and the baby to the recovery room while I was being stapled up.

I got to the recovery room shortly thereafter, but I still couldn't hold my baby! I couldnt' feel my right arm. It was tingly and semi-numb from when they had to up my dosage of the anesthesia. That was so frustrating because one of my big things was that I wanted that immediate skin to skin contact. But, sometimes we just can't control things and this was one of those things I just couldn't control. So I dealt with it and just watched as Scott held her. He did such a great job. He is such an amazing dad. Uh-oh....I feel a tangent coming on.

Refocusing.....

So, long story short, we spent the next 3 days in the hospital as I recovered from the surgery. It was pretty difficult having to care for a newborn baby, while trying to recover and heal from a major surgery. I was in a lot of pain but I didn't seem to mind because I had the most adorable bundle of joy right next to me and I knew I had to do my best for her. We finally got to leave the hospital at 6:00pm on Friday, November 5th. I was so ready to get out of there, but not. I was going to be leaving all the amazing help I had. All the nurses, all the lactation consultants, even the ladies who brought me my nasty cafeteria food that I was so grateful for. I knew life was about to change......big time!

And boy has it! My days consist of feeding her. We are breastfeeding and I am so glad it has worked out. We had a rough start with it, but I think most people do! We have attended a few breastfeeding support groups at Best Beginnings and that has been helpful. My days also consist of trying to get her to nap so I can nap and/or get things done around the house. We have had wonderful support from family and friends, too. Both sets of grandparents have been wonderful. Our friends have been great in providing dinners for us.

It is just so hard to believe that we are our own little family now.

We ordered new stockings for Christmas from Pottery Barn and had them monogrammed to say "Mom", "Dad", and "Emily". So weird, but I love it and wouldn't have it any other way!

So here we are a month later. Emily has already gained over 2 pounds and weighs 9 pounds, 4 ounces and is almost 21 inches long! She's growing fast! Scott and I have adjusted pretty well to life as parents. My days are pretty boring, and our nights are even more boring. Our lives revolve around this new life. And again, we wouldn't have it any other way.