She's here!!!
Our beautiful little girl was born on March 4, 2014 at 4:53 pm. She came in at a whopping 7 lb, 14 oz. and was 20.5 inches long. Or perfect, you might say.
Because of my lingering pre-eclampsia (and increasing level of uncomfortable), we went in to be induced very early in the morning on March 4.
This is the last belly picture before we left for the hospital. I remember thinking, "Oh that's a good picture!" Ha. I'm liking the poster child for pre-eclampsia. Or 4:30 am.
When we got to the hospital, they checked me in....and then forgot about me. There were 9 other women in active labor. With only 10 beds on the L&D floor, my induction could wait. But no worries! Caroline took charge from there. While we waited for someone to come start the pitocin, I began having regular contractions every 2-4 minutes! My doctor arrived at 8:30 am, decided I was already in labor, and broke my water. No pitocin needed! I was excited because I've heard that pitocin can do weird things to you, so major fist bump, Caroline. She knew why we were there.
Okay, so I found out that you lose 15 lbs when your water breaks. Sweet--only 15 to go and baby is still in there! But the pain really kicked up a notch. As in, 3 cm to 7 cm in a very short span of time. Epidural lady came to save the day. She did her thing and decided that the "test dose" would be good enough for me since I'm a small lady. And it was for a while. There was a small hiccup when my blood pressure dropped to 60/30. It's bad when that happens. You lose consciousness. People come running. And after that, epidural lady is scared to give you more of the magic. At some point between 7cm-9cm, the epidural wore off on my right side (very weird sensation). Epidural lady gave me a tiny bit more. It helped for a while, but by 10 cm, it was gone AND baby had flipped the wrong way. Not breech, but "sunny side up" as they call it. Babies need to be looking at the ground to come out right. If they're looking at the sky, you get a ton of back pain (back labor) and a high chance of needing a c-section. No bueno. I had a fabulous nurse who helped me do some creative dancing/yoga (really weird things happen in L&D), and Caroline flipped the right way! Epidural lady came back and gave me just enough magic to get through pushing. Whew.
After about an hour of pushing, Caroline Rose was here!
Babies are smooooshed when they first come out.
Our lives have been a whirlwind since then. Chris' family stayed for several days and helped tremendously with cleaning, cooking, and grocery shopping. So many friends have stopped by to visit little C, and it means so much to us!
Caroline is a GREAT baby. She cries when she's hungry or wet, but who can blame her? She sleeps well most nights. Some nights, we party. But I just love being with her, so it's okay. She takes adorable pictures.
All these pictures courtesy of Cogknitive Images.
We haven't yet decided if she's a ginger or not. But she definitely has her daddy's skin tone....my ghost hand on the left, Chris' hand on the right. She won the genetic lottery there.
We have decided that I was huge and much more swollen than I thought. Pre-pregnancy pants 5 days postpartem!
This baby has captured our hearts. I have so many pictures I could share, but I know that we are probably much more enthralled with them than you are. Chris is a great daddy. He brings her to me in the middle of the night. He changes more diapers than I do. He physical therapizes her to make her strong. He's helped me do things I never thought I would have to ask another human being to do. Caroline and I are lucky girls.
Happy 9 days old, Caroline!
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