Two weeks ago today I went in to the hospital for my biweekly non-stress test because of the preeclampsia signs I had with the pregnancy. My blood pressure had been fine for over a week and I was thinking everything was going to be ok and I wasn't going to have to worry about the preeclampsia anymore. However, during my appt, my first blood pressure reading was a little high so they decided to take it again. They took it a second time and it was still high...the third time it was even worse, the highest yet. They grabbed the doctor over the maternal fetal care area and he came and talked to me about the possibility of delivering. I had been having a pretty persistent headache for days off and on and that paired with the high blood pressure made him lean towards getting the baby delivered for her safety and mine. He called my doctor and discussed it with her and they decided to admit me to labor and delivery and get things started. So, I went from a routine test with the expectations of going to work after, to I am going to have the baby. Of course, this was the first test I went to alone. Scott was at a golf tournament and my mom was working. I was a little stressed out. I was not at all ready to have the baby. I was not dilated or effaced at all. So instead of starting me on pitocin right away they inserted a little pill into my cervix to get thin it out.
They did that around 11 am. Around 9 pm I had made enough progress that they started the pitocin. Once they started the pitocin I was no longer allowed to eat and I had thrown up my dinner so the last thing I kept down was lunch around 12:30 on Friday. I labored all night long and didn't make much progress. I don't remember exactly what time on Saturday they broke my water, but it was in the morning sometime. After that things started moving faster, but still not super fast. I had a fantastic nurse on Saturday and I wanted to deliver before she went home at 6, but not even close. I don't think I mentioned this or not before, but I had planned on doing a natural child birth. I had gone to hypnobabies classes which were pretty spendy because I was super scared to get an epidural or get any drugs that would affect the baby. Well, pretty much every part of my birth plan went out the window. I was able to have just a hep lock rather than an IV before they started me on the pitocin, as well as being able to eat until the pitocin, but I planned on laboring in the bath tub, not able to do that. I didn't want to get an epidural, but about an hour and a half after they broke my water, I couldn't handle the pain anymore. I was super scared of getting the epidural and I actually cried about getting the epidural rather than from the pain. I just couldn't handle the pain anymore. The contractions were only a minute or so apart and it was just too hard to try and relax when they were right on top of each other. So, I gave in. I go the epidural and I was really glad I did. I still didn't really get any sleep, but I didn't have to deal with the contractions anymore. I went much longer naturally than anyone at the hospital expected. My doctor expected that when they called her Friday night after they started the pitocin that I would have an epidural by then. After I go the epidural I started puking again.
Anyway, it took most of the day on Saturday before I was complete. My doctor didn't come in until 10 pm. At that point, I had a fever from having my water broke for so long and I was starting to get an infection and my baby was transverse...which is why it took so long for me to get complete. She was not ready to come out. We started pushing right around 10 and the doctor tried to get my baby to turn. I pushed and puked for about 45 minutes and my doctor said she was going to let me push for another half hour before we would have to do a cesarean because she wanted to give me as much chance at a vaginal delivery as possible. After pushing for 15 minutes more, I saw my mom ask her if the baby had moved down at all. She hadn't. She hadn't even moved down enough to use forceps. I was done. I told her I was just going to go with the c section. Another thing I really didn't want to do, but I was exhausted I had been in labor for 36 hours with very little sleep and very little food. I couldn't handle it anymore. During the c section I was half asleep because I was just so worn out. The anesthesiologist actually told my mom that the way I was acting wasn't because of the drugs they gave me, it was just pure exhaustion. So after all that, our baby was finally born at 11:50 pm on March 19th. She was 8 lbs even and 19 1/2 inches long. We decided on a name after I was able to nap. Taylor Lynn Morgan. I was just so glad to finally have her here. She is adorable and people keep telling me that she doesn't look like a newborn. I am super biased of course, but I think she is a absolute doll. Luckily, she did not get the infection I got from my water being broke and she didn't even have any problems during the whole thing. Her heart rate only dropped a couple of times towards the end, but prior to that she was really strong and dealt really well with everything. She is a trooper. Here are some of the pictures of her in the hospital and since we brought her home. I suck at posting pictures...for some reason I can't figure out how to do it how I want it...so sorry.
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| Just after the c section |
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| Getting cleaned up |
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| Skin to skin |
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| In Daddy's arms |
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| Skin to skin |
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| On mommy's tummy |
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| In the bouncer seat |
She is such a joy to have in our home. We are already madly in love with her. So far she eats ALOT. It took a while for my milk to come in, and I have been pumping to get it coming in more, but I still don't have enough to feed her. So right now we are breast feeding and formula feeding. We are working on sleeping at night. We have had nights where she doesn't sleep for more than 1/2 hour to and hour at a time and nights where she only wakes up twice. We are trying to figure out the reasons behind that and hoping to have more of the only wake up twice nights. She is really good baby though. She sleeps through noise and doesn't fuss a lot.
Scott has been on vacation this week and it has been great. We have enjoyed spending the week together as a happy little family. He adores his little daughter and it won't be long before she figures out how to get what she wants from daddy. It still amazes us both that we created something so beautiful.
