January 28th-29th

 So it was the big day!!! The day we were going to have our baby girl. We knew it was going to be a few hours before things got going, so Brian went into work for a half day and as soon as the kids were out the door to school, WeeMama and Charlotte took me to the hospital. The nurse had me get into a gown and hop into the bed so she could get the IV going. Honestly, that is one of the worst things to me. I hate having that IV in my hand the whole time, but that is how they administer the antibiotic for the Group B Strep. I was expected to have 2 doses and then things could get rollin'!

Brian came after work, around 12:00 and I had just finished my second dose.  They did have me on some pitocin, but it wasn't doing anything really. They kept upping the dosage every hour or so, but by very little. Not much was happening. Brian and I spent the time playing games and watching tv. By about 5:00 Dr Yeash came in and checked and said I wasn't progressing much at all, so they upped the pitocin again and he said he'd be back. Nothing really happened until 10:00 PM. Yep. I'd been in that bed for 12 hours and nothing was happening. He kept asking me if I felt the contractions and I couldn't. Honestly. He'd be looking at the monitor and saying, "here's a good one. Do you feel that? " and internally I couldn't feel it, but if I put my hand on my stomach I could feel that it was hard. Nothing painful or uncomfortable, which I was ok with. But I didn't have the epidural yet and they said to wait until I could feel them strong enough to warrant one.

Well finally at 10:00 PM they decided to break my water to see if it would speed things ups because I was almost maxed out of the pitocin. Immediately I started feeling the contractions so I summoned the anesthesiologist. I wasn't about to be in a lot of pain after being there all day feeling nothing! She got in there pretty quick and got the epidural all in and working. I only felt a few contractions and they weren't too bad. Uncomfortable, but not too terribly painful. About 45 min after I got it I told my Dr. I was having a hard time breathing. Like I felt like I wasn't getting enough air. He looked at the monitor and said everything looked fine, blood pressure, contractions,  oxygen saturation, so I thought maybe I was making it up a little? He walked out of the room and 30 seconds later I told Brian to get the nurse because I really couldn't breathe. I was taking shallow quick breaths and it was scary. They gave me an oxygen mask and that helped some, but it really took about 30-40 min before I felt like I was breathing normal again. They had to give me some epinephrine to help. My blood pressure had dropped significantly, which apparently is a known side effect from the epidural. Never had it happen before though. Because of the epinephrine, I got major shakes. Those lasted for about 15 minutes and by the time that was done, I was exhausted.  Brian sat by my side the whole time and held my hand. What a huge comfort that was. I was glad he was there for me.

I slept for a few hours after that. Around 2:00 AM on January 29th the nurse came in and checked everything and said we were about ready to push. About 30 minutes later the doctor came in and after the 2nd contraction (3rd push), our beautiful baby girl was born. Although I was not thrilled  about this pregnancy, the second I saw her I thought, I could do this again. I loved her the second I saw her and snuggling with her right after was so wonderful. She's a beautiful baby and we all love her so much. She was a healthy 9 lb 2 oz, although I think they technically recorded her at 9 lb 1 oz. She's got the best chubby cheeks and is so peaceful and sweet. She did fail a hearing test, but after retesting a few weeks later, we found out their machine was faulty that day.

All the kids were super excited to meet her, of course. They all love her and were anxious for us to leave the hospital and bring her home. I was enjoying the peaceful time at the hospital! Ha!

We are so thrilled to have Brooklynn Kate join our family!