Lottie's Arrival and First Few Days {or} Lots of Details Mostly About My Labor and Delivery

My parents got here Saturday and we were all hoping for a baby sooner than later in the week that they were planning to be here.  Sunday the 13th was Mother's Day.  Church went as usual.  We came home & made a yummy Sunday dinner.  I was completely exhausted that night and really surprised and a little disappointed I didn't have a baby yet (let's be honest:  I DID NOT want to do another week of cub scouts and sunbeams).

Monday the 14th I had a check-up scheduled for 9am.  I felt kind of.....different that morning.  My body was....cleaning itself out, if you will, and I kind of had the feeling that today was the day!  So I got ready & went to my appointment.  I lost my mucous plug when I was giving my urine sample.....  The doctor checked me and I was dilated to 5cm!!  He said "I didn't strip your membranes but I could."  Yes, please.  Let's get this baby here!  So he said he'd probably see me later that day and definitely within the next 48 hours.

When I got home, Mom & Dad were cleaning windows/blinds and baseboards.  SO nice to have that done!!  I was kind of at a loss as to what to do - everything was in order, but I didn't want to lay down for fear that things would slow down or stop.  So I went through the kids' toys and got them organized.  Around noon, the truck came to deliver the new swing set we bought from Costco.  My mom said - and  I'd been thinking - "Your house is clean, your swing set's been delivered, me & Dad are here:  now you can have a baby!"

We had lunch and I had to stop for a couple of contractions.  I should have known then that I needed to get to the hospital if I wanted an epidural, but they were 9 minutes apart.  I wondered about having Mark stay home from work after lunch & get ready to go, but I figured I had a while.  He went back to work at 1pm & I ended up laying on the couch with contractions.  I called him around 1:50 & said we needed to go.  He sounded like he was walking out the door, but I ended up calling him at 2 and......encouraged his speedy departure.  He came home & changed his clothes and we got to the hospital around 2:15.  I changed and they put the monitors around me and then asked a bazillion questions.  One of the questions was to rate the pain of the contractions.  I said 6 or 7 because compared to actually pushing a baby out with no anesthetic, contractions aren't that bad.  The next set were an 8 or 9.

ANGRY TANGENT:  Why, for the love of laboring women everywhere, would they spend 7 or 8 minutes asking you questions about all your body systems and past history when you are writhing in pain?  Why wouldn't that be part of pre-registering at the hospital?  Why wouldn't they have that information from the doctor beforehand?  WHY WOULDN'T THEY PAGE THE ANESTHESIOLOGIST BEFORE THEY ASKED YOU ALL OF THOSE?


So after I suffered through the questions, the nurse checks me & I'm 8cm.  "Are you planning to do this naturally?"  "No.  I've done it once and would rather not do it again."  So she paged "Justin" the anesthesiologist and the doctor.  The doctor came and said something like "Haha.  That worked pretty slick didn't it?"  Meanwhile I'm grimacing through a contraction and don't see much to be chuckling about.  He checked me & I was at 9cm with a......lip.....or something?  I don't know what that means, but at this point I'm thinking I'm not getting any kind of meds and I'm terrified. 

After an eternity "Justin" gets there.  Happily he isn't tall and skinny & wearing a cowboy hat like I'd been picturing.  He tells me the risks & side effects and is looking for a consent form............ GET THE DANG THING IN MY BODY!  So I sign it - no, I didn't read it.  I lay on my side and he gets it in.....it's a "spinal".....a one shot deal......works by gravity.......they don't roll me to the other side fast enough and.........only my right side is numb.  ONLY MY RIGHT SIDE IS NUMB!  While laying on my left side waiting for some kind of sign that gravity would somehow move the meds from my right foot (which really doesn't need to be numb) to the left side of my.....baby deliverer.......I could feel something moving down the birth canal.  The nurse wanted to check me again & thought better of it when she could see the bag of waters coming out.  Needless to say this whole time I'd been saying short, interrupted prayers that I could do this.  That the baby would be ok.  That the spinal wouldn't paralyze me.  That this could all be over soon.
They paged the doctor.  He came & suited up and asked us if this baby had a name.  All the nurses cooed when we said "Lottie."  He broke the bag and it was show time.  I think I pushed 4 times.  Maybe 5.  Which was a huge blessing because even being half numb it was still really excruciating.  Mark cut the cord and they laid her on my chest.  I cried a little.  Partly because it had hurt so bad.  Partly because I'd survived.  And mostly because she was really here.  She was a she.  She was big and healthy and crying.  And she was really here.

They didn't leave her on me very long.  She was pretty gooey & they had to suck some fluid out of her.  Apparently when babies don't spend very long in the birth canal they don't get a good enough squeeze & they have amniotic fluid left inside them, so she was a little gaggy/spitty that first night. 

She was born at 3:36pm and she weighed 8lbs 9ozs and was 20 inches long- I looked at the doctor and said "You told me she would be around 7lbs 6ozs at 9 o'clock this morning!!"  "Guess I better quit guessing!"  He stitched me up & they cleaned up the room and then left us alone.

It's a very surreal feeling to look at the baby that has been living and growing and moving inside you for so long.  I'm never sure what to think or feel or say.  But every time, I've been in awe that a perfect little body and spirit has come to us.  Lottie was no different.  I think I looked at Mark and said, "We have a baby."  Not very poetic, but the only words I could think of to sum up the relief and joy and anxiety and excitement that come with having a new baby.

We had dinner at 6 and then my mom & dad brought Carson & Burke to the hospital.  They were so quiet and kind of timid around the baby - so unusual for Burke.  They had lots of questions about my IV and why they couldn't come watch her be born.  They didn't stay very long, but it was a neat moment to be there when they met her and also when my mom and dad got to hold her and see her for the first time.

I didn't sleep much in the hospital that night - I never do.  She latched on and started nursing like a champ right from the start, so that wasn't a concern, but she was kind of fussy & we sent her to the nursery for a while & got a couple of hours of ok sleep.  She weighed 8lbs 5ozs the next day, but had good color & had been eating well.  Mark's mom & dad came to see us that morning for a few minutes and then we just kind of hung out the rest of the day until they could do the bilirubin test at 24 hours.

We got home at 5:30 that night.  Carson wanted to hold her right away, but she was ready to eat and didn't last long.  The first night home wasn't too bad.  My milk came in on Wednesday and she started to spit up a lot.  The next 2 nights were pretty rough - half hour or so to eat & then 45 minutes to an hour to clean up spit-up make sure she wasn't choking.

She had her 5-day check-up on Friday afternoon and weighed 8lbs 8ozs.  She was gaining weight which was great news, but also a little disappointing because I knew he wouldn't do anything about her spitting up.  She screamed pretty bad when he was checking her over, but quit the minute he laid her down and was done.  That night I gave her some Infancol drops before I fed her & a little bit of gripe water when she was having a fit.  I couldn't believe the difference.  She hardly spit up at all & slept peacefully instead of being puke-y and unsettled.  Saturday night was the same & I'm SO SO grateful!  I didn't know if I could make it through another reflux baby like Carson.
She's getting to be awake for a little bit longer each day & it's fun to see her eyes open & moving.  Burke wanted to hold her the other day & got all settled on the couch with a pillow under his arm.  I laid her on there & he said, "Hey bay-ba babe" so quiet.  He's been really gentle and sweet around her.  Carson has been a big helper.  I think it's been a bigger adjustment for him than for Burke.  He doesn't get as much Mom time & that's hard on him.  Hopefully the more we figure things out, the easier it will be on everyone.  That being said, things have gone really well.  It's been so very helpful to have my parents here.  My dad left yesterday & my mom will leave soon & then it will be just us.

Yes, we attempted cutesie pictures......we think she's cuter in real life than in pictures!