It's a What!?



My last few hours of pregnancy (for now) 



January 25th, 2011. After all the drama of the last few months, this became the day we had been waiting for. Let's start at the beginning. On Monday, the 24th, Eric and I went into the hospital (after a quick last meal and a little bit of crying) to begin the induction process. I was given cervidil to start things rolling at about 6pm Monday. It was pretty uneventful that night. Eric and I watched Mystic River (we were hoping for something a little "lighter" but I stupidly brought the wrong movies) and played lots of Hangman and Angry Birds on our phones.

By 4am Tuesday morning they started Pitocin and we were off and running. I pretty much slept for the next couple of hours. I remember telling Eric when I could start to feel the contractions that I could see how this was going to hurt! I was told that because of the pre-eclampsia, I would get the epidural as soon as they started the pitocin to keep my blood pressure low, but that was not the case. The nurses came in every 1/2 hour to up the pitocin. At one point one of the nurses made a comment that it really wasn't kicking in. This totally freaked me out and confirmed all my fears about being enduced.   Fear included labor taking forever, labor being more painful and the whole process ending up with a c-section.

Just as I started to get uncomfortable, my nurse introduced me to the student nurse that would be with me that day. This student ended up being the worst part of labor.  As she took notes, she explained to me all the things she was checking for and why.  She was giving me way too much information that I really didn't need to know.   The only time she was quiet is when she was leaning over me staring at my chest, counting my breaths.  Awkward!  

Finally about 9:30am, Dr Egan came in to check my progress and break my water.  Unbearable! By this time the contractions were really starting to become frequent and really painful so Dr Egan said I could get the epidural.  I both dreaded and looked forward to this moment.  The idea of an enormous needle going into my back scared the crap out of me!  But, just as everyone says, it turned out to be not a big deal at all!  It kicked in almost immediately and I slept until 5:30!   This wasn't so rough.

The epidural did start to wear out so I was able to give myself a little dose to help...and it did...for a while.  By 7:30, I was at 9 cm and the nurses assistant came in to prepare that awful looking table of tools.  I couldn't imagine what they would need all those things for!  At 8:15 the nurse had me start to push, just to see what I could do and by 8:30 she was frantically calling for the doctor (who thought he had at least 2 hours from the time I started pushing).   I think there is nothing worse than being so close and having to wait (with the epidural wearing off) just because the doctor wasn't there yet!  Who knew I'd be such a good pusher! :) 

Finally the Dr came in, I gave a good push to show him I was serious and off he went running to change his clothes.  Two big pushes later out she came.  As they placed her on my chest and said it's a girl, I looked up at Eric and said, "It's a what!?  I was wrong?"  Yes, I guess it has happened, on occasion, that I have been wrong.  

It seemed like just as quickly as the roomed flooded with people when I was pushing, they flooded back out almost just as fast. And there we were. Me, Eric and...whatshername. As Eric visited with her by the warmer, her yelled back to me..."what's her name?" We had three girl names at this point and hadn't narrowed them down. How could I have not narrowed it down? Oh yes, because I was having a boy named Declan. So he called out what seemed to be our favorite and I agreed. So there she was, after all this time, my daughter, Lyla Grace Laxton.

First family photo.  Not a pretty one, but an important one.

Fresh out of the oven. 

Mom and her girl.

Getting her first sponge bath