Miss Me?

I hope so! Sorry for not checking in, but it's been hard to find time to get upstairs to the computer...plus, I'm not allowed to carry the baby up and down stairs. :( But daddy's cuddling with her right now, so I could steal a couple of minutes computer time.

As I'm sure you read on Val's blog, the labor and birth wasn't too much fun. I knew it was going to be bad when right off the bat they had to stick me three times to get the IV going. That was fun...apparently I have "rolling veins." They finally got that going and did the check to confirm I was three centimeters going in.

The contractions started very mildly for a decent amount of time. I had lots of company to keep my mind off of it (thanks Val, Erin, Meg, and family). Then they started to get bad and I asked for the epidural. That was something I was dreading (the whole "needle in the back" thing freaked me out), but it was better than the pain. So the no-more-pain doctor came in and did that. Right away, my blood pressure dropped and he had to rush back in to give me some medication to get it back up. I wasn't feeling too hot after that...apparently the pain relief of the epidural has some side affects for me.

After they gave me the epidural, the contractions started to calm down. Not a good sign. I was at four centimeters at this point with no end in sight. They had the petocin turned up as high as it could go and I still wasn't making much progress. Finally, after being stuck at four centimeters for about eight and a half hours, the doctor said we should go ahead and get her. I agreed and they turned my epidural up. While I was feeling no pain, it also made me totally sick to my stomach and I actually started to throw-up as they were wheeling me to the OR. That was fun...especially as I was trying to cover my mouth with my hand as they were wheeling me past my family (who were all trying to take pictures).

They got me prepped and Ed came into the OR and the next thing you knew, I had a baby. Weird. I was sad that I could see her right away, instead I was busy throwing-up again as they were stitching me up (as I did again when I got to my room and once more the next day). But hearing her cry was one of the best moments of my life (despite the sickness). They wheeled me to the recovery room (where I got a terrible case of the shakes) and I got to watch everyone come in two-at-a-time and meet my baby.

The next couple days weren't fun, but I survived and I have the sweetest baby in the world, so it's all good. :) We came home on Saturday and life has been trying to keep her happy ever since. We had a doctor's appointment today because she has a slight case of jaundice (apparently Ed and I have opposing blood types), but it's getting much better.

I have to go nurse the little piggy now, but I'll try to get back on later with pictures!