A baby is born!

I think I finally have a moment to sit down and write out my birth experience. I've actually had a few moments when I could have done this but I used them for more important things like sleeping and eating. It's been almost two whole weeks since little Colette decided she wanted to grace us with her presence. It doesn't seem like it's been that long. It's beyond my belief that Cory and I created something so small and wonderful and terrifying. So, below is the somewhat censored version of our birth story. If that's not something you're interested in.... I'd probably stop reading and maybe pick up a few paragraphs later. 

We started our journey through the thing called labor around 2am on Saturday, November 23. I was ready for her to be here that day. It seemed appropriate as it marked exactly 10 years since my grandmother passed away. Contractions started out bearable but 5-6 minutes apart. I got up around 3 and called our doula just to let her know how things were going. I wasn't quite ready to go back to bed as it wasn't terribly easy to sleep through the contractions. Bearable but certainly noticeable. I went into the kitchen and made a batch of haystacks (my grandmother's recipe on hand...) then decided I should probably go lay back down. I slept a couple more hours and got back up around 7am. 

I hadn't taken any baby bump pictures in a few weeks, so I thought I would take another final picture (as seen in the previous post!). Definitely a cold and dreary morning! I can't say much else happened on Saturday. Continuous contractions, never more than 10 minutes apart. We ended up eating dinner at Cory's mom's and renting a movie to watch when we got home. Contractions got stronger though the night and by 5am I was ready to go to the hospital. I was in tears and just ready to go. So we called our doula and she headed over to our house. When she got here to help out things got much better in terms of how I dealt with the contractions. We spent the next 8 hours doing lots of breathing, drinking water, and moaning. There was a lot of moaning. Around 3pm on Sunday contractions were strong and steady and we decided it was time to head to the hospital. 

After checking in at the front desk we headed up to L&D. We were greeted by a familiar face! A friend of mine from my roller derby days opened the door for us. She took us back to the triage room so I could get monitored and checked out. I was only about 4cm at that point. That was a bit disheartening since it'd already been so long. I was then admitted to a room. The only position I really felt comfortable in was sitting on the edge of the bed. The exercise ball wasn't right, showering was terrible.. it was all just terrible. When the on call doctor got there and checked me around 8pm I was sooo ready to give up. I wanted that epidural, STAT. But after he checked me he said I was about 8cm. With that information I just decided I would stick it out. It couldn't be that much longer, right? HA.  Hours passed and pain progressed, as did the fatigue. We tried using a breast pump and rupturing my water but by 12:30-1am I was pretty much low-moan screaming through contractions. I was so tired, in so much pain, and shaking uncontrollably. All I wanted to do was sleep. After a lot of crying and talking with Cory I decided it was time. I had no idea how much longer it was going to go on, but I just needed some rest. I got the epidural. I was a bit disappointed at the time because I felt like I was failing at something I really wanted to accomplish, but at that point I really felt it was the best option. The epidural took 20 minutes from the time the nurse walked into the room, set up, asked her questions, stuck the needle in, and  walked out. I imagined it would be a much bigger deal than that. I felt so much better afterward. I still felt contractions and I could still move my legs but I could finally get some much needed sleep. We all slept/rested for a few hours. Our nurse came in a few time to check on me a few time, to change my positions and at some point give me oxygen. I was sleeping so well that my breathing slowed a bit. I don't think Cory was too excited about that. The oxygen made me so flippin' cold. Around 4:30 I woke up and thought to myself... "I think... I think it's time." I then asked if I would know when the time to push came even with the epidural. The nurse came in and sure enough, it was about that time. She called in the doctor and just before 5am I started pushing. No more than 30 minutes later we had a baby girl!

Crazy! I didn't have any issues with pushing, but I wasn't sure Cory was going to make it. He had to walk away in the beginning and get a snack and a drink so he wouldn't pass out. (Poor guy, he's probably traumatized.) 

Baby Colette was was born at 5:26am on Monday, November 25 after 51 hours of labor, weighing in at 7lbs 13oz, and 20in long. She's got a little tiny bit of dark hair and an adorable little nose (...and lips and eyes and toes and fingers and all those other parts...). She had a slew of visitors in her first day of life, A truly loved little girl!

We stayed in the hospital that night and were given the all clear to head home on Tuesday morning. I felt pretty good despite just having another human leave my body. I had 2nd degree tearing which was not exactly comfortable, but I could handle it after the last couple of days. 

When we got home we had Nana and Aunt Lori waiting on us. The first few days home were a challenge. We couldn't wake her up for feedings, she was tearing the ole nips to shreds, and I was generally in a panic for most of the first week. Between the birth on Monday and Friday afternoon, we had seen every doctor in our pediatrician's office. We were scheduled to go back in on Saturday but, alas, we were finally making some progress in the wet diaper area. I had a few more rough days and nights over the last week, but dearest husband of mine has tremendously helped out and alleviated a lot of stress. He's taken baby girl a couple of nights so I could get some sleep. It's amazing what a few hours of sleep can do for your stress levels. 

We're now on a good road. We let her dictate when she wants to be fed instead of trying to wake her up constantly. (Seriously it was taking 3-4 hours to get a feeding in..then it was time to start all over..) Now, if we just wait til she wakes up or starts showing hunger cues, things go pretty quickly. Her latch is better too. Still painful from the first week of terror, but I think we're starting to heal. (Emotionally... physically....).

On a lighter note, it's nice to be able to wear my wedding ring and my pre-pregnancy clothes. Hooray!

She's a pretty good baby so far! Of course she cries all night and sleeps all day, but what can ya do!

I'll post pictures soon. Here's one from our ride home.

[caption id="attachment_691" align="aligncenter" width="560"] Baby Colette[/caption]