Our Little Lady is finally here! ...And perfectly prompt! =)
Despite the trepidation of her being a pre-term baby, our little Aria arrived January 7th, at 1:14am weighing 7lbs, 14 oz. and measuring 20 inches. (That's correct, our little miss arrived on her due date) And this is how it all began...
Week 39 came and went and it seemed like she was just going to set up camp in there and stay permanently. We'd been ready for weeks (as we were told by a doctor that we should expect her within the next 2 weeks around week 33) We had crossed our fingers to get through the holidays - as we slightly cringed about having a Christmas or New Years baby-and had made it to the other side, (no tax deduction to our dismay lol), and into the new year! Mommy was pleased. January however, is like a family birthday mine field for us. We were hoping to have our little one on her own special day. Hooray! This also played out nicely.
We headed into week 40 and had an appointment early on the morning of the 6th. As you know, I had been having contractions for weeks and had gone to the hospital twice with symptoms of early labor and false alarms. The past couple appointments I had gone in and had been told that my cervix was the same (still between 2-3 cm. and 80-90% effaced.) Going into this appointment, I had been having contractions in the morning, but was so busy getting ready for the appointment and then driving to get there to time anything. Sean was at work and was meeting me there and my mom was along for the ride as I was going to drop her off to get some blood work done while we were in the appointment. I was feeling a little strange about the day, so I asked her to bring her camera - "just in case." We actually turned around on the way there to go back and get it. Though, I'll admit, I expected to go in to be told that I was again, the same.
I met Sean at the OBGYN's office. We went in and were finally able to see our favorite doctor again. We had seen the nurse practitioner and another OB the past few appointments. She asked how I was feeling and I let her know that I had been having contractions that morning and was uncomfortable (as usual), but hadn't had time to sit and time them. She went down to check my cervix, and looked up at me asking how long I had been having the contractions. I said that I thought throughout the morning and maybe some last night and, it turns out that I was in fact, dilated to 5 cm.! My water had not yet broken, and we decided to "sweep my membranes." She gave me the option of sticking around the area for when things were most likely going to start moving along, or to go to the hospital and be checked in for monitoring. I asked her what she thought I should do and she said she suggested the trip to the hospital because of how quickly I had naturally progressed over the past week.
This was it. Our Little Girl was coming!
We went to the hospital and checked in. By then, I could definitely feel my contractions more consistently. We checked in and my mom met us there. We were taken back into a room where I changed into a hospital robe. From this point, it was suggested that I walk the halls in 30 minute intervals-30 minutes walking, 30 minutes being monitored to see how I would progress. We did this from about 11am or so to around 4pm. I wasn't progressing as quickly as they would have liked and was somewhere between 6-7cm when they decided to call Dr. Gordon. We continued to walk around and do our laps in the hospital, occasionally stopping to say hello to my dad who was the first to wait in the lobby and by around 5pm, the doctor arrived and suggested that we should go ahead and break my water with what looked like a knitting needle with a hook! I agreed. The water bag flushed out revealing some merconium in the fluid. They told me that after the baby came out, they would need to take her over to suck out her lungs to prevent any further complications and that unfortunately, I would have to wait to hold her. After that, things started to progress a ton more quickly.
At this point we decided to send out our text message alerting our immediate family that she was on the way. We had pre-prepared this message (which I highly recommend). My dad, sister, her boyfriend, step dad and two younger siblings, Sean's parents, and his sister all came to wait for her arrival. My contractions picked up steam until they were one on top of the other. The nurses had to put me on an IV to hydrate me in an attempt to slow them down at this point. The pain was excruciating-I was having a hard time finding a comfortable position and was having no time periods of relief. My contractions went from around 2-3 min apart to constant almost immediately. At one point I was on the floor, having slid down from my position on the side of the bed. It was always my intention to approach the pain throughout and see to what extent I could handle it before considering any pain relief. I had gone without anything up to this point. Up to the point of my water being broken, I felt that the pain was actually bearable...I remember thinking, "Hey, maybe I can do this." However, after my water was broken, the pressure and pain surged in and my contractions went from increasing gradually to constant. Can you say, "Bring in the drugs?" I decided to go with a standard epidural instead of the complex. I was willing to wait an extra half hour to hour for it to kick in if it meant minimizing any side effects.
Contrary to what I had believed before, I didn't feel paralyzed from the waist down. The needle from the epidural was mostly a brief pinching sensation, and then nothing. I felt like my legs were asleep and aside from the cold sensation in my back when the meds were being administered, I only felt the continuing sensation of pressure from the contractions. I could feel every contraction, minus the immense pain from earlier. I asked the nurse why everyone didn't just consider this? The epidural made me a little loopy; my husband tells me I was "on a beach" and my mom said I was asking if they were seeing things move on the counter near the bed. Overall though, it was a relief and the tension and pain subsided making the road toward the remainder 3cm. bearable.
By 11:30 pm I had reached 10cm. It was time to prep, and time to push. (We sat and watched the clock as we had gotten closer to "the next day." It appeared by prep time the she wouldn't be coming on 1.6.16 (16, 16). We were a little bummed. Haha! However, she was coming on her due date! I read somewhere that only about 3-4% of people are actually born on their due dates. (And Naturally!) That-and our family and my husband were doing number manipulation. (my husband has an obsession with the number 23) Don't ask...By midnight we were ready to go. I began pushing.
The doctor who delivered the baby ended up being the doctor who was on call. I was bummed to not have Doctor Gordon (who we'd worked with on our journey becoming pregnant and throughout), but the doctor on call was wonderful as well. The nurse I had with me was absolutely amazing. She was very down to earth and never gave me false hope and was extremely genuine and supportive. She was awesome. With Sean on my left side holding my leg and my mom on my right, I pushed for about an hour. I was having a hard time breathing and was put on oxygen. The doctor and nurse were communicating silently. I found out later, that the baby's heart rate was decreasing. The cord was wrapped around baby girl's neck and was pulling her back in, despite my efforts. The doctor ended up giving me a partial episiotomy so that she could pull Aria out. Out she came! The doctors and nurses were in awe over the amount of hair she had! The heart monitor they had attached to her cranium had gotten stuck in her hair! She was beautiful! =)
They brought her immediately over to the warming incubator and proceeded to suck out her lungs. They were having a hard time doing so and the two respiratory therapists were not agreeing 100% on the methods being used. Sean made sure to be alongside her the entire time. On top of the merconium, they were having a hard time getting her breathing regulated and ensuring that her lungs were expanding.
I kept my eyes on her the entire time while daddy watched over her unable to hold back tears. I was glad to have my mother by my side while the doctor was trying and having a hard time getting my bleeding under control. She eventually was able to and I was exhausted. Just shy of taking her from the room due to her irregular breathing patterns, the respiratory therapists agreed to put her on my chest. She had the sweetest cry. Not shrill or awful. Sean and I talked to her and rubbed her down and tried to encourage her to breathe in and out more evenly. We told her she had to breathe better so that she could stay with us; that we didn't want them to have to take her away. I was relieved to just have her skin to skin at this point. I finally had my beautiful baby girl in my arms. The female respiration therapist came along side me and told her that she "had to stop exhaling like that." Much to our surprise and humor, she stopped. The lady laughed and said maybe she just ought to do that more often. We all had a laugh about it =)
From then, I was able to breastfeed her. Luckily, she latched like a champ! I was pretty anxious about this prior to this moment. You never know how well everything is going to work.....After about an hour, around 3:30am, Sean finally got to go out and make his announcement. His baby girl was finally here. Family came in and took turns holding her. Everyone was very excited. We were so proud. Eventually everyone left because they had to be at work the next morning and Sean and I were left to watch our new little love.
The hospital where we had her was great. The nurses were amazing, especially the last one who was by my side the entire time. I can't express how important it is to have a good nurse by your side. It makes a WORLD of difference. I was so glad to have both my amazing husband and my mother by my side. I wouldn't have had it any other way. It was exactly what I needed. That morning I barely slept holding her in my arms. I was exhausted but couldn't bring myself to do anything but gaze at this tiny miracle we'd been anticipating for so long. She was finally here. Our little Aria Layne.
A big thanks to my mom Lisa of Behind Lisa's Lens Photography for documenting our Adventure =)
