The day my life changed

My life has completely been changed since April 27th, 2010. Jason and I welcomed a beautiful baby girl who we have fallen deeply in love with. See arrived at 5:43 pm weighting 8 pounds, 19.5 inches long. She has a head full of hair and the most beautiful skin. I am still in aww of her actually being in my arms and able to hold her. There are some things that I would like to write about though.

The Day of her Birth:

I woke up at 7 am not feeling very well and I told my mom that I was going to lay back down. My mom had been in town since I was placed on bed rest and my dad actually was down that weekend because Lindsey was in Austin and mom was with me. At 8:30 am I awoke again in a puddle of sweat and unable to move. I thought maybe I had ate something bad or was having false labor. So I tried everything the books say to do, change the way you are laying, etc. Let's just say none of that worked. So I went and got my parents and we started timing the pain. The contractions were two to three minutes apart and I started to think, "Ok, maybe this is real". My mom said to go ahead and call Jason and I agreed. When I called him I said, "not to alarm you, my water DID NOT break, but I am having pains that I have never felt before. I think we should go to the hospital and get checked". His response was, "should I head home?" I quickly replied, "YES". When he walked in and saw me, he sprinted to the bedroom, got the bags and we got on the road. The hospital is just ten minutes away and it was the longest drive ever. Once we got there, I was in so much pain I could not get out of the car. These two sweet little ladies came with a wheel chair and wheeled me up to labor and delivery. Long story short.....When I was evaluated I was already dilated to a 6, the pain was so strong I threw up and terrified the other two couples in the triage, and by the time I got my epidural, I was dilated to a 7 1/2. By 3 pm I was completely dilated and started pushing. I will never forget Jason asking the triage nurse, Kathy, who became my labor and delivery nurse, "does this mean we are staying?" She just looked at him and said, "ah, yes, we are admitting her." When she was born, my doctor had to use forceps and I had a spare of the moment episiotomy. For some strange reason, all the pain and hurt is something I cannot remember or describe. I would do it again in a heart beat. Anything for that little girl!

After Delivery:

Unfortunately after delivery, Avery had to stay in the NICU a little over 24 hours. She is a smart cookie so she was out by 8:30 pm the very next day. I was so relieved that we were getting to take her home with us the next day. I then developed a spinal headache from receiving a wet tap. Those of you who have experienced this are truly the only ones who know what kind of pain I was dealing with. It was not until Saturday that Jason had to take me back to the hospital for a blood patch. In a nut shell they go in with 20cc of your blood and locate the original epidural sight where the leak was and insert the blood. This forms a blood clot over the hole and the spinal fluid stops leaking. I was so thankful it worked the first time. Sometimes it can take up to three times to become effective. After that headache went away I started having another headache from a strained neck and shoulders. I am stilling battling that headache. I joked with Jason and my mom that out of all the books and advice I sought, none of the information mentioned any of these hurdles. I am planning on writing a book titled: "Having a Baby is blissful.....HOWEVER...." :) I also had this misconception that breast feeding would be a cinch. WRONG. I have shed more tears over breast feeding than anything else. Things are getting better, but I defiantly have a lot to learn.

Bottom line is I have a perfect baby girl who is happy and healthy and I could not ask for more. Time will teach me what I need to know.