Posted by
jwookie on Monday, January 15, 2007 7:49:58 PM
[cross posted at the original
Cake or Death]
I know, I know... you'd think I could've gotten my little girl's pictures up a little faster than I have.
But hey... no one told me this baby stuff was so much work.
But despite the diapers, late night feedings, and crying, it's the most wonderful thing in the world...
And she's the cutest damn baby ever!
So for those interested here's the birth saga...
My original post on December 21st that we were off the the hospital ended at 1pm when they sent us home because The Fetching Mrs. Wookie was only 1cm, despite contractions 3 minutes apart. Well I had called everyone that we were heading to the hospital, and by the time they discharged us, my parents had arrived. So we all go get some lunch, then head home. My parents leave at about 4pm and 15 minutes later my wife's water breaks. Go figure.
Anyway, we didn't head right back to the hospital because her contractions had stopped, so we figure we can wait for contractions to start again in the comfort of our own home, or in the cramped, uncomfortable, hospital room. We stick it out at home until about 8pm and then figure as nothing's changed, we ought to head back to the hospital.
We check in around 9, and the nurses confirm the her water did indeed break. We still don't have any contractions however and The Fetching Mrs. Wookie is still only 1cm. As a general rule, the doctors will want the baby delivered within 24 hours of the water breaking. At this point, we're still trying for a natural childbirth, so there are no drugs or IVs in place. Contractions start up on their own around midnight (I think they started around midnight... I took a short 90 minute nap around that time). Everything is going swimmingly until around 3am when our little girl starts getting shifty in the womb and rotates herself from a correct, anterior presentation (face down) to a posterior presentation (face up) more commonly called back labor. I had heard back labor was more painful, but my mother described it to me as the feeling of being ripped in half from the inside out. Ouch...
My wife endured 3 hours of grueling pain before deciding to take the edge off first with Nubain. Then at around 9am, 15 hours after her water broke her doctor wanted to speed things along, since she was still only at 2cm. She wanted to add pitocin but as that would increase the frequency and strength of the contractions, she wanted to give her the epidural. We agreed.
But as 1pm rolls around, we're still only 2cm dilated. And now my wife has a fever as well. Things are starting to look like a c-section, but then things start moving along rapidly. At 3pm we jump to 5cm, 7cm at 4, and by 6pm we're at 10.
In comes the labor and delivery nurse, who ensures us that moving the baby down into the birth canal and the actual delivery portion can take 3 hours or more. That just motivated my wife even more. She breated the baby down the birth canal in 20 minutes and then began the real pushing. They actually had to rush to get the doctor there in time to deliver the baby. He walked in, she pushed twice, and out came my little girl.
Well not so little actually... 9 pounds, 6 ounces, and 21 inches. And when all things were said and done, it was 39 hours of labor.
And watching the birth was probably the most amazing thing I've ever been a part of... literally an undescribable feeling. It seems cliche to say it was the best day of my life, but now I understand why so many men say that.
Thanks to everyone for the well wishes! Hopefully now some form of regular blogging will resume...
Labels: baby, family