6 Months Already?

Wow, where has the time gone? Six months ago at this exact time I gave birth to the most beautiful little girl in the world. Cecilia came into this world at 9:13 PM weighing 8 lbs. 2 ounces and measuring at 22 inches long. She is currently around 17 pounds and 27 or 28 inches long! We find out for sure on November 3rd when we go for her six-month well visit and shots. I realized that I never posted her birth story, the first few months of her life were chaotic. Motherhood got the best of me and I kind of neglected this blog during those times. I thought today would be an appropriate time to finally post that birth story even if it is six months late! Cecilia’s original due date was April 16th, but after two ultrasounds that determined otherwise, my doctor moved it up to April 10th. So at my April 8th appointment, my doctor asked if I wanted to schedule my induction just in case she didn’t come in time. Up until that point I didn’t want to be induced, but I had been having contractions for a few days by then and decided what could it hurt to schedule an induction date. We decided I would go in for the induction on April 16th at 8:00 pm. I was hoping that Cecilia would come before then, but she apparently was way too comfortable in there and didn’t want to come into this world. So on April 16th we decided to go out for one last dinner with just the two of us. I knew I probably wouldn’t be able to eat for some time so I decided to eat good, I had a side salad, steak, baked potatoes and steamed veggies. It was seriously one of the best meals I have ever had. We called the hospital and were given the okay to come in at 8:00 for the induction. They were (and still are) doing a major renovation at the hospital so we had to park what seemed like a mile away and walk up to the hospital. Walking when you over 9 months pregnant and having contractions is not fun. Daniel offered to drop me off, but I had read that walking could induce labor so I was doing anything I could to make her come faster. We had all of our gear, suitcase, laptops and pillows with us. The nursing staff asked us if we were moving in. I just wanted to be prepared, what’s wrong with that? We actually knew one of the L&D nurse’s on duty that night so she checked me in while the other nurse got the Foley Balloon ready for me. I had assumed I would be given Cervadil like all of my friends who has been induced before, but my doctor preferred the Foley Balloon so we went with that. It was not the most comfortable thing in the world, but by 11:00 that night I was 4 centimeters dilated. So it did it’s job, I went from a fingertip dilated to 4 cm in under 2 hours! If I have to be induced again I am definitely asking for the “balloon” as Daniel calls it. The nurse then gave me an Ambien so I could get a somewhat good nights rest that night before they started the Pitocin the next morning. Bright and early on Friday morning, April 17, 2009 Daniel and I were both up and ready to finally meet our little girl. My doctor told us that we could expect a baby by late afternoon, early evening. My doctor started my Pitocin at 8:00 that morning and at first my contractions were no worse then they had been for the past week. My sister-in-law, Tammy came at around 8:30. We had decided prior that we wanted both Tammy and my other sister-in-law, Lauren in the room and both of our mom’s. At the time my mom was still in a sling from her broken shoulder and Paula had just finished a round of chemo so we didn’t expect them to be there the whole time. Tammy had just went through this a year prior when she gave birth our niece, Karra so she knew exactly what I was going through. The nurses, Daniel and Tammy kept on asking if I was ready for my epidural yet. I shook my head and told them I was fine. Finally after one contraction brought me to tears, they both said, “You are ready!” and called the nurse in so she could call anesthesiologist to order my epidural. A little while later the anesthesiologist was there with my epidural. I didn’t want to see the needle so while he put it in me I stayed very still and focused on Daniel and Tammy. I honestly did not feel a thing when he put it in. My pain level did go down after that and I was ready for another nap, but then at time Daniel’s mom and my mom came in. So I felt as if I had to talk to them. Luckily, Daniel and Tammy kept the conversation going with them and I was able to doze off here and there. The nurse and doctor kept on checking me and there was no progress, I was still four centimeters. Eventually the room was full with my mom, Daniel’s mom, Tammy, Daniel and now his sister, Lauren and his stepmom, Susan were there as well. After a few hours, the nurse came in and asked everyone to go get lunch and leave for a little while, so I could get some rest. I was so grateful for that nurse! I was able to get an hour or so nap while everyone left and did their thing. After my nap I was ready to finally have this baby, I had dilated to 6 centimeters, but the doctor didn’t want me to start pushing until I was around 8 or 9 (maybe even 10..I forget). Unfortunately at that time I started to get sick and my dinner from the night before came up, it didn’t taste so good coming back up. The nurse thought my epidural was making me sick so she upped the dose on it. My blood pressure also began to drop as well as Cecilia’s heartbeat so they put me on oxygen. The doctor also told me that Cecilia had swallowed meconium so when I delivered they would have the NICU team in the room to take her as soon as she came out. That scared me, I didn’t want to think about my baby already being in distress and she hadn’t even made it here yet. At around 6:00 the doctor decided it was time to push. So with Tammy holding one leg, Lauren holding the other, Daniel at my head and our moms on the couch I started to count to ten, push and then rest my legs. I could not even feel my legs at this point, so they took me off of my epidural so I could feel something. I pushed, pushed and pushed. Finally they were able to see Cecilia’s head. The nurse told me she had a head full of dark hair! That gave me even more motivation to see what she looked like. At 7:00 my friend, Amanda who is a nurse on another floor at the hospital texted me wanting to know if we had a baby yet. I told her not yet, so she asked if it was okay if she came to see me. I didn’t see an issue with one more person there so she came on up. The next thing I knew Amanda was there with Daniel’s cousin, Shannon who is also a nurse on the same floor as her. Daniel’s family is not that close and this was maybe the third time I had ever met Shannon. It was kind of awkward, but at this point I could care less. People are serious when they say when you are in labor all of your modesty goes out the window. I just wanted to have Cecilia here! After two additional hours of pushing and coaching from all of our family and Amanda, Cecilia was born at 9:13 PM. I was pushing like I had been, but this time a baby slid out. Neither the doctor nor nurse was prepared for her. She slid right on out. It was one of the most crazy and yet amazing feelings ever to have this baby “slide” out of you. It seemed like an eternity before I heard that first cry and then she was taken by the NICU while I was getting stitched up. I had a third degree tear and I got what seemed to be like 20 some stitches. The doctor or nurse wouldn’t tell me how many I actually got. It took them almost a half hour to stitch me up meanwhile the NICU team is in the room doing everything they had to do with Cecilia. I was getting restless I wanted to hold my baby, but luckily Amanda was snapping away pictures with my camera. She was able to come over and show me pictures while I was getting stitched up. I was overcome with emotions by how gorgeous this little baby was! I wanted to hold her! Finally, I was able to hold her and it was by far the best moment in my life, having Daniel and Cecilia there. Looking in her eyes I knew my life had changed and would never be the same again.

Here are just a few of the hundreds of pics taken of Cecilia the past six months! It's amazing to watch how she's changed from this little newborn to a babbling baby! Stay tuned for her 6 month picture.

I actually wrote this blog post yesterday and set it to post tonight.