Tuesday, April 22, 2008

I've Got A DAUGHTER!!!

Hip Hip Hooray!

Miriam was born March 25th, 2008 at 9:25 am. She weighed in at 7 lbs 9 ozs, and was 21 inches long.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/rightasrain/2368041398/

After a spurt of contractions Monday afternoon and evening, I woke up at 2 am Tuesday with steady ones five minutes apart. After an hour of those, I woke up my husband, called my mom, and called the Doctor. He recommended laboring at home for as long as I could and heading to the hospital around 7 am, or sooner if the contractions started coming every three minutes or closer.

My mom came out right away, so that we could leave whenever we needed. I labored at home in relative comfort (having my mom there for company was nice, and it also allowed my husband to get more sleep!) and took a shower at about 6 am. By that time, I was having to bend over and breathe through the contractions. My water broke at 6:30 am (after I showered and dressed, of course) and we headed to the hospital, arriving at exactly 7 am. Hope Doc was impressed! :)

I got checked into a room right away, as my water had already broke. The nurse checked me shortly after and I was already dilated to 4 cm! After about 20 minutes of intense back labor, I decided to get an epidural. I'd been through back labor before and decided to cut my losses and go straight for the pain-relief! (I have noticed once you have an epidural, it is hard to forgo one the next time, because you just know how heavenly they are!)

I had to wait awhile for the epidural because my Doc was the only one who could order one and he was with another of his laboring patients. It was about an hour before relief arrived, and I was in tears by then, but about 10 minutes later, all was right in my world once more!

By then I had dilated to over 9, so they decided to let me start pushing. Miriam hadn't dropped all the way yet, so the first bit of pushing was just getting her into position. After trying a different position, she dropped all the way and I started pushing in earnest. She had been face up, but she twisted at the last moment and came so suddenly, the Doc almost didn't make it in time to catch her! I've never seen someone get on booties, scrubs, and gloves that fast in my life!

She was born so fast that the fluid hadn't been squeezed from her lungs fully, so the nurses had to suction her out a few times, poor dear.

But she was beautiful! We are so happy. I'll have to detail our first few weeks later. :)