I'd been having contractions for a couple weeks and man, I was feeling pretty lousy. I really hated the idea of being induced but I was feeling like my body was ready and needed a little push. I also was pretty sure that I was further along than they said I was. I mean, what does science know anyway right? So when I went to my appointment on Monday morning said I wanted to get this karasite out and the doctor checked and said I was ready. So we went to my parents to hang out with Abby and grab our camera and went back to the hospital at noon. I was pretty nervous to be full-on induced but I felt like I was ready so it would be ok. By 1:00 we were settled in and watching BBC Sherlock. As soon as I started getting pitocin my contractions were regular and consistent. The nurse helped me feel less nervous when she said I really was ready for the baby to come. My first nurse was Lexie (Singleton-no relation) Sutherland who lived down the street from me growing up. She was only my nurse for an hour and my next nurse was Elise Zollinger who is my age and I went to school with. Everyone asked if it was weird to have old high school friends as my nurses but it really wasn't. I think it shows they are good at their jobs - professional and all that. My doctor is my old stake president... so it doesn't seem to bother me having people I know looking down there :)
After a couple hours of consistent contractions Elise called the dr and he headed up at 3:00 to break my water. As soon as he did it I asked to have an epidural because OW. The guy with the needle came in with the juice at 3:30 and everything was in at 3:45 but holy crap it hurt. As big needle guy is walking out the door he says it'll take 15-20 mins before I'll feel the effects and I thought, ohhhh noooooo, I have to deal with this for 20 more minutes?!?!? The next contraction brought full-on panic because it felt like I needed to push which meant nugget #2 wasn't waiting for no lousy epidural to work. I'm pretty sure I grunted and groaned like a cow. I told Elise and she checked me and I was at an 8. She checked again a few mins later and I was at a 9. So she called the dr and said "You need to get up here right now... Yeah, it WAS really quick." I remember yelling at Jake "what time did the epidural guy leave?!?" And he was panicked and was like "uhhh, maybe 5 mins ago?" I'm not really sure what happened after that - I had my eyes closed for about 20 straight minutes. The dr came in at some point and suited up. I put some fingernail prints in both jakes and my own hands. I had my hands clenched so tight that they froze closed until it was over. I remember telling everyone that my hands won't open and everyone kept reminding me to take slower breaths. I wasn't prepared to feel it. I didn't know any breathing exercises except for the heee heee hoooo's that 90's sitcoms had taught me. I pushed (a closer description is that my body squeezed) a couple times and I thought, Oh man, this hurts so bad, she needs to come out, I can push harder than that, give up the hope the epidural is gonna kick in. So I put everything into it and I remember hearing the dr say stop! Stop?! I opened my eyes (they'd been closed long enough that I was a little blinded by the bright lights) because I wasn't sure I heard him right and out she came, dimples and all. Jake said she came shooting out so fast the dr had to catch her. It was ridiculous how much pain I was in one second and the sweet relief I felt the next. She was born at 4:04 so about exactly an hour after the Dr broke my water -- I'm sorta afraid if my water ever broke on its own I'd end up delivering in a grocery store or something. She looked so much like Abby when she came out. The first thing I noticed with both the little nuggets were their dimples and then their hair. They were both little and soft little feminine faces. And they both looked so healthy with their lungs blazing and their voices screaming which of course made me so happy. They wiped her off and gave her to me to cuddle with for a little while before they did all the other checks. She weighed 7lbs 13oz and was 20 inches (I think she was a little taller though because a week later she measured at 21)
That face!
After we told her the baby brought her a present.
The only pic we took of Christmas. Not pretty. But real and I love it
After she came out and I was all stitched up they pulled out the epidural (thanks for nothing!) Luckily it hadn't taken much effect after the fact so I didn't have all the negative effects without any of the positives.
During this baby growing period I've been nervous about her being okay. She moved so much less than Abby and my brains were worried a lot. But I could tell I had a lot stronger (crazy) hormones this go and hoped my anxiousness was due to that. I felt so much relief and love when a perfectly healthy Maya baby was handed to me. Now that she's out we've been amazed how much more she sleeps (like a normal newborn) than Abby did so I'm guessing that's why I felt her move less?
Abby wasn't allowed to come visit us because no little kids were during flu season. So when Jake and her picked us up in the morning she was a little mad at me. She started crying when I tried putting her coat on and was grumpy during the ride home. When we got home, Jake got Maya out of her carseat and asked Abby if she wanted to meet her baby sister. The look Abby gave them was pretty deadly. She wasn't happy about the situation at all. I had read that it helps to give the older sibling a present from the new baby but I didn't think Abby would care. Luckily I had a few presents under the tree already wrapped for Abby so we had her unwrap it. After she unwrapped a beautiful stuffed kitty cat she loved her sister. Or maybe happy to ignore her is a better way to put it. It took a few months before Abby was really happy to interact with her baby but really, she was always very nice and loving to her.
So, there's the story of the day chubbanugget was born. May she always read it on her birthday.
Before we left. I wish I didn't feel embarrassed the minute someone takes my picture.
Abby wasn't allowed to come visit us because no little kids were during flu season. So when Jake and her picked us up in the morning she was a little mad at me. She started crying when I tried putting her coat on and was grumpy during the ride home. When we got home, Jake got Maya out of her carseat and asked Abby if she wanted to meet her baby sister. The look Abby gave them was pretty deadly. She wasn't happy about the situation at all. I had read that it helps to give the older sibling a present from the new baby but I didn't think Abby would care. Luckily I had a few presents under the tree already wrapped for Abby so we had her unwrap it. After she unwrapped a beautiful stuffed kitty cat she loved her sister. Or maybe happy to ignore her is a better way to put it. It took a few months before Abby was really happy to interact with her baby but really, she was always very nice and loving to her.
So, there's the story of the day chubbanugget was born. May she always read it on her birthday.
Before we left. I wish I didn't feel embarrassed the minute someone takes my picture.
Born!
That face!
The only pic we took of Christmas. Not pretty. But real and I love it
