rose maureen

so i've been on a bit of a hiatus, and it's because we had a baby!

little (well, not so little) rose maureen was born one day late at 10:07 a.m. on wednesday, october 27th.  she weighed 8 lbs 9 oz, and was 21 inches long. 

i had been desperately hoping she'd be born early, since this pregnancy, in a word, sucked.  and 5 weeks before my due date, i started dilating, so i had hope.  with oliver, i didn't progress one bit before i went into labor, and was in labor for 44 hours as i was hardly progressing during his labor, and he was born a week early.  so i was feeling confident that little rosie would be born early too.  i think she might be stubborn.

on monday, october 25th, i was dilated to about 2.5 cm.  that was the most uncomfortable exam ever, and i had persistent cramping all night.  by tuesday afternoon, the cramping had let up some, only occurring occasionally.  but by dinnertime on tuesday, the cramping was happening every 20 minutes or so, and i began to suspect that i may be in labor.  after oliver went to bed, we started timing.

 
by 10 p.m., i was having contractions every 5 - 7 minutes, so i called my doctor, who said it was fine to labor at home as long as i was comfortable.  we called my mom, who came over to spend the night with oliver and watch him the next day.  around midnight, the contractions were coming about 4 minutes apart.  they weren't screaming painful yet, but with them coming that close, we figured we'd better get to the hospital.

we arrived and they hooked me up to the monitors and checked me shortly thereafter.  i was excited, thinking surely as i had been dilating for weeks now and was in actual labor, i'd be dilating like crazy now!  not so.  i was still at 2.5 cm.  my ob instructed the nurses to keep me for 2 hours and check me again.

over the next 2 hours, my contractions strengthened in intensity quite a bit.  however, when they checked me again, i was still at 2.5 cm.  at this point, i started crying, because i was in quite a bit of pain and was very afraid they were going to send me home. i had flashbacks to laboring FOR. EV. ER. with oliver and didn't want to do that again.  however, they decided to keep me based on the level of discomfort i was in.

they got me checked in and put on an epidural almost immediately.  since i had had to wait for several hours before they had given me one with oliver, i was very happy.  this epidural experience was quite different, however.  with oliver, i was completely dead from the waist down.  i had expected a "my foot is asleep" type of feeling, but i was completely numb.  couldn't, couldn't feel a thing.  with rose, however, it was more like my legs were asleep.  i couldn't feel the pain of the contractions, but i could move my legs, and sense them slightly.  i could also, however, feel every inch of my catheter.  i honestly don't know which was worse.  i had been hoping to get some sleep once the epidural was in, but with the catheter driving me insane between contractions, there was no sleep to be had.

as i was still not dilating (WHAT THE HECK, BODY?!), they began giving me pitocin.  with the first pitocin induced contraction, the epidural stopped working entirely on the left side of my body.  it was around the same time it became clear that i was having back labor, which it turns out is the most painful thing in the entire world, i think.  i think i spent most contractions sobbing and the time in between feeling like i was going to pass out.  the anesthesiologist gave me another dose of the epi, which did nothing.  it was shortly thereafter that i also began puking.  and i still wasn't dilating.  in addition to thinking, "i will never do this again" and "why did i want to do this again" i also began wondering how i was going to do it now.  obviously i had no choice, but there was no way i could labor in this much pain (and more once my water broke) if i wasn't dilating.  there was no end in sight.

enter my savior.  the day anesthesiologist came on to his shift, and he suggested either another dose of the epi (and wait an hour) or removing my current epi and putting in a new one.  i took the latter option.  his method of inserting the epi was gentle, and he in general was just amazing.  and it worked!  the new epi took effect on both sides, AND i could no longer feel my catheter. best of both worlds.

after the 2nd epidural

my doctor then came in, and i had dilated to 5 cm.  finally some progress!  she decided to break my water and get the show on the road.  i dilated very quickly after that, and was ready to push by 9:30 a.m.  pushing was a very different experience than with oliver as well: since the epi was less numbing, while i couldn't feel the pain of the contractions, i could feel the baby when i pushed.  it made pushing both easier (since i could feel where she was) and harder (it felt like it took more effort).  but it was definitely an amazing experience, and i'm so glad i was able to feel everything.

as rosie was head up (explaining the back labor), it took a bit of pushing to get her out, but less than an hour later she was born.  with that first cry, i started bawling, both emotionally and physically spent.  at that moment, i felt our family was complete.  i got to hold her right away, and i thought she looked so much like oliver when he was born, though bryan disagreed.

oliver adores his new little sister.  when my mom brought him to the hospital to visit, it wasn't me he was interested in seeing.  he came in the room looking right for his little sister, wanting to give her kisses and talk to her.  when my dad came in, oliver said, "do you want to see my baby?"  he wants to hold her, kiss her, sing to her all the time.  i think he gets a little jealous when i have to feed her, but overall he couldn't love her more.

 

rosie is a good baby.  she sleeps pretty well, she eats well, and is generally a sweetheart.  let's hope that continues!

 

more pictures here and here and here.