She's here!

Ok, so I really wanted to have lots of pictures to post and figure out exactly what I wanted to say, but since it has been a week since Allison's birth and I haven't posted anything, I'm posting something in hopes that if I post enough somethings I'll get caught up and say everything I want to say. :)

It all started last last Tuesday afternoon. (May 27th) Jason, his mom, and I were out running errands and we decided to go walk around the mall to see if we could encourage this baby to come join our world. While we were walking I was noticing things that felt like braxton hicks, but they were coming at a somewhat regular interval. I kept an eye on my watch as the night went on. Jason knew something was up b/c I was trying to re-organize half of the nursery that night. He and his mom came in and helped me. He asked what was up and I told him I thought this might be the beginning.

We went to bed around 10pm and by midnight they contractions were much stronger and about 5 minutes apart. So we got our things together and headed off to the birth center sure that we would have a baby by morning.

We labored through the night and by the next morning the contractions had gotten much stronger, but were still far apart. The midwife sent us for breakfast and for a walk. Around noon she told us that the contractions really needed to be closer together to make progress and if we went home and rested that might help. So we went to my parents house and I slept in between contractions on my parents hide-a-bed until 3:27 when my water broke. I was laying there, and "pop!" it broke and gushed a little. I sat up and said, "Oh, My water just broke." Then laid back down. My mom and Jason thought this was funny b/c up until then they only sounds they heard from me were the moanings of a laboring woman. I guess me sitting up and saying that and then laying back down was funny too.

So we called the midwife and she said to time the contractions and see if they got closer. They did, about 2-3 min apart so we headed back to the birth center. (By the way, car rides SUCK when you are in labor in case you were wondering!) So I moaned and tried to relax and breathe through the contractions on the way back.

We got there and the midwife checked and I was at a 5 and completely effaced. I was thrilled b/c earlier that morning I was only at a 2 after all night! Within about 2-3 hours I was at a 9 and they let me start pushing. Wow, what a relief! Pushing felt great, except that the cervix wasn't going over the baby's head in 2 spots. They called it a cervical lip and the baby's head was a little tilted so the combination of the 2 things was presenting a problem. We tried a number of different things, the midwife trying to manually push the cervix out of the way, (OUCH!) different positions, not pushing (SUCKS) and walking around. But the cervix was swelling, the baby's heart rate at one point was dipping pretty bad so they gave me oxygen. Her heart rate got better, but then they checked me again and I had gone back to an 8-8 1/2. Not a good thing!

So around 10pm we had a decision to make. We could continue at the birth center, or we could transport. Which meant that we would load up in our cars and drive to Baylor Grapevine to get some extra help. At this point I was so ready to be done I was willing to do whatever! What I didn't want was to labor another hour and the center then still have to go to the hospital. So we got all our stuff together and loaded up in the cars. The midwife's assistant rode with us and checked the baby's heart rate after each contraction. I'm pretty sure the only thing worse than a car ride during labor is a car ride during labor where you have been pushing for 3 hours and dilated to a 9 and then being told not to push. Um, yea right! So I was trying to breath through the contractions and not push, my body was fighting that like crazy. I was moaning like a dying horse and my hero husband was racing through the back streets of Hurst trying not to get us killed.



Let me take this opportunity to say what an amazing husband I have. He was with me every second, holding the bowl when I tossed my cookies, trying to hold my hand (when I wasn't too hot) making sure I was comfortable (yea right! :) ) and speaking words of encouragement the whole time. I couldn't have done it without him and I love him even more dearly now.

Ok, down to the arrival. We got to the hospital around 11pm and after some funny "only at a hospital" moments, the Dr. came about 11:30pm and we proceeded to have this baby. She finally arrived at 12:15am on Thursday morning.

She came with eyes open and all the right girl parts! :) (that was the first thing I checked) They took her off to ICU because she had meconium in her lungs, and I was on the biggest high I have ever experienced. Jason went with Allison and I laid there while the Dr. stitched me up. (we still managed to have a natural birth with the only drugs being a little shot to numb the perineum before the Dr. cut it. Not my choice but he needed to use forceps to get her out, they were concerned about her heartbeat and the meconium) I could have been doing a stand up act with all the one liners I was coming up with during those minutes after the birth. Jason passed out in a chair and I proceeded to text every one and talk on the phone for the next hour or so.

We finally got to go see her in ICU at 3am and then they took us to our "real room."

The neonatologist came in and told us that she might have to stay in the hospital a week (yea right) but when we saw her at 3 am she was already doing better. I got to start breastfeeding her at 11 that morning and she was in our room by 6:30pm that night. She did have to stay 1 extra day after they discharged me, but they let us stay in the room at the hospital since she was still checked in.



All in all, WOW what an amazing experience. I told mom and dad when they came in to the delivery room right after it all happened that they had 1 grandchild but I wasn't going to promise them any more! But honestly by then next day so much of the memories of pain and craziness had already faded.



This last week has been crazy too, but I will save that for another day :)

I have a bazillion more pictures that I will upload later :)