I Am In Love...

We had a baby! As I wrote before, I was scheduled to go into the hospital on Monday night, July 31st to be induced. We checked in about 10:30pm and I was in bed with an IV in by 11pm. Things went well. No contractions to speak of showing up on the monitor, so I was given Cytotech to help thin and dialate my cervix. I'd talked with other moms who said absolutely DO NOT have this done...but I'd already experienced it with my #2 son and it made my labor go SO much more smoothly and quickly than any of my others. I gave the big okay to do it again with the hope that it would progress like the other.

J and I spent most of the night resting as the contractions weren't too bad and I knew I had a long day ahead of me on Tuesday. My OB's partner came in about 7am to check on my progress and broke my water. We started a pitocin drip shortly after that. I thought I might be brave this time and go as long as I could without an epidural...but that thought didn't last very long :) By 10:30am, I was dialated to 5 and we decided it was time to call the anesthesiologist. A young gal came up to do it ~ very professional for her age ~ and inserted the catheter. I prayed that we wouldn't have problems like the last delivery where they couldn't find a good spot to get it in. No problem with that this time...rather the epidural only took on one side instead of both. So I was completely numb on the right, but could still feel very strong contractions on the left. What to do, what to do... We finally made the decision to have it 'adjusted' with the hope that would fix the problem. But to no avail. My next choice was to have it removed and re-inserted. I had to laugh at the options...by that time, I was hurting pretty good and it was either re-do it or go without. Hmmm...difficult decision there. LOL

The second time worked like a charm...TOO much you could say. I went numb not only from my belly button down...but from my belly button up almost to my neck. This caused panic and alarm with the delivery room nurses but I was feeling mighty fine by then as J would continue to tell me that I was having another contraction and I would just smile and nod and say, "That's nice!". I couldn't feel a thing!! I guess their concern stemmed from the fact that you can develop breathing problems with the anesthetic working across your chest region...so the solution to that was to SHUT IT OFF. Ahem. I just paid $1500+ to have that little thing put in me not once..but TWICE and now they wanted to shut it off. Ok then. I guess the anesthesiologist wanted to make sure I really got it good the 2nd time around!!

Shutting it off wasn't as bad as I thought it might be...I had enough of it in me that I lasted quite a while. The nurses checked me again at 1pm and I was only dialated to between a 5 and 6 (so practically no progress in two hours) and I had gone that entire time without the epidural turned on but still felt pretty good. J and I joked that we would be there ALL day with as slow as I was progressing. Then IT happened. The anesthesia wore off just like that and the contractions were right on top of one another. Another check had me at 10 and ready to push...just a short 20 minutes later than when previously checked!!! I panicked without the epidural so they turned it back on...but it's a slow process when you're watching it through that little tube. Drip. Drip. Drip. UGH!!!! I guess my main delivery nurse felt sorry for me because she called the anesthesiology department again and the guy in charge showed up with a nice big syringe full of stuff that he put directly into my line. I admit it. I am a WIMP. W.I.M.P. If I had to have any of my kids without that, I would have only ever had one. Period.

My OB showed up shortly thereafter and actually spent almost an hour at the end of my table!! J joked with him that we were really getting our money's worth this time! With our last daughter, he barely made it through the door before it was over. :) It's funny the kinds of conversations you can have when you're in that position...I tried my best to keep my sense of humor throughout it all!! I cannot say enough, tho ~ how much I totally love and respect him as my physician. He has been SO good to me since I started seeing him almost 15 years ago and has been the attending OB at all of my children's births.

Anyway, our little Austyn Caeline was born at 2:12pm on Tuesday, August 1st. She weighed in at only 4oz lighter than her sister...9#1oz and 20" long. I am glad we decided to have her when we did or she would have been a 10#er at her due date!! She has an entire head of dark black hair like Daddy and is an absolute doll!! You can see her hospital pics here. Under the picture is a tab that says next picture...click on that and you can see more.

I have a bunch more pics of her on my digital camera, but my USB port is not cooperating right now so I haven't been able to download them into the computer yet. I'm hoping to be able to get to that in the next day or so.

SO...I am in love once again. All Over. It's just such a giddy feeling. I love my new baby girl, I love my "big" (2 year old) baby girl, my 5 and 9 year old big boys and especially my hubby. There is just something about it this time that makes it seem as though our family is truly complete now. And they all have been SO good since we came home from the hospital...makes me want to cry just thinking about it!! I am one of the luckiest Moms on the face of the Earth...