Wow

Morgen Riley joined us on Monday, September 24 at 7:23pm. She was 7 lbs. 10 ozs., and we're completely in love with her. She's amazing despite her tendency to keep late hours (and early hours and any other hours).

Warning - I'm telling a lot about the birth in the rest of this post. If you don't want to know, please stop reading when I get close to the limit of your comfort. It's not graphic, but it is fairly detailed.

I had contractions for close to 5-1-1 (every 5 minutes for a minute for an hour) the previous Friday but they weren't super strong. We packed up and went to the hospital anyway and were sent home shortly thereafter. Ah, well.

Saturday brought more contractions (most of the day and evening), and Jeff was amazing. I went to bed about 4 hours before he did, and each time he heard me have a contraction (about every 10 minutes at that point), he came into the bedroom and rubbed my back and took care of me. (Awwwww.)

Sunday started quietly, so we went to The Crossings for a Women in Medicine event that Jeff and David sponsored with CRES. Contractions started again around 10am, though, so we only stayed through lunch. Back home, naps all around, contractions continuing to get more intense but not getting consistent timewise. Hmmm. Soo...we went to watch the Cowboys play at Tim and Beth's. :) After we arrived, we called the doc on call who suggested we go for a labor check, despite the fact that the contractions were closer to 8 minutes apart than the suggested 4-5. I decided I'd rather wait a bit (remember, we've been through this a few times now), so we stayed through halftime and stopped in to the hospital on our way home.

Drumroll, please...I had finally fully effaced and started dilating! Sure, I was only 1 cm, but this was progress! I asked warily if we would be sent home and mentioned that I didn't think I could manage another night of contractions without something to help with the pain. She suggested that at 41 weeks with my progress, the doc would keep me there. Woo hoo! We're gonna have a baby! I got some pain medication, we watched the rest of the Cowboy game, and we went to sleep. To be clear, the pain medication took the edge off, but I still got to wake to my contractions throughout the night, and I requested more before the night was out.

I woke up to the doc on call coming by to check me out. Another inch dilation!! He asked if I minded if he broke the bag of waters. Hmmm - that means we have the baby within 24 hours...it also means that we use pitocin to get the contractions going. I agreed and asked when I could have an epidural. Then my doc came by, and we had a similar conversation. It took a bit longer to get the pitocin and the epidural, but the epidural was done first, so I wasn't too concerned. The rest of the morning and afternoon are kind of a blur of checking progress and family coming in and out.

Late afternoon / early evening, I was dilated enough to start pushing. It wasn't too bad with my friend the epidural. I could feel enough to push, but I didn't feel pain. Or if I did feel pain, I pushed the magic button and all was good in my world. Dr. Doss came by to check me out, and, though it seemed like I was making great progress (The baby was right there!!), he pointed out that she was not at the right angle. She was off by about 40%. Options: forceps delivery or C-Section. We opted for the forceps delivery, knowing that if anything went wrong, the process would turn into a C-Section. That meant that we prepped as if we were going into a C-Section.

Jeff put on the garb (practically a hazmat suit), and I put on a hat, and off we went. There were a ton of people in the room, and I still don't know what everyone was doing. Everyone was amazing (true of our entire experience at St. Davids). I was completely numb below the waist, so pushing was harder than before, but I had a nurse on each side, and Jeff at my head, and they were amazing cheer leaders. At one point, the Doc said he'd have to cut more, and did I want him to do that or to do the C-Section. I had no idea what to do, so I was looking at Jeff, and one of the nurses noticed a contraction coming, so she suggested I push again, and that was enough to get the baby to crown. One more push and she was out!

I burst into tears, and looked at Jeff, and oh-so-tenderly asked what he was doing there? Go take pictures of the baby! While the doc did "repairs," I got periodic glimpes of baby cleanup, and then I got to see her for a few moments before she was taken for a bath and to meet the family members who were anxiously awaiting her arrival.

We had some quality time later that night after she warmed up, and she nursed out of the shoot like a champ. The rest of the week is a bit blurry, but thanks to everyone who visiting, called, emailed, or sent positive vibes our way. We're tired but happy. More on the first few days at home later...