She’s Here!

I’m breaking from my normal format to write up Abigail’s birth story. Then I’ll add pictures that we’ve taken this week, both before and after she arrived.

Thursday, December 22, 2016

4:00 AM: Paul and I got up, ate breakfast, and got ready to head to the hospital for me to get induced. We had dropped Joseph off at our friends’ house the night before, so he could spend the night and play with a friend while we were busy at the hospital.

5:30 AM: We checked in at Labor and Delivery to get set up in a room…they said it would be a bit since all the rooms were full.

11:30 AM: Yup, that’s right. SIX hours later we finally were given a room. Once we got in, they started me on a pitocin drip and broke my water to induce labor. I dilated to 4 cm rather quickly (I think it was a couple hours), so we went ahead and had them give me the epidural. The epidural seemed to work great for a while, but then I started to feel pain and immense pressure. Paul was a great coach, keeping me calm and breathing so that I didn’t hyperventilate. I also started to literally shake from head to toe with an adrenaline rush (this started about 3:00 PM). I expected it to pass quickly, but it lasted (along with the pain and pressure) until I was ready to push, at about 5:30.

5:30 PM: I started to push and they said I was doing a really good job, so they called the on-call obstetrician (my doctor had already had to leave). I pushed for a little bit and then at…

6:02 PM: Abigail was born! She weighs 7 lbs, 2 oz and is 19.5 inches long. They were able to give me skin-to-skin with her. This was a luxury I didn’t have with Joseph since he had to be taken to the NICU for observation (to monitor his breathing and make sure he swallowed anything he ought not to have, if you know what I mean) right at birth. I was also able to feed her right away. Then they transferred me to a recovery room, took her to the nursery to get cleaned up, and we began our journey as a family.

The next two days were a bit of a blur of feeding, checking vitals, etc. They noticed a slight murmur in her heart, but that was something that went away by the time we were discharged. They also said she didn’t quite pass her first go at the hearing screening. She passed the second test, so they think there was just some amniotic fluid trapped in her ear (since it was just her right one). Paul spent the first night at the hospital with me, but the second night he went and collected Joseph and they stayed at home (after coming to visit). My night solo was a bit difficult because Abigail wanted to be awake and attached to me all night. I finally had them take her to the nursery so that I could get some sleep. We were able to be discharged yesterday, with both of our blood sugar levels being great, and were home for Christmas Eve as a family. Now just to get used to this new stage in our life. 🙂

Christmas 2016: We awoke early, had breakfast, and then opened presents. Joseph got a new DS with a game and case, a book, and some new church clothes. He also got a Pokemon watch from Jason and Saira and some cool science kits from one of Paul’s former foster moms, Barbara Diamond. Paul got a new shirt, a foam pad to put down on the bench in his new office, a gift card to purchase some eBooks, and a couple of new tools. I got some slippers, some new measuring cups, a handmade scarf (one of my friends crochets some amazing stuff), a book I can read to Abigail, and a recipe kit for some yummy dessert from Barbara. Abigail got some cute clothes from Barbara.

This Adventure in Pictures: