It has been a busy 11 days since she arrived. Hayley Grace was born on March 9 at 10:19am. She weighed 7 pounds 3 ounces and measured at 20 1/2 inches long! She is a great baby.
Today has been the hardest day so far because she was awake a lot last night cluster feeding and has been eating ALL DAY!
Birth Story
I was having contractions on and off all day Thursday and Friday. Thursday we had a false alarm and I really thought I was going into labor. Called my midwife, she advised me to have childcare arranged just in case because it was early labor and she wasn't sure how quickly I would progress. So I called my mother in law at 12:30am and asked her to please come out to watch Joey as I wasn't sure if it was time or not. By the time she got to our house, I was asleep and the contractions had faded away. I felt terrible that she came out so late and I woke her in the middle of the night, but she stayed the night and we had a fun filled day the next day (Friday).
On Friday, I walked A LOT. Went to 2 children's consignment sales and the park with Joe. Joe and I cleaned the entire house that night since it was kid and dog free. I think he was going through a bit of nesting, too!Deena (mother in law) ended up taking Joey and Lexi (our dog) home with her just in case the contractions kept getting worse as they had already started up again that morning while we were out shopping. Good thing Deena took them home with her because by 10 at night they started coming every 4-5 minutes and would last about a minute long and were gradually becoming more and more PAINFUL.
I called my midwife around 11, she advised me to take a bath and if the contractions still came while in the bath to come in after, so I did. We got to the hospital around 2am, they checked me and had me hooked up to the monitors and said I was definitely in labor! Joe and I were excited and nervous all at the same time. I had that moment where I thought, "Wow. This is it! This is REALLY happening!" Late to have that thought, I know.
After laboring at the hospital for 3 hours without any pain medication, I decided to get an epidural since the pain was excruciating. After that, I was able to sleep for about 3 hours. I woke up, and felt like it was time to push. My midwife checked me and broke my water. I was at 9 centimeters dilated, so she said I could do a test push to see what happened. Her head immediately dropped down into position so the midwife and nurse were frantically trying to get everything ready for her arrival! I pushed one more time and Hayley was out! It was such an easy delivery, and I couldn't wait to hold my baby girl. Unfortunately, there was meconium when she broke my water, so they had to take her first to make sure she didn't ingest any of it.
Things got a little blurry at that point. (If you have a sensitive stomach, you might want to skip this paragraph!) While I was delivering the placenta, my uterus was still attached to it. I ended up delivering my uterus as well, so I had to be rushed into emergency surgery. They put me under anesthesia, and I woke up some time later in a recovery room next to Joe. The surgeon explained to me the next day that my uterus came out inside out, so they stuffed it back in kind of like a sock (gross, I know). Hayley was in the nursery in the meantime, and I asked to see her shortly after coming out of la-la land.
Recovery from the whole ordeal was easy! I thought after coming out of surgery that it would be very hard. I was able to get up a few times that night, and the next day I was feeling like my normal self! What hurt the most was my throat from them having to put in a breathing tube during surgery. Everything else was just a little sore. I ended up having to get a blood transfusion (4 units), and I still have some pretty nasty bruises on my arms from those. Everyone who treated me at the hospital said they had never seen anything like that happen. I threw everyone for a loop and gave them a teaching lesson! Hayley wanted to make a grand entrance, and that she did!
These past 11 days with her have been wonderful. She is such an "easy" baby! She sleeps great, eats great, and has been completely healthy. We are so blessed and thankful to have such a wonderful addition to our family.
My oldest sister stayed with us for a week and unfortunately had to leave yesterday. She was so much help and such a great person to have around during this huge transition in our lives. She's an amazing mother to her children, and an amazing sister to me! She introduced us to a lot of new meals that can be thrown together pretty easily, and they were delicious! Her Trader Joe's addiction has also rubbed off on me quite a bit. I am already ready to go back and get more yummy food!
I won't be able to update here much in the near future. Hopefully I'll be able to get on every once in a while to share pictures and stories!
Until next time...
-Laura
Wow!!! what an amazing birth story!! I am SOO glad everyone was okay!! I hope to see ya'll soon! The pictures are great!
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