From the beginning...

Holy Cow!

I can't believe 6 weeks has gone by so fast! I am finally able to get things started and catch everyone up on Camryn!

So, let's start from the beginning:

The birth:
I had been saying for weeks that the baby was going to arrive early and Auntie Sasha predicted that she would arrive on 4/5/08. In fact, that week I had finally finished the nursery and sent out pictures to everyone as well as cleaning my office. On my way out the door from work on 4/4 I said to Sasha, "Wish me luck.". She responded with, "Why, do you think you're having a baby this weekend?" I then reminded her about her prediction....

Matt and I went to dinner that evening and I started to feel a little weird. I had been having some contractions without pain in the previous weeks, but this seemed different. Of course, I thought nothing of it. I had been at 1 cm/50% effaced for 1 week and had just seen the doctor the day before with no change. After a few hours, I started to track the "contractions" I was having, but they were pretty inconsistent and it was hard to determine a beginning and end. Also, the baby was doing a lot of moving, so I was confused. Matt thought for sure this was "it" and even shaved just in case so that he wouldn't be scruffy for the labor process.

By 12:30am, the contractions were coming more often and became a bit more uncomfortable. Matt suggested that we call the doctor. I was reluctant because I didn't want to go all the way to the hospital 30 minutes away, just to be sent home. He called anyway and the doctor said we should go in. We gathered up all our gear, which was a lot, and headed out.

Yeah for no traffic! We were able to get to the hospital pretty fast as it was the middle of the night. The nurse checked me and I was 3.5 cm. The doctor gave them the go to admit me and got me started on an IV.

Here's our room...pretty nice!

Let me just say how grateful I am for yoga. Every time I had a contraction, I went straight to my breath...like going to a happy place. I didn't even have to think about it. And the the contractions were pretty substantial. The nurses kept telling me how surprised they were by how calm I was throughout. Evidently, I should have been screaming...:).

I did get some drugs to take the edge of which was helpful. And I progressed well until they said I got to 6-8cm. That meant my uterus was very favorable (who knew?) and could stretch from 6-8.

It was when they broke my water that I really felt the baby....every pointy bit of her. This was when I was sure I wanted an epidural. The nurse had tried to convince me that she could talk me through going natural....and I actually thought about it, but Matt knew what I would want without all the emotion and confusion attached. There was even a period that they weren't sure whether I would be able to get an epidural because of my platelet count being low, but we got that figured out and moved forward. Unfortunately, after this, I went back to 6cm :(.

But then came comfort!

Epidural = :)

They gave me a walking epidural. I could feel my legs which was great. I had expected to be completely numb. I actually told everyone in the room how much I loved them after it began to work. The nurse had told me it could take 2-3 hours to push the baby out, but if I got some rest and practiced pushing, I could get it down to 1 hour. She said that they would be back to check me at 2:00pm. Here I am getting some rest:

It turns out, that was the trick. The baby was in place and ready to go. I was 10cm and 100% effaced. So, everyone started getting me ready to push. Matt had to rush for the camera, but didn't know just how fast this was going to be...

I went through 1 set of pushing. Well, the baby was coming out faster than everyone had expected. The nurse called more people into the room. The doctor asked if I wanted to touch the head as it came out and I shouted out "NO!". I was really focused....I went through 2 more sets of pushing and she was out. It was 2:17pm.

The doctor asked if Matt wanted to cut the cord and we both shouted "NO!". Again, focused...I think the doctor was surprised by the reaction.

Then, the doctor put her on my chest. It was a completely surreal moment:


Then they rushed her away. Matt got some really great photos of Camryn getting weighed, etc. I'm so glad he was able to catch all of it!:



We were also able to get a picture with the nurse who had been with us throughout the labor and birth:

And here is Camryn all wrapped up:


All in all it was a crazy ride! She weighed 6lbs 2oz. Just the right size. I had a bit of tearing, but I can't complain as it could have been worse.