Baby A's Arrival (with pics)!

The day before Baby A was born, we had an ultrasound, an OB appointment and finished our last childbirth class.  All went well, looked great and the plan was an induction somewhere in the 39 week mark.

When I woke up on Friday (7/1) morning and got out of bed, I felt an obvious "pop", followed by a gush (9am) Holy shit, I thought...there's just no way!  It's 3 1/2 weeks early!  When I called my OB, the nurse laughed when I told her what I thought could have been my water breaking.  Hubs raced home from work and ran in the house to see if I was ok, where he found me sort of trying to pack a bag, freaking out and pacing around the house.  To say that I couldn't think clearly is a vast understatement.  Hubs went out to start throwing shit out of the back of his car into our front yard (which was pretty funny) and to get the carseat (which, I may add, was still in the box).

The three day holiday weekend was packed full of finishing-getting-ready-for-baby details.  We were planning on getting last minute things, finishing the nursery, staining a piece that Mr SC built, packing hospital bags, etc.  Alaina knew how much her mommy hates lateness though and loves being early, since she clearly had other plans.

On the way to the hospital, I didn't even think that this was "it".  I wasn't having contractions.  I even called my mom (who lives an hour and a half away) to tell her what was going on, yet we both decided that she should stay put until I knew what was going on.

And then the contractions started.  Wow.  They were about a minute long and three minutes apart.  Commence complete freaking out on my part.

After I got to L&D, I found out that I was already 7cm dilated.  Hubs called my mom and told her to get here, now.   The rest remains a blur.  I had to have an IV started immediately because of the +GBS and also was waiting for bloodwork results to be sure the Hep.arin was out of my system so I could get an epidural.   The target time was 3:30.   By the time I finally was able to have an epidural, I was already 9.5cm dilated and the pain was pretty damn bad.   They wanted to wait though for my body to do things naturally (as much as they could) for fear of my cervix tearing, so I tried to relax.  I pretty much got to lay in the bed for a couple of hours.  I was uncontrollably shaking because I was so scared.  I kept thinking of my losses.  I thought of so many of you and what you had been through.  I thought of a few of my friends who had tragedy strike in moments like this.   Mr SC was wonderful and tried to keep me calm, but it was really something I knew I had to do on my own.  I realized that what was meant to happen would happen and I knew that when the nurse came back in, that it would be go time.  After she checked me (after about two total hours) and said that my cervix was ready, I held Mr SC's hand and said I was ready to meet our daughter.

Labor was so strange because I could barely feel my contractions (yay, epidural!) but I ended up only needing to push for about forty minutes.  Mr SC and my mom were there and were both a tremendous help and Mr SC got to watch his daughter come into the world.  Baby A was so quiet after she was born I just kept frantically asking if she was ok.  After all, we're all used to those screaming newborns on TV right after they're born, right?  Start to finish (from when my water broke), the whole thing was only a little over eight hours!

After what seemed like an eternity, we were able to go home on Sunday evening.  As I was being wheeled down the long hospital corridor, it was just too much for me.  Mr SC and I had walked down that hallway so many times before.  For testing for our losses.  For my two surgeries.   With pregnancies hanging in limbo, only to find out they were no more.  Now, here I was, leaving the hospital with my rainbow baby.  It was just too much for me and I ended up bawling the entire way out of the hospital.

I still can't believe that she's here, happy and healthy.  We hold her entirely too much but for right now, we don't know what else to do other than to love her like there's no tomorrow.

  Ready to go home from the hospital!

I must be a glutton for punishment that I'm sharing this picture!  This is the last pic I have of me being pregnant   at 34 weeks.  I was sooo tired and sooo swollen!!