This is the belly at 38 weeks and 6 days. I took it right as we were leaving for the hospital...pre back labor obviously.
This post is mostly to update those of yall that wondered why we dropped off the planet after getting to the hospital. This was NOT in my birth plan! So for most of yall just skip to the pictures at the bottom.
Long story short (Yes, this is actually the short, less scary version...the long one is worse!) My water broke at 5:30pm and horrifically awful back labor kicked in on the way to the hospital at about 6:00pm with contractions 1 1/2 min apart that never slowed down. The contractions were coming too fast and Maddie's heart rate decelerated which scared the begeebus out of everyone (especially her parents!). I THANKFULLY was able to get an epidural before she went into distress. I received the epidural really fast because of the back labor and the crazy contractions (nurse's quote) got the staff's attention. The anesthesiologist walked into our room two minutes after we did! That man was sent from heaven.
Mark and I went from hanging out in our room watching the football game by ourselves to panic mode with 5 nurses. our doctor, and lots of machines coming in. When she started going into distress we tried to get her heart rate back up with some tricks - oxygen, positions, shot to stop that contractions, etc - but nothing worked. So the doctor decided it was time to start pushing and get her out as soon as we could since I had progressed almost to 10 cm dilated by that time (about 9:00pm). But pushing alone didn't work and she kept decelerating even worse so we moved on to the OR to try and push with the help of the vacuum and be prepared for a c-section if that didn't work.
The doctor and nurses weren't sure if she was wrapped up in her cord, couldn't handle the fast labor, was stuck, or what was going on. Once in the OR we tried a few times to get her out with the help of a vacuum and one of the nurses even had her hand inside under Maddie's head to pull at the same time. While we were working on the vacuum the awesome anesthesiologist was getting everything ready for a c-section. Maddie didn't make any progress with the vacuum so we proceeded on with the surgery. The earlier back labor was absolutely the worst thing I've ever experienced in my life but because it was so intense and the contractions were coming so fast I was given the epidural in record time. Without that in place I would've been knocked out with general anesthesia for the surgery and Mark would not have been able to be there. That is the only nice thing I can say about the back labor!
Once the c-section got started she came out after a lot of pushing and tugging around and it turns out she was wedged down in my pelvis sunny side up (opposite of how she should be) and could not get herself into the right position because there was no break in the contractions. It was just more than her little self could handle.
She was born at 11:36pm on 1-10-11 weighing 6lbs 9 oz and 19 3/4 in long by emergency c-section.
She was in pretty bad shape when she was delivered. The nurses told us later after we knew she was okay that she came out blue, not breathing, and totally limp. She scored a two on her APGAR (the only thing she was going her way was her pulse at that point). Eeek! I'm so glad I didn't know it at the time. She didn't cry for a long time because she was in such shock and Mark and I didn't know anything was wrong because we didn't even know she was out yet. There were probably 15 people in the room and I was so shakey from the medication that Mark and I were really only connected with each other and our anesthesiologist. Ignorance was bliss.
A NICU team was waiting in the OR for her to be born and get her stablized and breathing. We finally heard some little squeaks so we knew then that she was out and breathing. The poor little thing really was in total shock after her rough entry into the world and she has the battle scars to prove it. She has softened up a lot today and is looking soooo much better but she arrived with a black eye, giant goose egg, suction marks, and scratches on her head from having multiple internal heart monitors placed on her head that would not stay on. We are soooo lucky she is resilient and doing well today. Each time we've seen her she has been a little more alert and her color keeps improving.
She has to be in the NICU and I've been two floors below her so that has been hard but she is making some good steps today and hopefully will continue to make some more tomorrow. She had her first bath this afternoon, and we are attempting to nurse tonight for the first time. I don't totally understand it all but since she had such a rough entrance the NICU has just let her rest and not push her to do anything that might stress her out (like eating anything, bathing, we couldn't even hold her last night). We were able to watch her be bathed and she got really mad and told us how much she didn't like it! She hadn't done any real crying yet so we were cheering her anger on! She kept her vitals up the whole time too!
Her NICU nurse said she doesn't expect her to get to go home with us on Thursday but we are hoping she is wrong. If Maddie can figure out her feeding and not get stressed about it then we should be good to go so pray for that please!
Anyway we are done with DRAMA from this child! And the internet now holds proof of how much she scared her parents and we can hold it over head when the need occurs.
On to the photos.
The eye of the hurricane. After the epidural before the distress.
Things heating up
Baby's busted noggin'
My Knight in blue scrubs-Ray
Settled in her room in the NICU
The next morning in her daddy's arms.
Mommy getting to hold her!
CiCi meets Maddie
I don't like baths!
Wild wet hair!
My big hat and big paci!
