And baby makes 3…

I’ve updated facebook but just realized I’ve neglected the blog  a little in the past week.  We thought we had until the 12th, but little Miss Hadley Ann decided she had other plans and arrived on January 3rd at 10:30pm!  Warning: birth story to follow so for those of you not interested in too many details, you can skip to the bottom for pictures  

On Sunday the 2nd, we went to bed fairly late (11pm – who would have thought that I would ever say that was a late bedtime for me?) and I woke up around midnight to what felt like a really strong Braxton Hicks contraction.   I tried to go back to sleep, but 5 minutes later I had another one.  They weren’t extremely painful, just enough to keep me awake, so I started timing them, just to pass the time more than anything else.  By 5am they had gotten a little more painful, so I woke Matt up and told him I was calling the doctor to see what they suggested.  The doctor said since I could still talk through them easily and my water hadn’t broken, to just sit tight at home and try to rest as much as possible.  So, that’s what we did until 10:30a or so when the contractions were coming every 3-5 minutes (although I could still basically talk/walk through them).  We called the doctor again and they said to go ahead and come in to get checked (thankfully it was a weekday and during business hours, so we didn’t have to go to triage in labor & delivery).  We went in and the doctor said I was only 2 cm and should go take a walk, have some lunch and try to get some more rest.  She told me to call her when the pain basically made me hit my knees. 

So, Matt and I went to the mall and walked around for about an hour, had some lunch in the food court, and although the contractions were coming faster (about every 2-3 minutes) I was still on my feet, so we hopped in the car to head home.  About 30 minutes after we got home, I laid down on the couch and started feeling much more intense pain in my back.  I tried to stay lying down to rest but the only position I could handle being in during a contraction was on my hands and knees.  Since I’d talked to the doctor twice at this point and neither time did they seem concerned that she was coming soon, I decided to try a bath to relax some more before calling again.  At that point, I had definitely reached my limit on pain, so I got out, we loaded up the car and called the doctor on the way to the hospital.  Again, I was thankful I could just go into my doctor’s office (on the second floor of the hospital).  I was in tears by the time we got to the doctor’s office so they brought me right back, came in and checked me and told me I was at 4 cm and they had called down to labor & delivery and told them to expect me. 

Around 4:30p we were checked in to the hospital and I was told the epidural was on it’s way.  Although I could still tell when I was having contractions even after the epidural, it was such a life-saver.  I wouldn’t have had any energy left for delivery without it.  The doctor seemed to think it would still be awhile so she left and said she come back to check me in a couple hours.  By 6p my water had broken and they said I was 6 cm – which was great news.  At 8, they came back and I was at 10cm, but they told me we would wait before pushing to let the contractions do some of the work for me.  I started pushing around 9p and Hadley was born at 10:30p. 

The next few days are a bit of a blur in my head – we were in the hospital from Monday through Wednesday evening (I had to be on antibiotics because I had a fever during labor, so they wanted to monitor me all day Wednesday before releasing us). 

Here are some pics and Hadley’s stats:

Weight: 7lbs 9oz (she was 7lbs 3oz when we left the hospital)

Length: 20 1/2 inches

Head: 14 1/2 inches

We had a weight check appointment at the doctor on Friday and she had already gained an ounce back, so as far as we know, we are at 7lbs 4oz now.  She is a pretty good eater, so I’m hoping we’ll be even bigger at her 2 week check up.