1 week old!!

Today Abbie Grace is 1 week old and what a wonderful whirlwind this week has been! From giving birth (see story below) to visitors to sleep deprivation and learning what it means to be a parent, there is so much I want to share. This morning as Abbie napped for almost 3 hours, I missed her. I wanted her to wake up so I could hold her and just be close to her. Now she is sleeping soundly again on my chest as I type this, her belly full of milk.

So here are a few things we have discovered this week about Abbie - She loves to be swaddled, she hates baths and being naked (Wes told her he hoped she'd ALWAYS be like that!), she is getting better about having her diaper changed, she is obsessed with her hands and they are constantly in her face, she tends to get the hiccups after I feed her, and she likes to be held upright on your shoulder. I could go on and on...She is amazing. We are in awe that we created this gift and are so thankful that she is healthy. She had her 1 week check up yesterday and she checked out perfectly!

So here is the delivery story....

About 2am on Tuesday, May 13 I started having contractions. I stayed awake and started timing them. They were about 30 minutes apart, and mostly in my back. By 4am I was pretty sure something was happening, so I woke Wes up and told him I was going to take a shower because I thought we needed to go to the hospital. By 7am they were about 3-5 minutes apart, so we left for the hospital. We got there and they checked me for dilation. I was only 1cm!! Unbelievable, considering I could barely stand through the contractions I was having. So I was told to walk. So we walked the halls for about an hour, got checked again, and I was 1.5cm. I was a little upset and afraid they would send me home. But Dr. Barney decided since I was overdue already I might as well stay and get started on pitocin. Phew! This was it! So at around 11:30 they did the epidurral and started the IV. An hour later I was at 4cm, then I progressed to 6, then 8, then 10, in a matter of a few hours. It went really quickly and I wasn't feeling a thing. There was one problem happening though. Our little girls heartbeat was only strong in one position, and that was when I was on my right side. If I rolled over onto my back or onto my other side, it would drop way below 100 bpm. They said the cord may be getting squished or something when I rolled over. So once I was fully dilated, the doctor wanted me to wait about an hour before I started pushing so we could give the baby some time to recover. I was nervous, and there was an instant when I almost lost it, but my doctor stayed calm and that helped me. The nurses did tell me not to be upset if they had to do an emergency c-section, but that didn't seem to ever be Dr. Barney's plan. So at about 5:30 I began pushing. They also inserted a small screw in Abbie's head for a more accurate heart reading. I had read about this so I wasn't too worried, and it did what it was supposed to. Pushing was hard because I could not feel what I was doing at first, but after about an hour the epidurral began to wear off just enough for me to push, but without pain. Abbie was descending, but her head got stuck behind my pubic bone and I couldn't push enough to get it out. Dr. Barney said he might have to use forceps, and would have to do an episiotomy in order to get her out. Her heart was still having trouble and it was just time. As soon as he did the episiotomy, I pushed once and she was out. It was 7:32pm. Wes cut the cord and she was on my chest. It literally took my breath away. I was half laughing and half crying. And Wes just looked at me with biggest smile I have ever seen. She was finally here and real and wonderfully beautiful. Wes was the most supportive husband I could have asked for throughout it all. And I can honestly say that my labor and delivery was a great experience. Recovery hasn't even been that bad. Of course the first couple days were kind of rough moving around, but the day after we got home I was already feeling like myself again. I am not going to overdo it, but I am anxious already to get back to some exercise. We have been taking nightly strolls around the block. I always said throughout my pregnancy that if my labor and delivery were half as easy as being pregnant was on me, I would be thrilled, and it was. Abbie Grace has been so good to me for the last 9 months, and now it is our turn to be good to her and love her and be the best parents we can be. I can't wait to share her life with you through this blog!!