The new addition to our family has finally arrived and we couldn't be any happier! Phoebe was born at 3:05 pm on 10/10/10! I had planned her arrival for that date and was thrilled that all my planning worked out in the end!
The birth was so different than when Zoe was born. I think when Zoe was born there was so much unknown and it was shocking. We went in on the 9th at 10 pm to start my induction. They just started me on a really low dose of pitocin and had me go through the night and just let the drug do it's job. The nurse who placed my IV did an awesome job..thinking back to Zoe's birth the IV was one of the worst parts for me. It made me feel sick and they had to do it a couple times to get the IV in right.I didn't sleep a wink the whole night..they had a heart rate monitor on my belly to track the baby's heart. They also had a blood pressure cuff on my arm that went off every hour. The one time I almost fell asleep the dang cuff went off and woke me up.
At about 5 am I just gave up and Cory and I watched "6 Days 7 Nights" on the VCR in the room. They didn't have a DVD player and that bummed me out because I had packed some of my favorite movies. Luckily they had a library of Tapes to choose from and they had a few interesting choices. They actually had some horror movies and some really heavy murder type movies. I was surprised because the last thing I want to watch while in labor is a horror!!
About this time they decided to up the pitocin to start my labor really going.Around 10:00 am a Doctor came in to break my water and I was only dilated to a 2. She had a hard time breaking the water and had to come back a little later to try again. Once my water broke things started to speed up a little. Around Noon I was feeling strong contractions and I was very uncomfortable sitting in the bed so I asked if I could walk around. They let me walk around with portable heart rate and contraction monitors. With each contraction I had to stop walking because it was best for me to concentrate on them than try to walk through them. I walked around for about an hour and then decided to go back to my room.
They checked me again and I was dilated to a 5. I decided at that point to get the epidural.The anesthesiologist gave me the epidural and at first it didn't take very well. The nurses told me to wait 20 min and if it still wasn't working they could give me a stronger dose of meds. Well it still wasn't working and I was feeling some STRONG contractions. So the anesthesiologist came back and gave me more meds. This time the meds worked amazingly, I could hardly feel a thing! They checked me again and I was dilated to a 10 so they called my Doctor to come deliver the baby.
While I was waiting I was feeling so tired..no sleep the night before plus labor had me tuckered. With the epidural I was finally comfortable and I almost fell asleep! I couldn't believe that at the height of labor I was feeling good enough to take a nap!! The Doctor got there and he had me start pushing. I guess they thought it would take a while for me to deliver the baby but at one point while I was pushing they told me to stop. The Doctor and his helper had to get their gear on so they could deliver the baby. When they were ready I started pushing again and had the baby out in two contractions! I'm an excellent pusher I guess.
Phoebe was brought to my chest so we could have some skin to skin time. She scored a 9 on the APGAR and was doing really well. Her blood sugar was a little low but with nursing it came back up and it wasn't a problem. It's so amazing experiencing child birth!
Phoebe is now a week old and she is doing excellent! She is sleeping and nursing like a champ. Zoe is adjusting really well to having a new sister. The first couple of days she would act out a little and get upset quickly but she has been nothing but sweet towards her baby sister. She just wants to kiss and rub Phoebe. We are so pleased that she has joined our family and we can't wait to watch her grow up!
