I guess today's the day! *Updated with pix & birth story in #23* - Page 2

[OldFashionedGirl]

Congratulations, momma! I hope you don't mind me saying I'm a little jealous that yet another mom has gotten her baby before me

[tempestjewel]

Congratulations! Welcome Piper!

[swtpesq]

Here are some pix:

http://s93.photobucket.com/albums/l7...iper%20Amelie/

And Piper's birth story...

I woke up at 4:15am for yet another trip to the bathroom and woke my DH and said that I thought that my water may have broken. He said, sleepily, "You're probably just sweating a lot." (It was cold out and we had the heater blasting). By the time I walked from the bed to bathroom, it became exceedingly obvious that my water had actually broken...all over the bathroom floor. It stopped somewhat, and we both decided to try to go back to sleep until contractions started. We got back in bed, and I said to DH, "I bet that contractions will start within the next hour because I'm feeling some cramping." My first contraction started at that moment, at about 4:25am. I encouraged DH to get some sleep while I decided to putz around the house and "enjoy" early labor. From the get-go, my contractions were no more than 6 minutes apart. I paced the house, went online, sat on the birthing ball and by 6:30 the contractions were 3-4 minutes apart (with some erratic ones thrown in for good measure). I really wanted to go for a walk, so I woke DH up at 7 and said, "I think we better go for a walk now...". We made it to the end of our block and DH said, "I think we need to go to the hospital." My contractions were really painful. With each one, I was having to stop and sit on the ground. We realized that this whole thing was happening MUCH more quickly than we anticipated. We called the moms and doula and said "Meet us at the hospital." We started moving very quickly!

We got to the hospital and I could barely walk. By the time we got up to labor and delivery, I was in excruciating pain and could not walk, talk or think straight and I was nearly hyperventilating. I was dilated to 4cm. Forsaking everything I thought I wanted, I immediately requested an epidural. They had to hydrate me with an IV first, and while that was happening, I nearly lost my mind. The only things that got me through it were my DH and my MDC bead bracelet (thinking about all the mamas before and after me). I was very happy to get the epidural and have no regrets about that because I know that it was the best thing for me, my baby and DH under the circumstances. At that point, the contractions were coming on top of one another. It was almost exactly 6 hours after labor began.

I was in labor for another 6 hours. Everything went very well, except that at one point the nurse became concerned about decels in the baby's heart rate. They did an amniotic infusion and it worked to normalize the heart rate. I also received an oxygen mask. I dilated to 9cm by 3pm and, as the nurse predicted, I was pushing by 4pm. I pushed for an hour and 13 minutes with the support of my doula, DH and mom, as well as the L&D nurse. I could not have done it without any one of them! I felt pretty good, except that I was really hot and my mom fanned me the entire time (bless her!). My OB arrived and I pushed once and then my beautiful little girl, Piper Amelie, was born. She came out looking at my DH (who is my hero). He cut the cord and within 2 minutes (and after a small dose of oxygen), she was nursing. I had only a very small tear.

We are totally smitten, and she is definitely daddy's girl. Thank you to everyone here for your love and support!

[mzfern]

Happy babymoon, Christina Enjoy little Piper's first moments. Love, love her name. Thanks for sharing your birth story!

[sunshinesmommy]

congrats on baby Piper!
love and peace from another bead mamma