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baby Elise is here!

734 views 12 replies 11 participants last post by  kittentips 
#1 ·
our baby is here
we named her elise norma and here's the quick and dirty birth story: on my due date, i was laying in bed and my water broke. i noticed it was stained with meconium so we called the dr. and got moving to the hospital. i still wasn't having any contractions and was only dilated to 1cm when we checked in at the hospital. my dr. was worried that the meconium could be a sign of the baby being in distress so they started me on pitocin to get my labor started (the first of almost all of my birth preferences to go out the window!) i got all the stuff that goes along with induction (internal monitor, iv, continuous fetal monitoring) and we started working our way through contractions. i was having back labor because baby was posterior, the contractions were strong and regular and i was happy with how i was managing them (not so bad!) my water had broken at 7 am, i was hooked up to pitocin at 9am and by 3pm i was dilated to 3cm. not so bad, we were thinking things were moving along ok. unfortunately, i then labored until 4am and didn't budge past 4cm. the dr. on call was starting to talk c section if things didn't pick up quickly. we were approaching the 24 hour mark and didn't have any hope that my cervix would magically open up. and even though i was still feeling strong, i didn't want to gamble with spending 10 more hours stalled at 4cm and ending up with a c section. so we decided to go with the epidural in hopes that it would help my cervix to relax and open up. well, it worked because in the next hour i dilated to 5cm and two and a half hours later the nurse checked me and exclaimed "you're at 10! you could start pushing if you want!" we decided to spend some time in a couple of positions that would hopefully turn the baby anterior to make pushing easier. it worked and at 10am my dr. arrived and i started to push. we could see the baby's head almost immediately, i was able to watch in the mirror on the ceiling, and at 10:36am elise joined us.
as i mentioned, almost all of my birth preferences went out the window (induction, iv, constant monitoring, internal montior, epidural) but i feel so good about the whole experience. dh and i were a great team, we dealt with circumstances that were out of our control well and we ended up with a beautiful, perfect daughter in the end. two small things to be thankful for: our dr. wasn't on call but was in the hospital and made a special detour to deliver for us and i didn't tear or need an episiotomy. i am feeling good, birth wasn't nearly as traumatic as i expected it to be.
as i'm sure you all know, being a mom is more than i could have ever hoped for and i am so in love with her, it's just overwhelming. breastfeeding has been demanding and a bit of a challenge but we are really making great progress. we're both learning and feedings are getting easier and easier. elise was a bit jaundiced when we left the hospital and unfortunately the next day the level jumped higher and so the pediatrician prescribed home light therapy. wed - fri elise wore a panel of LED lights under her onesie and today her levels looked good so we were able to discontinue the light therapy. yay!
a couple of pics:
http://s553.photobucket.com/albums/j...ronus27/elise/
 
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#7 ·
Congratulations on a healthy birth and for being so flexible. There are always times when flexibility is more important than birth plans. Great job! And happy baby moon!
 
#8 ·
thanks guys!! we are totally enjoying our babymoon. my parents were here for a week helping us out and they left yesterday. dh and i have things under control and we're just enjoying every minute.

love hearing everyone else's stories!
 
#9 ·
sorry i have to DDCcrash! she is one of the most bee-u-tee-ful newborns i have ever seen!

CONGRATS mama and WELCOME Elise Norma
 
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