She's Here!!!

Our beautiful daughter, Emily, finally arrived on August 21, 2008 at 7:07pm. She weighed 8lbs 5oz and was 20 1/4 inches long. I can't believe that she has already been with us for almost two weeks! Boy does time fly when you are having fun...or are sleep deprived!!

Since my last post was all about my fear of labor, I feel like I ought to follow up on that. In short, it hurt but wasn't unbearable. We arrived at the hospital at 6:00am and I was started on a Pitocin drip at 7:15. At 11:15 the contractions were getting pretty painful, so I requested my epidural. I had actually been pretty uncomfortable for awhile before that, but I was so terrified of the epidural that I put it off as long as I possibly could. But, the epidural turned out to be nothing at all. Not even as bad as getting a shot of Novacain at the dentist. So, like I have a tendency to do, I freaked myself out for nothing. Anyway - by 11:45 I was feeling pretty good. Dr. Johnson came in to break my water at around 12:30 and found some meconium in the water, which means Emily had had a bowel movement while still inside of me. She assured me it was somewhat common so I shouldn't worry, but that they would have a neo-natologonist in the room for the delivery just in case. After that, Kerry, Bonnie, Mom and myself all napped on and off until about 4:00 when the epidural started to wear off so the anethesiologist came back to give me another dose. All in all, I was given somewhere between 4-5 doses, but the last dose really didn't help the contraction pain. But by that time I was at 10cm so they had me to start pushing at 6:45pm. They said it was actually a good thing that I was feeling the contractions since it would help me push better and the best thing I could do was push through the pain. So, let me tell ya. I pushed for all I was worth, which I guess is why she was born after only 22 minutes of pushing. Although I could still feel the contractions, I know the epidural must still have been working somewhat because they did not need to give me any other anesthetic to stitch me up. They kept me in the L&D room for another hour, then took me up to my room where we stayed for 2 days and then came home at noon on the following Staurday.

So that is my Labor and Delivery experience. Looking back, I really, really, really wish I had not let the horror stories of all the drama mama's out there upset me. If a pregnant women were to ask my advice on L&D, this would be it.
1. Eat and drink if at all possible before going to the hospital because that will be the last scrap of food you will see for a looonnggg time.
2. Get the epidural. No one will be expecting you to be a martyr, so why be in pain if it is not necessary.
3. Make sure you get the epidural before the Dr. breaks your water.
4. Take plenty of reading material. If you do have a long labor and you get the epidural, you will be laying there for a long time with nothing to do. The contraction monitor is only fascinating for a little while.
5. Welcome the pain at the end. Without it, you could be pushing a lot longer than with it.
6. Pushing really does relieve the pain, so push for all you're worth!
7. Remember that you will feel pain, but it is not unbearable pain.
8. Selfishly savor the experience. During no other time will you be able to get away with saying whatever you want, doing whatever you want, and having people wait on you hand and foot.
9. Finally, remember that the reward at the end of it all is totally worth it. There is no other time in your life that you are so richly rewarded for being in pain. Save the terror for the unrewarded pain in life.