Welcome Baby G!!!! MY BIRTH STORY!

INTRODUCING....MY BABY GIRL G.G......

Well, here she is: little miss Diva G herself!!

She was born Monday, December 31 at 11:30 am. I think there have been at least 15 comments about how she came in PRIME TIME to be a TAX DEDUCTION for 2007! Hilarious!

Because I had a c-section, I am stuck in the hospital until Friday morning. Actually, I'm enjoying this opportunity to rest and have all the wonderful nurses help me b/c Lord knows what's waiting for me after Friday.

I didn't know this hospital had internet access in the downstairs cafeteria until tonight and thought I'd steal a brief moment to post some pics and my birth story while the little princess sleeps in the nursery, in between feedings.

THE BIRTH STORY

SUNDAY, DECEMBER 30, 9:30 pm:
I ate a serving (bad I know) of this wicked salmon and whipped sweet potato dish made for Sunday dinner. I polish off my last nesting and cleaning up of the basement, bag some old toys and prepare my last box of files to be put into files and stored.

MONDAY, DECEMBER 31, 2:30AM: Of course, I should have known better than to eat that darn meal so late because I woke up with some KILLER indigestion combined with intense cramping that I THOUGHT was related to my poor choice of eating hours. I breathed through these "pains" and pangs until I was able to go back to sleep. In the back of my head, I'm thinking, "hmm could these be labor contractions?" hmmmmm.....

5:50am: I feel some intense wetness underneath me as I sleep. I jump up and scream to my hubby sleeping in the other bed in the guest room where we had dozed off, "Hey, I THINK MY WATER MIGHT HAVE BROKE!" Then, I thought, it's not that much wetness, maybe I shouldn't have been so stubborn and held my pee in hours earlier cause I might have just peed down the fresh sheets I had just spread that night!! Hmprph!!

I rush to the bathroom, but this "pee" isn't yellow. It's white and it continues to trickle...nonstop. UH OH!

Woo Hoo!!! I was sooo excited to know I'd most likely be having the baby that day, A WHOLE 2 WEEKS BEFORE her scheduled C-section. I knew from all my research and past experience that once your membranes "rupture" and you lose amniotic fluid, you're on your way to give birth and sure as I was a c-section patient, I knew my docs wouldn't let me advance too far into labor and would do my surgery that day! WOO HOO!!!

6:15AM I called my mom who was scheduled to fly to Africa that day and asked her to wakr up my baby sister who was home from college and tell her to come to our house to watch my kids and my sister's daughter who was spending the night that night.

While we waited for my sister to arrive, I called the OB on-call hotline to page a doctor to give me the okay to go to the hospital. Meanwhile, I posted the news on all my electronic bulletin board communities and got my bags packed and took a shower.

6:15-7:45 My sweet hard working darling hubby sprung into action, changing the guest bed sheets where my accident had just happened, baking Belgian toast for the older kids and whipping up some oatmeal for the toddler to eat for breakfast. He polished off the dishes and looked for some toys he knew the kids would be looking for when they woke up. Me, in my frantic psychotic nesting, had "put away" all the toys earlier in the night. :S

Finally, after a slight delay (the doo doo head OB from the other practice refused to call us back and give us the thumbs up to come in b/c he was waiting for his shift to be over) we got the call from the OB originally scheduled to deliver me anyway. I kept on tricking and going through pads, but we finally made it out the house around 8:00am.

Thank God it was a holiday for most folks b/c there was no traffic. Unfortunately, the hubby opted to take the road way rather than the highway to the hospital b/c it made those contractions that much more painful.

Yup. Contractions! It turned out those indigestion pangs earlier were really intense contractions! Go Figure! On the way to the hospital I got one at 8:13, 8:30, 8:33, 8:38, 8:45 THEY WERE COMING PRETTY REGULARLY. Oh SHITE! By the time I checked in and got set up in the tiny pre-operative triage like room, I was 50% effaced (the shortening of the cervix), 3 cm dialated (the opening of the cervix) and -3 stations (how far up the baby was resting) Her head was face down and she was poised to come out! YIKES!!!

I was AMAZED at how cool I was handling all the contractions. I vividly recall with that first boy, my labor stopped a 2 cm and 20% effaced and that was the reason we had the c-section in the first place, cause the poor boy's heart couldn't take much more of my 24+ hours of labor! *sigh*

Here I was 2 kids later and on good pace and track to deliver vaginally, but had the stars and charts already aligned to have a 3rd repeat section.... Interesting...

9:00 They say, b/c I am in active labor, I will "bump" the scheduled 9:30 section, but they would have to wait for my blood work to come in. Whoa! IT WAS OFFICIAL!!! I was going to have the baby that morning! I AM GETTING PRETTY EXCITED AT THIS POINT.

10:00am We learn it's not too late to do the cord blood registry bank and thinking this is probably our last kid, it may be a good investment in our future health to scrimp and opt to bank the baby's cord blood. The hubby fills out the paper work while the nurses continue to do my triage and prep me (and shave me, yuck) for the operation.

10:55 It was my turn! They wheeled me down to the Operating Room 1. FLASHBACK:
Imagine, the last two times I was in that very same operating room, it was a rush and world win. I was hoisted on a stretcher, wheeled quickly about. I was drugged in and came in and out. I would come to and see faces looking down at me and bright lights. Hooked up to machines, my arms stretched and strapped to a table, a blue sheet blocking my view. I recall not being able to breathe AT all WHILE having my second and thinking I was LITERALLY going to DIE.

But alas, 2 1/2 years later, I calmly and cooly walked in to the OR on my own tow feet AND hoisted my own self onto the operating table to receive my epidural/spinal tap. I hunched over hugging a pillow while the Anesthesiologist prodded and pricked looking for the right vein to insert the needle. He and some of the other docs and nurses praised my poise and calmness and they commented on how efficient, easy-paced and collected my entire procedure was going alas they were used to frantic first timers who were usually full of questions, angst, anxiety, fear, uncertainty, and QUESTIONS. My body even was prepared as it had left a tiny keloid scar from the last section which made it quite easy for Dr. O, the anesthesiologist (A RATHER COOL DUDE I may add) to insert the needle for the tap inside this time. Everything about the operation was explained to me in a calm and cool manner which was another BIG DIFFERENCE from my prior two experiences.

But then also, because this was my third time, my c-section incision scar had developed scar tissue which took twice as long to cut through...yikes. Also, when it was time for my little girl to be pulled out, she gave the docs a hard time and they had to use a small suction tool on the top of her head to bring her out a bit. So sad.

11:30 am Alas, she was birthed and scored 8 and 9, very high Apgar scores. She had a lusty cry, was pink and had a head full of gorgeous curly hair. Her eyes were squinted and almond shaped as with all my kids and all the children in my family (including my siblings) she looked quite like a little Asian baby.

She was a bit cranky while they patched me back up and put my organs back into place, which also took a whole 45 minutes longer than last time I believe. Her daddy held her to my face and I'd kiss her and talk to her and calm her down. She really wasn' t cool about being sucked out like that and I was told the ring on her head from the device probably left her head a little sore. Poor baby.

Anyway, after everything was done, they placed her in my arms and they wheeled me back to the same triage room we started in for some post op questions and procedures. They cleaned her up right in the room so she never left my sight. She sat under the warming light to regulate her temperature. My colostrum (early milk) had come in so she nursed right away. She latched on like a champ and we were good.

No one COULD REMOVE the permanent smile I had on my face b/c of this darling precious little girl that had came into our lives.

Best part of the experience: My doctors and nurses were wonderful. They explained everything and appreciated that as a third time mom, I was less frantic, anxious and could connect with the process pretty easy to make their job not so difficult. Yay to veteran moms.

Worst part of the experience: having to be pricked and prodded a few too many extra times because I was worked on by a trainee nurse who hadn't quite gotten the hang of inserting an IV line into a hand yet. OUCH!! Then post operative the first day, my doctor's had me on the highest dosage of this anesthesia called Fenalpyn which made me itch like crazy and made my left leg numb the whole night. I could not sleep and

Oh and I lost 1,000 cubic centimeters of blood during the whole process. Aye Aye Aye.

The boys came to visit that night, along with some other guests. C-boy kisses her all the time and is in total love with her and meanwhile, Jboy is still getting used to the idea of being replaced. He barely acknowledges her when they come to visit. I'm interested in seeing how the dynamics works when we get home.

She is cool and calm. Doesn't fuss much and is so far a SWEET HEART. She takes in all the noie and sleeps a whole lot. (probably b/c she is getting a littl e bit of my pain meds through the milk), but otherwise so far, she is a GEM OF A BABY!