The Scoop

Well, I'm still in the hospital, but out of bed for the first time- woohoo! Recovery from a C-section is a terrible thing to go through when you desperately want to take care of your baby, or even just shift positions. I'm sure all you mommies that have had the section can relate. Anyway...I'll try to give you all the dirty details before Natalie needs to be fed again.

I actually woke up at 6 on the dot the morning I was supposed to be induced, with contraction like pain (I thought I had just eaten something bad the day before). I starting timing the pain, and it was about every 6 minutes for around 40 seconds...whoa! Could this be labor? Well, by the time we arrived to the hospital about 8 and the doctor checked me, he sadly told me there was still no progression. Apparently, Natalie was trying to push out, but was still stuck behind some bone. He went ahead with a small amount of Pitocin and from about the second the drop entered my blood stream, there an intense pain as I could have never imagined, with pretty much no let up- no time to take a breath and prepare for the next. I was going to try to do things the "natural" way, but found that I could not bear the pain I was experiencing. Unfortunately, the doctor had gone back to his office with promises to call every hour. We had a doctor check me and then call my doctor, because only he could approve an epidural. When the doctor here checked me, I was already at 8 cm (from 0)- after about an hour. My doctor flew back, took me to the birthing room, popped in the epidural, and I was at 10 before I had a chance to really know what was going on. Then it was time to push! OH, beautiful epidurals. I could have pushed all day and was determined I was going to make that baby come out the normal way. Unfortunately, as much as we pushed and pulled and prodded, her head was stuck against that bone and too high for forcepts to be safe. There were minor signs of distress, although her heart beat stayed strong, praise God. So, it was off for an emergency C-section and then the amazing sound of our baby crying herself into the world-10:45am. I saw her on the table as they cleaned her up, with nice purple feet paddles very much resembling her dad's. She was big and perfect- 7lbs. 11oz., 201/2in. Did that really come out of me? We don't think she looks like either of us, but every morning when they bring her back from the nursery, I pick up on another feature that could be one of ours. She has dark grey eyes and a light fluffing of blondish brown hair. She's awesome. She's been very alert during the day, wanting to nurse almost incesantly, and conks out all night. Scotty has been a rock-star diaper changer and my mom is doing great with trying to calm her when she's upset. She makes cute little squeek noises sometimes when she's startled in her sleep. We've had tons of visitors, bringing lots of yummy things I'm pretty sure my digestive track isn't ready for (lucky Scotty and Mom) and flowers. I'll post some pics and then I need to take a break. I'll be updated more frequently, hopefully, now that I'm feeling a bit better.