Saturday, May 28, 2011

She's Here and We're Home

Charlotte Marie
May 26, 2011
6:16 pm
8 lbs. 2 oz.
20.5 inches

Charlotte Marie came quickly on Thursday... as in so quick there was no time for my epidural. I started having some cramps that turned out to be contractions around 2:30 pm, but they were few and far between. It took a while before I could determine that they were indeed contractions. They started coming more consistently by 3:30 and I asked Chase to come home. After some more pain and frequency, I called my doctor's office at 4:15 and had Chase call our babysitter. Our friend Naomi arrived about 4:30 and we were out the door in about 15 minutes or so. Jonas was sad and grabbed his sandals wanting to go with us.

We arrived at the hospital just before 5:00. It turns out I was the sixth lady within an hour to show up for labor and delivery (three more would follow shortly). There were no delivery rooms open and ready, so I had to wait in the wheelchair at the nurse's station before they could figure out where to put me. A recovery room was free, so a nurse took me there to get me changed and check my stats. At 5:20 I was already dilated to 7 cm. They pulled a switcheroo and rushed me to a delivery room.

A nurse shoved an IV in my arm and the phlebotomist drew some blood. My doc came in and told me I could either wait an hour and a half for the IV fluids to get in me and my labs to be done and then I could have an epidural, or he could break my water and I'd be in a lot of pain for 5 minutes or so and it would all be over. I had a terrible contraction and told him I thought he needed to check me. He checked and my water had already broken (don't know when, but Charlotte's head must have plugged things up!) and it was go time. After 5 minutes of agony where I focusing on not passing out and I literally saw stars, Charlotte Marie was born.

Because we didn't know when my water broke and I was GBS positive and hadn't had time to get a full IV bag in, Charlotte needed some extra monitoring. She's more than fine, she's wonderful.

Charlotte has blonde hair and blue eyes. She's basically a girl Jonas- came out on a 3 hour or so eating schedule, is a competitive pooper and loves to smell things. We came home this morning and the boys quickly bombarded her with kisses and toys.

2 comments:

sarah said...

"literally saw stars" - i can only imagine! what an incredible story, so quick and so exciting!

Keli B. said...

glad you're home! also glad it was a quick delivery and that she decided to come on her own. when things settle down for you a bit and your families are gone, we'll plan a trip down to meet the newest abner.