Elle Jolie: September 2009

She's here, happy and healthy!

September 12, 2009 at 8:55pm

7 lbs 11 oz, 20.5 in

On Saturday afternoon around 2:15 my water broke after a day full of cleaning and laundry. I was supposed to be to work at 2:30, but Elle was ready to meet the world! This time the water just started trickling out, rather than a big gush, and then continued to leak each time she would move upwards or if I moved in a certain way. Ross took Aila and Coral to his parents and I jumped in the shower. We packed our bags and got ready, stopped for some Wendy's, then arrived at the hospital around 3:30. They verified that my water had indeed broken and that I was about 3.5 cm dilated. I started feeling contractions around the time we arrived at the hospital. They did continue to get more regular and stronger, but they weren't too bad. We moved to our labor and delivery room and got settled in. We walked around the hospital for about an hour to try and get things moving along. I had a few good contractions while walking around, and I felt pretty ready for an epidural by the end of the walk! However, once we got back and I settled down on the bed they decreased in strength. It was getting towards 7pm and my contractions weren't progressing, so the doctor recommended starting pitocin. I was eager to get started, as I was really wanting to have her before midnight, and the way things were going, it didn't seem likely! So the nurse put in an IV and started the pitocin at 0.5 strength. The attending physician came in and introduced herself and told the nurse to crank the pitocin to 1 to get things going. The contractions started to get really intense and I was quite ready to get the epidural. The anesthesiologist came pretty quickly and put it in. He jokingly said, "Usually patients have their babies within an hour after I put in the epidural." We all laughed and thought that was pretty funny. The time my epidural was put in was 7:55pm. After about 15 minutes I started feeling a lot of relief, but it was short-lived. The epidural was only affecting my right half, so I still had full feeling on my left. They were able to fix it, thank goodness, because all of a sudden I was feeling a ton of pressure and the nurse decided she would check me. Surprise, I was at 9cm! At this time it was 8:40pm. They were shocked, and had to scramble a bit to get ready. Two residents came in and they got everything set-up and as they were working I started feeling the urge to push, it all went so quickly! They checked me and I was fully dilated, and Elle was at station +2, all ready to go! With about 3 pushes she was right there, one more push and she would have been out but I had to stop and wait for the attending physician. It seemed like forever, but she actually came really fast. I pushed once more and her head was out and continued pushing to get her shoulders out, and then she was here-at 8:55pm, exactly one hour after my epidural! She was covered in vernix still, so she was all white, which was really surprising. Ross cut her cord and they laid her on my chest. She didn't open her eyes for a while, she laid on my chest and whimpered a little bit, then seemed like she went right to sleep! We rubbed her back to get her to keep crying, she had the sweetest little cry. It was so amazing meeting her finally, she was absolutely adorable. From her light strawberry blonde hair to her long fingers and sweet little toes, she's amazing! She looks so much like me as a baby, it is crazy. She definitely has my nose. While she laid on me they delivered the afterbirth and it only took like 5 minutes, I was amazed. Everything just happened so fast, it was almost unbelievable. After laying on me for 20 minutes or so I noticed she was showing signs of wanting to nurse, so I tried it and she latched right on! She nursed on both sides like a champ! It was such a beautiful experience all-around, everything was perfect. After a while the nurse took her off of me and got her weighed and measured. She had to warm her up a bit, and then gave her her first bath right there in the room. She didn't like that too much! Ross finally got to hold her after that, he was so happy. I got her back and just enjoyed holding her until we moved to our final room. I nursed her a couple more times and she slept like a champ. We ended up keeping her in the room with us the entire time we were there. Grandma and Grandpa Meyer were the first to meet her on Sunday morning and brought Big Sister Aila to meet her baby sister. Aila was so excited and kept calling her "Sissy" and wanted to hug and kiss her and point out her nose, eyes and ears. It was so sweet to hold them both in my arms and have Aila be so excited. I had been imagining that moment for a long time, wondering how exactly Aila would react. Later on that day Missy and Erica stopped by, along with her Great Aunt Marcia and Great Uncle Rich. Papa and Nana McKay came with Uncle Keaton, her Great Aunt Carolyn and cousins Megan and Madison. Everything was just great, it couldn't have gone any better. We cuddled, we slept, we nursed, enjoyed our time. We were discharged on Monday around noon and were definitely anxious to get home. So anxious in fact, rather than waiting around for a wheel chair, after a while we just up and left and I walked out! Getting home felt great, Elle and I went straight to napping while Ross went to a doctor's appointment. When he got back we went to pick up Aila but she had come down with a cold so she couldn't come home. It ended up that she had developed an ear infection along with a cold, so she wasn't doing very well at all. She didn't end up coming home until Wednesday night. I missed Aila and felt terrible that I couldn't be there when she wasn't feeling well and wanted me so badly. It was a huge wakeup call to what it was going to be like having two kids, only being one person I will have decisions to make and I'll just have to do my best. It was nice to sleep and get some alone time with Elle, but I absolutely adore my two girls and having them together.

I'm officially full term now, crazy! It's 2 days and 2 weeks until the due date! I can't believe it has been almost 2 months since I've blogged, it has all flown by so quickly. My last doctor's appointment was on the 1st of this month and she checked me and said I was 2-3 cm and 60% effaced. I have been having really strong Braxton Hicks contraction in increasing amounts, especially when I'm at work. Work is killer, but I am so close to being done! My last scheduled day is a week from this Thursday, the 17th. I had today off, I work tomorrow and Thursday then have Friday off and finish out working 6 days in a row. But them I'm DONE! And of course it could be sooner, one never knows when Elle is going to make her debut! I have reached that point in the pregnancy where I am ready to be done. I really can't complain, my back is holding up ok, and my baby sling has really been helping at work. I get a decent amount of sleep, I wake up 2-3 times a night to pee, but am able to get right back to sleep. I've gained a total of 15 pounds so far this pregnancy, which isn't saying much because I still had weight to lose from my previous pregnancy, but I'm happy. I am way more comfortable this time around not lugging around so much extra weight, I'm like 30 pounds lighter than last time which is crazy. The worst part of it all is peoples' comments every day at work. People are so annoying, it's driving my nuts. People are already saying, "You haven't had that baby yet?!" (And I haven't even reached my due date yet.) And then there's the "Oh you've dropped even more today" or "You're really big." I just want to say, SHUT UP! I'm big, for sure, because I'm NINE MONTHS PREGNANT! But I'm really not big for how far along I am. Granted, Aila gained a ton in just the last 2.5 weeks or so, ending up being 9 lbs 1 oz, but I'm predicting Elle is going to be in the 8 lb range.

Ross was in Arizona for almost 3 weeks and while he was gone I got a ton done on the house. Mike and Cheri helped me so much, it was amazing. When Ross got back we picked up the furniture and put it together and in just the past couple of days we put finishing touches on the room. It is absolutely beautiful and I love it! I have all of her clothes washed and sorted, organized and put away. I just need to bring my little girl home!