JoeyandKari: April 2015

We are PARENTS

That means its time to blog so I can be that mom that posts a gillion pictures & stories of our little girl.

With that said, heres the Pregnancy & Birth Story of our first child.

Pregnancy: Lets just say, I'd rather do Labor/Delivery/Post Partum 100X's instead of be pregnant for the next one. I don't know how many times I threw up but if you do the math, 30 days x 9 months x 1-4 per day = A number I don't want to think about. Not to mention the constant nausea/headaches that wouldn't leave me alone. Thankfully, I had my friend, Zofran... although I still threw up daily. It was just enough that I was able to drag myself to work through the whole pregnancy. As it was, I lost 15 lbs and didn't gain it back until I was 7 months pregnant. I then gained 20 lbs by the time I delivered. I didn't have food cravings, only food aversions. The terrible SI joint pain I had between 6-8 months was also miserable. Originally caused by an existing injury that pregnancy & work intensified. Then, theres the complaints that everyone has...hard to sleep, going to the bathroom in the middle of the night, heartburn, etc. Those things weren't that bad, but still belong on the CONS list.

Okay, now for the pregnancy Pros:
1. My dandruff was totally healed.
2. No acne, ever.
3. Feeling a baby moving around, knowing your body really is creating a miracle that will soon be yours forever.

Thankfully for PRO number 3, all Cons are outweighed & Im sure ill be signing up for the torture all over again :)

Due Date: 3/30/15. My body didn't want to give birth on that date, or any date for that matter. I tried it all... except Castor Oil, I was NOT willing to give myself diarrhea on purpose. My mom and I went to several water aerobics classes in hope of bouncing her head against my cervix to bring it from a zero to anything else. My body just didn't want to give birth.

Towards the end of my 40th week I started developing terrible headaches, high blood pressure, dizziness, more nausea/vomiting. I had called the on call dr. since mine was out of town & she told me to just keep monitoring my BP. Since that started to go back down, I decided to wait until my inducement date. The next morning April 6th, my headaches and overall crappiness persisted. I wasn't scheduled to go in until that night for induction, but felt I needed to go to the hospital anyways. I went in, they checked my BP which was normal, my labs normal, cervix closed and my Dr (out of town till that night) Sent me home! She was worried if they started me then, she wouldn't be there to deliver. I was so mad because I did NOT feel well. So seriously, 7 hours later we went back to the hospital for my scheduled time for good.

Induction 4/6/15: We arrived at 8:30pm. They started a liter of IV fluid & my headache of 3 days vanished! That was all I needed, I was just dehydrated, even though I was drinking water like a camel. They started the Citotex at 9pm, which is a cervical ripening pill you stick in your mouth and let dissolve. I was supposed to take a series of 3, every 3 hours. Immediately, my contractions started. They were very tolerable, I wasn't needing the epidural yet. The nurse came in about an hour later & was monitoring baby. During my contractions, her heart rate would drop significantly. She had me turn to my other side to see if her umbilical cord was being pinched during contractions. Her heart rate continued to drop low, so she decided to stop the doses of Citotex & start the Pitocin at 1am. That meant a safer route for baby, but longer labor for me. Joey & my mom were sleeping as I was trying to endure the contractions myself. They started getting really intense & I had to go to the bathroom for some good ol' vomiting & diarrhea. I love Joey. What husband holds the trash can for you to throw up in while you are sitting on the toilet! 3am & right then I knew it was time for that epidural! The anesthesiologist was awesome. Come 3:30 I was sleeping like a baby. I was woken up every so often for vitals, but I was able to sleep for about 4.5 hours. At 6:00 during nurse change I was a 2 & my water broke in her hand. Except it wasn't water. Thick, meconium. Poor baby girl has been swimming & re-swallowing her own poop for who knows how long! They told me they would have extra staff ready during delivery to make sure she was okay. When my Dr came in to check me at 8:00, after 11 hours of labor, I was only a 3! She was going to come back at noon to check me again. During the morning hours, I ate some popsicles.. and threw them up, visited with joey, mom, & joeys mom, got 2 epidural boosts *lovely* & at 12:30 my Dr came back to tell me I was a 10 & ready to push! Wahoo!

Delivery 4/7/15: I started pushing about 1:00 when everything was set up. Joey held my right leg & my mom held my left leg. The nurse aided in stretching and coaching me threw the pushes. During the peak of every contraction I had to push 3 times for 8 seconds each. The mirror was awesome. It really got my adrenaline pumping to see the progress during each push. At 1:30 they haulted my pushing and called for the Dr, respiratory, & Nicu NP. When everyone was ready I did one last push and out she came! Cora Sue Wood @1:46 pm 6lb 12 oz 21" long. She was covered in meconium, not crying, Joey couldn't even cut the cord, & rushed over to respiratory. They sucked out 12 ml of meconium that she had aspirated. She got an 8 APGAR score. Meanwhile, I was getting sewn up, and taken care of. I was calm, I knew she was going to be okay and she was in good hands. And finally, 45 minutes later, she was brought over to me. Healthy, adorable, perfect. That moment I held her, it was all real. The world kept spinning unnoticed for everyone else, but for me it would never spin the same.

Post Partum: Sore, galore. But, A lot better than I was expecting. Joey was so nice to stay in the hospital with me both nights. I was pretty dead weight at first. I needed him there to lift me out of bed and take me to the bathroom. We sent miss Cora to the nursery both nights so we could rest. The first night I asked the nurse how she did & she said that Cora did great but thought she was going to eat her binky!