Now that she's 12 weeks old, I should probably write down her birth story.
Some quick background - Due to my c-section with Adrian, our doctor said I was a great candidate for a VBAC.... so long as everything went perfectly! Also, he didn't want me to go much past my due date and would not induce me. So if "Dos" wasn't born by my 40 week appointment (the Monday following my due date), we would schedule another c-section.
I was due on January 30, 2016. At our 39 week appointment on Janaury 25th there was no signs of labor beginning. Really no contactions were happening and my cervix wasn't opened at all! At that appointment we decided to schedule a c-section and our doctor told us he would look at the hospital's schedule and give us a call.
Well after the appointment, Richard and I discussed it some more and decided to give Dos one more weekend before we scheduled anything. Our doctor (who is extremely supportive) thought that was a great idea! I finished up the week and work and my supervisor and VP told me not to come back on Monday ("enjoy the time until baby comes"). I left work with a clean desk expecting to have a c-section the next week because still nothing was happening.
Richard and I had our normal Friday night date night scheduled and decided to go to a movie since it would be the last one for a while. We left Adrian with Noni and off we went with the usual, "love you Adrian, see you in the morning." We went to Tokyo Joe's for dinner and then headed to Cinnebar to watch "The 5th Wave." As we sat down in the theater, I noticed some mild cramping but this was nothing unusual, so I didn't say anything to Richard. The previews started and the cramping continued (again nothing too bad). As the previews were ending though, I had a coughing fit and my water broke (755pm)! I leaned over to Rich:
S - I think my water just broke.
R - Are you sure?
S - Yep, pretty sure. Or I just peed myself A LOT!
R - Why don't you go to the bathroom and check?
S - Ok
And we packed up. Walking out of the theater, contractions started intensely and I had to stop half-way to the bathroom and hold onto the wall. (Rich had gone to tell the theather people what had happened, and wasn't with me). I verified that my water did indeed break... I mean my pants were SOAKED all the way to my knees.... and it was time to go to the hospital. Rich came back and found me leaning against the wall again (contraction) and off we went. Thankfully we had to forsight to ask for a trash bag for his seat - it would have been ruined had we not.
On the way to the hospital, Rich called the doctor and asked me to tell him when a contraction started.... they were 3 minutes part. Neither one of us could believe it! We got to the hospital's ER enterance, walked in, and the ladies at the front desk took one look and me and said "Yep, she's definitely in labor." At which point I burst into tears. They brought a wheelchair and up we went to labor and delivery. All the rooms were full or being cleaned when we arrived, so they took us to the same recovery room that we had been in after Adrian was born and got me hooked up. Already 3 cm dialated at 830pm! Richard called my mom and told her what was happening and asked if she could spend the night with A and then called my sister to bring us the hospital bag (that was at home rather than in the car). About an hour later we were transferred to our room. Upon arriving there, the contractions were about 2 minutes apart and quite intense. I told Rich that I couldn't keep up with this pace and needed the epidural! About that time, I also threw-up all my dinner while having contractions.... but after that, the contractions slowed back done to every 3-4 minutes. I got the epidual and was much happier! Grace and Kyle came by with the bag and chatted for a while. We all laughed that of course I would go into labor during date night. At 1030p, G&K left and the nurse checked me again and I was at 7cm! They told me to get some sleep and they would check back. I really didn't sleep much due to acid reflux and maybe got an hour. At 2am, I was fully dialated! We decided to let me "labor down" for an hour before pushing. Only problem was, the machine to track contractions wasn't registering any and I couldn't feel any! So we turned down the epidural and Dr Yeash had to help me manually feel the contractions. We tried everything, but nothing worked to get the machine to pick them up, so it was time to push (315am) and I had to do it all by feel - no one could help by telling me when was one was coming. After 40 minutes of pushing, our
daughter was born at 355am! We had requested that Richard be the one to tell me if it was a boy or girl, so baby comes out and Dr Yeash looks at Richard and says - "So?..." and Richard, in his 4am daze, looks and said "It's a Girl?" Definitely said it as a question - haha! We were both thrilled!! She was immediately put on my chest where she was free to nurse as she wanted. She barely cried and immediately relaxed into me. The nurses were a little concerned about not crying, but eventually she did and the nurses were fine. They were able to do much of the testing and cleaning with her on me... she did poop on me (little stinker!)
Daddy holding his baby girl for the first time!
The next morning - suggling with the baby
After her birth, I learned that I had significant tearing and had a spider vein burst while I was pushing. Dy Yeash had to spend 2 hours sewing me up and could not get one tear to stop bleeding, so had to call in a vascular surgeon. Eventually, they got me all sewed up, but had to "pack the area" with gauze and leave it there for 6 hours to help with the bleeding. While they were sewing me up, Rich called/texted the family.
Meeting Noni
After 2 hours, they took Baby Girl to be weighed and measured - 8lbs 8oz and 21.5 inches long! Perfect! Richard got to hold her for a bit then we all crashed at 615am. I slept until 730 am and baby girl was ready to eat again.
Like with Adrian, we didn't finalize her name for 24 hours... but we were pretty sure it would be Isabelle. Her middle name took forever to decide on and we ulimately let Adrian decide (between Lindsey, Sophia, or Paige - otherwise he would have chosen something like Carter or Spiderman).
Ready to go home
Isabelle and I stayed one night at the hospital and we decided to go home on Sunday before a big snowstorm hit. Saturday night I send Richard home so he could be with Adrian!
Baby Girl at home
At 11 months, Isabelle
- loves to stand and reach up for items, then throw the item behind her to grab the next
