She's Here!!

Olivia Hope Spaulding was born 9/21/10 at 10:41 am. She was 8 pounds, 4.6 ounces and 21 inches long.

David and I went to bed Monday night after we finished watching House. It was pointless for me because all I did was toss and turn until 1:45 am when I finally gave up and got up to go to the hospital. I slept for maybe 30 minutes. We left for the hospital around 2:10 am and got there at 2:40. We parked in the lot and were getting bags and pillows out of the car when I had a contraction. I didn't think anything of it; I had been having contractions for the last two weeks or better (all Braxton Hicks).

We went up to the LDR floor to check in for the induction. There was another woman there who was being registered, so the nurses at the desk asked us to have a seat in the waiting room and they would call us when they were ready. At 2:50, I got up to use the restroom. I went into the bathroom and felt another contraction. It felt like the first one, and a little different from the Braxton Hicks contractions I had been having up until then. These two were lower and started in the back, radiating around to the front and down my legs. I thought, "these are the real deal". I came back out into the waiting room and sat down next to David and said, "I think I'm having real contractions." Sure enough, I had another one while I was signing the paperwork for the induction. That one actually made me stop writing for a split second. I had another contraction while walking down the hall to the LDR unit.

The nurse brought us in and got me set up with a hospital gown, had me go to the bathroom (I wish I had known, I would've waited!!), and started my IV. I let her know I had had a couple of contractions that started just a few minutes ago, and they were about 8-10 minutes apart. She said okay, and then proceeded to explain the chain of events. I had to be on the fetal heart monitor for 30 minutes before they could start the Pitocin. During that time, my contractions started coming with increasing regularity and strength every 5 to 6 minutes. The nurse came back in at one point and told me that they weren't super excited about the baby's heart rate on the monitor (it was holding in the 120s to 140s, but not staying up in the 140s to 150s long enough for their liking), so they called the doctor who said to hold the Pitocin for 2 more hours. I remember looking at David after the nurse walked out and saying, "You watch, I won't even end up needing that Pitocin." I was right.

The contractions were steadily coming every five minutes; then they started coming faster. After one particularly strong one (whereupon I wound up banging my fist against the side rail of the bed), I called the nurse and asked if I could have something to take the edge off the pain. She left the room and called the doctor, and then came back and asked if I wanted my epidural -- I wanted to weep with relief. The anesthesiologist was in the room in a matter of minutes, and I didn't feel anything after the first pinch when he injected the numbing medication. I felt a small pop when he entered the epidural space in my back, but that was it. In no time, I felt a warming sensation spread down my legs, and the pain of the contractions subsided. My anesthesiologist was great; I felt no pain, but I still was aware that I was having contractions. After the epidural took effect, the nurse checked my progress: I went from 3cm at admission to 6-7 cm 3 hours later. Not bad for a first-time labor.

I drifted in and out of sleep for the next 2 hours or so, and then I started to feel some pressure. The next time the nurse came in to check on me, I mentioned the pressure to her, so she checked again. At this point she looks at me and says, "Are you sure this is your first baby?" What? Yeah -- I'm sure. I think I would've remembered if I had another kid or two at home. She tells me that I'm fully dilated at 10 cm, and she can feel the baby's head right against the cervix -- time to start pushing. One drawback though: my doctor was in the OR at the moment with another patient doing a C-section. I had to wait to start pushing until she was finished. An hour and a half later, she was still in the OR with this patient, so they called another one of the doctors in the practice who came in to deliver me.

I pushed for about an hour before Livvie was born. Once her head was out, it took just one more push for the rest of her to come out. When she was born, they put her up on my chest and the first thing I said was, "Oh my God she looks exactly like me!" And she does; she's my "Mini Me". The nurses took her over and weighed and cleaned her up, and David took pictures. I had to have an episiotomy, so the doctor had to make that repair. All in all, I was very pleased with the relative ease and quickness of this labor and delivery. I made the joke to David that for the next baby, we're going to have to camp out at the hospital starting at week 38. It occurred to me that if this labor had started at home and we waited for the contractions to come every 5 minutes for one hour before calling the doctor and going to the hospital like they want you to, we may not have made it.

T minus 12 hours until the show

I can't believe this is it -- my last post before our baby girl makes her debut! David and I are both anxious, nervous, excited, pretty much anything you can name. We have waited so long for her and it's finally time for her birth day. We will be going in to the hospital tonight at 3 a.m. for an induction, and with any luck, she'll be here about this time tomorrow (as predicted by the doctor). At my last prenatal visit on Friday, I was 3 cm dilated and 75% effaced, which the doc was very pleased with. She also predicted that Olivia would be about 7 lb 8 oz. We'll see if all of the doctor's predictions hold true!

Getting Antsy

We've decided to schedule an induction for September 21st, but honestly I hope Olivia decides to come on her own before that. It's only two weeks away on the calendar, but it's a million years away in my brain. Don't get me wrong: I loved being pregnant. I feel so blessed to have been able to go on this ride considering the medical professionals were telling us that it was highly unlikely that we could, especially without any intervention. However, I am uncomfortable, irritable, and really just anxious to meet our miracle baby. I know that when I look back, I will realize how quickly this has all gone by, but right now I'm just too ready to be done with the pregnancy thing and move on to the Mom thing to really care.

Saturday is the Buddy Walk to benefit the Down Syndrome Association of Greater Cincinnati. Olivia and I are going to walk with her buddy Gabe, and maybe, just maybe, that will get this party started :)

An interesting option to think about

I went to the doctor for my weekly check yesterday and got to meet the new Nurse Practitioner; I really like her a lot, and she brought up an interesting option. She asked me if any of the doctors had approached the idea of inducing labor at 39 weeks and whether I had any thoughts on the subject. No one had mentioned this before yesterday. She said that with Gestational Diabetes, they often consider induction a week before the actual due date to prevent the baby from growing too large. She then went on to say that my measurements were right on for the week that we're in and that nothing indicates at this point that Olivia is any bigger than average. She's engaged in the pelvis, and I remain at 1cm and 50% effacement from last week. I have been thinking about it, and I sort of like the idea of knowing when we'll go in to the hospital and being able to schedule induction at the end of a week so that David will be able to have a whole week at home with us (as opposed to having the baby on a Monday or Tuesday, not getting out of the hospital until later in the week, and then only having him home for a few days before he has to go back to work). I also like the idea of letting nature take its course and getting to experience "going into labor"--however, it wouldn't surprise me if this didn't happen anyway. David was 3 weeks late and I was 2 weeks late; I haven't been able to find any evidence that this could be a hereditary thing, but it just wouldn't shock me if she didn't come on time. We'll wait and see what happens I guess. We know we don't want her to come next week because we have concert tickets, and the following week David is taking his certification test for work. Maybe we'll shoot for the end of the 39th week...maybe we'll wait and see if she's late...I'll definitely be asking one of the doctors about it at my next appointment since this was the first time I ever met with the NP.

36 weeks down, 4 to go!

I can't believe how fast this pregnancy has gone -- it seems like yesterday when we found out we were expecting. The showers are finished and we went to the store the other night and bought a few things that were still left on the registry. The car seat bases have been installed, everything's been unboxed, untagged, washed, and put away. I guess we're ready for this baby, but I still feel like a fish out of water. I feel like I don't know what the heck I'm going to do with her when she actually gets here! I'm trying not to stress about it because I know it's counter-productive, but I feel like there's a huge final exam coming up and I have no idea what's on it.

I really need to learn to fly by the seat of my pants and just roll with the punches -- not an easy feat for me by any means, but I have no other choice!

And the hits just keep on coming

Well, I failed my 3-hour glucose test--just barely, according to the nurse. So now I get to go spend two hours next Tuesday "learning" how to test my blood sugar (which I already know how to do--and teach others how to do), and meeting with a dietitian. I'm not sure how credible the information on the Internet is regarding accepted values for the tests because they change all the time, but according to one source, I DID just barely fail. I had to pass each blood draw; I missed the first one by just a point or two, but I made the other two. So, I don't think I have been officially diagnosed with Gestational Diabetes, but I definitely have impaired glucose tolerance. It shouldn't really surprise me given that I had been diagnosed with PCOS before I was pregnant (and who knows how long that went undiagnosed); it's still really disappointing. I feel like I must not have been taking good enough care of myself, and that's why I have to do all of this now, but I know intellectually that that's not the case. I have been trying to watch what I eat and how much, and I haven't gained any more weight than I should have. I know everyone's just being cautious, and it's always better to err on the side of caution, but I feel as though I have this big "Fail" label stamped on my forehead.

Boo to Glucola

I can't believe it's already that time; this week marked 28 weeks which means two things: the beginning of the third (and last!) trimester, and the Glucose test. I have been feeling great throughout the entire pregnancy, but for some reason I have been dreading the GCT. So I went to the doctor yesterday and took the test. The drink wasn't great, but it wasn't as nasty as I was expecting. They drew blood after an hour and then sent me home. I got a call from the nurse this morning that I failed the test. The cutoff is 130, and I was something like 150 or 151. So now do I not only get to go back on Friday and sit in the office for 3 hours and get stuck 3 times, but I also get to freak out about it until then. The card told me I could have breakfast as normal yesterday morning, but to avoid fruits, juices, fast food, and cereal. I made 2 pieces of toast with a little margarine and I asked the nurse if that would boost my number 20 points, and she said it wasn't likely. I still wonder though; I ate those pieces of toast in the car on the way to the appointment. Well, my new card says I have to eat 3 extra servings of carbs (more than your normal) 3 days before the test (technically yesterday--and I think I may have had one or two extra since we had tacos for dinner and the tortillas were carbs I usually don't have at dinner), and then fast after midnight tomorrow night, so hopefully I pass this test. The nurse seemed to think I probably would pass it. I'm half-tempted to check my blood sugar at work a couple times today just for my own peace of mind, but I don't know if I will--I've never stuck my own finger before :).