the BIRTH story

I am going to try not include too many of the gory details- but since Daphne was just born a couple of days ago- her story is fresh in my mind and while it is, I want to record it so I can always remember how things went and how we felt... so here it is.

Thursday night my mom arrived from CO. She flew to SLC and took the shuttle up to Rexburg and came in at about 6:30. It was exciting to see her and it made it feel even more real- we're having our baby tomorrow! We got a call from the hospital asking us to come in Friday at 7:30 am, instead of 11 am- the other girl who was supposed to get induced had her baby early. Of course we agreeded. I wasn't terribly nervous- anxious for sure but mostly just excited. I didn't sleep well at all... I was just too antsy. My mom came to the hospital with us and we got all checked in. As soon as we got to our room they checked me and I was dialated to a 3. Then Dr. Lovell came in and according to Nic "got out a huge stick" and broke my water. I thought it would be painful, like it was when he tore my membrane but it wasn't. I was just sitting on the hospital bed with tons of absorbant sheets underneith me and I started laughing really hard and was like: "am i peeing my pants right now??" they assured me that I wasn't but that is what it felt like, it was crazy. They started me on pitocin right away and I was surpised how quickly I started contracting. It wasn't horribly painful but not too great either- I was so tired already and wished that I could just nap. They checked me at 11 and I was at a 4 and 100% effaced so they got the approval from the Dr. and they came to give me the epideral. It was the most fantastic thing ever. Apparently, husbands should not watch- Nic almost passed out. I was glad it went in my back so i never saw the needle. I had 3 contractions while I was bent over in bed getting the epideral- it was really hard because you can't move and if you do- danger, but it was OK. I could felt it working right away and it was AMAZING! I can't believe that women have babies without it- I have SO much respect for them. I could never do it. at least i don't think i could :)

So... epideral= fabulous. After that, all I could feel was pressure. I would look at the moniter which showed my contractions and they would be off the chart and I had no idea- which was just great. When I was a 7, Nic's family came up from Idaho falls. It was fun to have even more distraction in the delivery room while we waited/i dialated. Everyone was so excited. Finally, I got checked again and I was a 10! Our nurse, Kendra (who we completely loved and are really grateful for) had me push this button (that's what the picture is of) every time i felt pressure. She was just checking to make sure that the pressure i felt coincided with the contractions. She checked for about 10 contractions (so about 20 min) and as long as everything looked good- i could start to push. and it did! so, I started pushing. we never went to a birthing class so i was a little worried but it came quite naturally. During each contraction, I would have to take a deep breath and then hold my breath and push down for 10 seconds, and we repeated that 3-4 times each contraction. Nic was holding one foot, Kendra was holding the other and then I held up my thighs. My right leg was totally numb and would fall off the bed almost everytime it wasn't being held up- it was funny. Kendra was great at keeping me going. She called me kiddo and just kept telling me that i was doing great. She was with us the WHOLE day but her shift ended at 6:30. Her kids came and were waiting for her in the hallway so they could go to a movie together. I was so sad to see her go... So, the pushing continued and continued. it wasn't horrible, but very tiring. I was getting an awful headache from holding my breath so much but besides that, i wasn't in pain at all. Finally, after 2.5 hours (and just after Kendra left for the night) Daphne's head finally came down enough (and stayed down- which had been the problem- it would come down during the contraction but then kind of float back up a bit) that they called Dr. Lovell to come over. We had to wait a bit for him but once he got there- it happened so fast! I was just pushing my little heart out and finally Daphne's head came out- at that point Nic wanted to look and as he did, i took a breath in- getting ready to push again and all the sudden out came her shoulders and everything! Without a push even, it was pretty crazy. As soon as she came out, they threw her right up onto my stomach. She was a little purple and slimy but it was the most incredible feeling to hold her. Then, they swept her up and gave her oxygen for a few minutes and cleaned her up a bit. She weighed 7 pounds and was 19.5 inches long.

I tore pretty bad and had to have a lot of internal stiches so our moms who waited right outside the door were dying to come in but i kept telling them they had to wait (i wasn't exactly presentable) finally, everyone got to come and meet Daphne. looking back at the pictures now (she is 4 days old tonight) she looks pretty rough right after she came out (understandably... it was a long process) but still we all thought she was adorable! Even cuter now though :)

So, now its been 4 glorious days. I was working yesterday with Nic in the room and I thought to myself I haven't felt her move in a little while... and then i started laughing- of course i haven't felt her- she has been born for 3 days and she is sitting with her Nana in the family room. It's still weird though.
Daphne loves to sleep during the day and party all night long- a very endearing quality. Just ask us at 3am. When we left the hospital on Sunday morning, the Dr. checked her and said she was a little jaundice and wanted to see her the next day (monday) when we went in, she had lost a lot of weight and only weighed 5.10. Of course we really worried- especially because my milk hadn't come in (and still hasn't) we had started supplementing with a tiny bit of formula, but just to get her to latch on but obviously, the little bit of colustrum she was getting from nursing (and she nursed well) wasn't enough. The dr. said it was more than they normally loose but he wasn't too worried about but we should be feeding her more formula till my milk comes in. She started drinking formula last night and it was almost like she was drugged- i guess she hadn't been really FULL before and it made her SO sleepy. But, of course that didn't carry over into the night time. I bought a pump today and have been pumping the colustrum (and she has been drinking it) to try to get my milk to come in but no luck.. hopefully tonight or tomorrow... well, ASAP would be fabulous. She is so much fun. We love being parents. Everything is so new and exciting. I don't even mind getting up in the middle of the night thus far.. its just so awesome. we love her.