Two weeks already. Crazy. I guess I should post a little about the birth; I always love hearing the story.
I had been having painful Braxton hicks contractions for awhile and having had the 37 week appointment the Thursday before I knew that I wasn’t progressing in terms of labor so when I was having a lot of them on Saturday I just dismissed them as nothing. The contractions were only a 3 in pain terms, only lasted about 30 seconds, and were not very regular. So Saturday Joe and I got a lot of things done, we made and delivered chocolate chip cookies, we tried to visit his mom, we went for a long drive through the hills around town. By the time we got home it was time to make dinner for the girls, about 515pm. We made dinner, ate, showered, and got the girls ready for bed. At about 630pm Joe started keeping track of the spacing between my contractions. At about 7 he told me we were going to the hospital. I didn’t put up a fight; I really thought when the hospital sent us home for not being in labor would be a good enough told-you-so because “I was not in labor”. The hospital is only 2 miles away but Joe made the drive last longer because I wasn’t having any contractions right then. He made a deal with me; if I didn’t have any contractions by the time we got there we could turn around and go home. Yeah. Of course I didn’t have one until we were right in front of the hospital. So we went in and had to register in the ER and were taken up to the maternity ward where they proceeded to get everything set up and asked me a ton of questions before even checking me to see if I was in labor. The whole time I was thinking, why not check me first so you can just send me home. It was about 815 when the nurse finally checked me, 4 ½ cm and 60%. So I was wrong. The contractions were still not very strong; I know strong contractions thanks to Molly, and short. I turned down the early labor pain meds but soon things really started picking up and I was getting nervous that I wouldn’t be able to get the epidural in time because I could feel everything getting stronger. I had a lot of forms to sign and gladly signed for the epidural at 9. That’s when the contractions started going off the charts; literally, the peaks were off the fetal monitor graph paper. They checked me again, 6 cm, so they knew things were going to be quick. The anesthesiologist fortunately got in quickly and got the epidural in as quick as he could. I had to sit there through a few contractions, that was hard. They felt like my legs were being ripped from my hip joints. Once it was in, it took a few minutes to take effect and barely worked in time. This epidural was awesome, I could feel Julia moving down but it didn’t hurt. The nurse checked me again, 10 cm, woohoo. The bed was changed and the doctor came in. Not my doctor mind you, she hasn’t delivered any of my girls, but it was the doctor that delivered Cassidy, I really like that doctor. She said push, so I did, and in one push Julia’s head was out and then a pause to unwrap the cord from her neck, then one little push for her shoulders. That was a breeze. Because the epidural was placed so soon before the delivery, I didn’t need a catheter and the epidural was turned off soon, so the amount of drug taken was minimal. Both are key factors in recovery I have found. So Julia was born less then 4 hours from the time Joe started paying attention. I’m so glad I listened to him (well, humored him really) because had we taken any longer to get to the hospital I don’t think I would have had time to get the epidural. I could do it without if I HAD to but I don’t WANT to.
When she was first delivered Joe said it was a girl, I thought he was joking with me so I had to look for myself. He wasn’t kidding. The mental transition from ‘we’re having a boy” to “it’s a girl” was fortunately very quick. I was excited that there would be three little girls growing up together, and in high school together. She also had hair and was super cheesy. Julia had some trouble keeping her temperature up for the first 12 hours or so but otherwise she was/is perfect. So pretty, long fingers and toes, pretty color hair and blue eyes.
The stay at the hospital was a little boring because Joe was home with the other girls most of the time, of course. I did have some visitors which was so nice. We came home Monday and have been trying to adjust ever since. Julia is in the pack’n’play in the living room for the time being. The girls are back in their own rooms because Molly just wasn’t getting enough sleep being in the same room with Cassidy. When we move then they’ll have to share again and hopefully Molly will be able to get enough sleep then. But this works best for now. Too bad we made all the furniture changes and then didn’t really need them, oh well. I had to pack up all the boy stuff and go get all the girl clothes down, didn’t think I was going to need them anytime soon.
Julia sleeps great throughout the day and is starting to be awake a little more, usually at night though, Aghh. Oh well, that will change and it’ll be okay. The girls, well Cassidy loves her and always wants to hold her, Molly will notice her here and there but does her own thing most of the time. There aren’t a lot of jealousy issues, yet. I think the girls are lucky to have each other to make the transition easier.
Besides being sick, the recovery has been the best yet. Really the quickness of the delivery helped I think. Now that I am getting less sleep it is getting a little harder but at least I do not have to battle the physical recuperation as well.
Three little girls, how perfect is that??
Photos next time of the girls
