Introducing Baby #4: A Birth Story

I opened up blogger the other day and noticed that it's been almost one month since I posted anything.  That's the longest I've gone in a while, and I apologize for the absence.  The last few weeks of my pregnancy were pretty tiring.  However, our little girl has arrived!  She's two weeks old today!

Introducing....

Most people who read this blog are women, and most women like to hear the birth story, so let me indulge you.  If you don't care about the details, you can just scroll through the pictures.

This is my fourth baby, and apparently I still don't know what it's really like to be in labor.  We made two visits to the labor/delivery ward before I actually gave birth.  The first trip was June 23, after having contractions for two hours, every five minutes at home, we went in, only to have my contractions increase but no progress made toward labor.  Being sent home was pretty frustrating.  The doctors and nurses continued to be surprised when I would show up for my weekly appointments.  Another false alarm on July 7, my due date, only to have the same thing happen: contractions close together and worse in pain, with no changes.  We got sent home again.

Finally, at my appointment on July 10, I happened to be in tears from something else, when a sweet doctor {this was now the 4th doctor I had seen in 3 weeks} took pity on me and agreed that I could be induced.  I was at 4 cm, and things were ready to go; this little baby girl just needed some help. We received an induction appointment for the next morning and I was elated!  I had never been induced before, so it was strange driving to the hospital, not in labor, knowing that we would have a baby soon.  It was also comforting, though, to know that the other three kids were taken care of, I'd had a good night's rest, and my makeup and hair were fixed.

When we got to the hospital my room wasn't ready, so we grabbed a bite in the cafeteria and hung out in the waiting room for about an hour.  They finally escorted me to the labor/delivery room.  It was the same room where I had given birth to Mason just 15 months before.  This had been one of my fears, but it really wasn't emotional at all to be in there this time around.

By 8:15 I was hooked up to the monitors.  At 9:00 the Doctor came in, another new face.  I was then at 5 cm, so he broke my water and they said they'd start the pitocin right away.  I was still not having any contractions at this point, but I really didn't want to feel them, so I opted for the epidural.  It took effect fairly slowly, which was actually really nice for me.  By 11:30 I could tell I was in transition, as my legs were shaky and the contractions were coming pretty strong and close together.  The epidural worked, but I felt just enough pain that I was able to tell what was going on, which I liked.  Around noon, it was time to push.  Everyone started gathering around:  the new Doctor who broke my water, his Attending Physician, and a recent Medical School graduate, 2 weeks out of school, who had never delivered a baby.  {I love providing education for new Doctors; I really do actually, I just find it humorous that there were so many present}.

Our girl, Jennavieve Lorraine, was born at 12:22pm, pink, healthy, and very big.  We all sat waiting as they put her on the table to see how much she weighed.  Even the Doctor was surprised when 10lbs came up on the monitor!  The most amazing part of all is that this was my first delivery that didn't include any tearing or need for stitches, and she is our biggest baby!  The delivery was so smooth and I had no complications, also another first.  We were so thankful and I was very relieved to not be pregnant anymore.

We had a great day Thursday and Friday together, just loving on her and holding her.  She was such a content baby, hardly crying, waking every 3 hours to eat---it was pretty much perfect!

Saturday morning, we were getting ready to be discharged when the nurse discovered Jennavieve had a fever.  Fevers are never a good sign in a newborn, so she was taken to the NICU to determine what was going on.  After an x-ray, they discovered that she had pneumonia.  I was discharged, but our little girl had to stay at the hospital.

She's now been in the NICU for 12 days, and we received word on Monday that she'll be able to come home this Sunday.  She's doing great, healing well, and we can't wait to have her at home with us!  I'll write more about this experience sometime, but for now, I just wanted to leave you with the news of her arrival.