Sunday night we went in at 5:30pm to be induced due to Mama's gestational diabetes and hypertension (which can and was starting to lead to pre-e). Around 9pm the Cervidal was placed and Mama started to have some contractions. Around 2am Foley bulbs were placed in an attempt to further things to a 4cm- Mama was barely a 2cm when they were placed and it was very very painful. Mama started having very painful contractions and in an attempt to sleep a little took some IV pain meds. After several more hours of very painful contractions Mama was STILL not progressing at all. They called anesthesiology for Mama's epidural and began a little pitocin while we waited. When anesthesiology came they were VERY reluctant to give Mama an epidural because she wasn't very dilated still but after they all went outside to chat (where i'm sure drama ensued) Mama got her epidural.
Around 2pm, right after Mama's epidural, she was checked and was actually a little further than they initially thought and the doctor accidently (or perhaps not so accidently) broke her water. SEVERAL hours later around 6:30pm the doctor came in and said that if Mama wasn't at least a 5cm at 7:30 then she would need to consider her options (i.e. C-section). Mama then had a major freak out to say the least and Grammie and she prayed.
The doctor came in and checked her at 7:30pm and she was at 5cm!! The doctor asked if Mama had ever had anyone mention that her abs may be separated and Mama said that although she suspected they may be (she had noticed when she would sit up her very preggo belly would make an odd pointy shape) no one had ever actually spoken with her about it. Apparently this was the reason Mama had incredibly painful contractions all night and day with little progress- Rose's head was down and in the right place but the rest of her body was cockeyed as opposed to straight up and down being held by Mama's muscles and therefore wasn't placing adequate pressure on her cervix to dilate her.
Mama quickly managed (by the grace of God) to go from a 5 to a 9.5 and around 9:45pm was ready to start pushing! 20 minutes later our beautiful baby girl was born! Mama got to immediately hold her (my big, purple, vernix-y girlie!) and a few minutes later nurse her. Mama had less than a first degree tear so she got 4 small stitches and the doctor said the placenta was already showing signs of decay due to Mama's prenatal complications (so its a good thing she was induced...).
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I have to say that Rose's birth- although the labor itself was long- her actual delivery was amazing compared to big brother Sonshine's (and his really wasn't too bad either- i just tore a little worse and pushed about 25 minutes longer). She was born at 10:08 pm on Monday night and weighed 8lbs 2oz and 20.5in. So although she was bigger than Sonshine (he was 7lbs 3oz 20in) i swear she had/has a smaller head! They had to continue to monitor her sugars for 24hrs due to my gestational diabetes but I felt amazing considering the difficult labor. We came home Wednesday morning and things have been going fabulously- Rose sleeps a LOT and my milk is in (and O.M.G. my boobs are ginormous!). She's lost a little weight which is normal in newborns and i'm sure she'll be back up soon.
I'm also practicing Elimination Communication (EC) with her- people think i'm nuts and i'm okay with that! lol it's really not a huge deal in my mind- i see it as her simply doing what comes naturally and me taking notice of it. I noticed that she would go in her dipe shortly after waking to nurse and sometimes would refuse to nurse if she had to go so last night i took the insert from her bigger bjorn potty and sat it in my lap with her held on top and after a little fussing she POOPED! yayyyyy!! So we had our big first "catch"!
Sonshine is also doing fantastic with her and often asks to hold and hug her. He doesn't like letting her have anything on (i.e. mittens, socks, blankets, headbands, hats etc) but then again Sonshine HATES having clothes on himself!
Special thanks to the lovely mama's who lost sleep with me and stayed with me throughout my L&D. Your support meant the world to me! Also to the mama's who watched Sonshine for me and to my own mama who has been here for me in the absence of my hubby who, sadly, missed such a monumental moment by a few weeks.
<3
