1 week old

She was really one week old yesterday when this picture was taken, but I'm just now posting about it.

 

 

I don't know if it feels like it has been more than a week or less than a week.  Kind of both actually.  I only look about 12 weeks pregnant now (picture makes me look bigger) and Josh said I looked about 6 months pregnant after she was born.  Crazy how fast my tummy can go down, but thank goodness.  I think we are starting to get into the rhythm of things.  For the first few days she would sleep all day and be up all night.  Now she wakes up about twice a night.  If we are lucky, she will go right back to sleep.  The problem is she is being held alllll day long.  Between Mommy, Daddy, Grandma, Grandpa and Auntie Faith, she doesn't get set down.  I have to tell people to put her down when she is sleeping, but of course that is when everyone wants to hold her.  So she has trouble sleeping on her own at night and sleeps on my chest a lot.

 

So, her birth story...

 

I woke up Thursday the 18th around 330 am knowingly having contractions.  The whole pregnancy I was wondering if I was having Braxton Hicks contractions or she was just moving.  I had about 3 contractions before it really woke me up and I realized what was going on.  So I went to the living room to start to time them.  I remember the hospital said the contractions needed to be 5 minutes apart for 1 minute long for at least an hour.  Well, when I started timing them, they were 3-5 minutes apart and about a minute long.  At 4 am I went in the bedroom and said, "Josh, will you sit with me in the living room for a while?"  He said, "Yeah.....why?"  Haha, then I told him I was having contractions.  I stopped keeping track after an hour because I knew I was definitely in labor and could go to the hospital at anytime.  My midwife told me since I didn't want an epidural to stay at home as long as possible.  But at 5am, I told Josh I wanted to go to the hospital and we started packing up the truck.  It was about a 15 minute drive there and since it was so early, there was no traffic.  We arrive at the hospital about 6 am.  I told Josh to leave the bags in the truck until we were sure I was going to be admitted and checking into a room. 

We go up to labor and delivery and enter the exam room where they took my blood and hooked up monitors to check her heartrate and my contractions.  The nurse said I was 6 centimeters dialated.  That surprised me.  They said I wasn't leaving the hospital without a baby.  Shortly after that, my water broke.  It wasn't what I expected because it's like my water broke multiple times.  I'm told it is kind of like bubbles popping or air pockets so that's why it "broke" a few times.  They decided to move me to the delivery room at this time and they nurse was so confused how to since my water was breaking.  But we got there and my midwife, Gail, arrived shortly after.  She started the Jacuzzi for me so I could get in and relax a little.  (They don't do water births though.)  

She checked me again since my water had broken and I was 8 centimeters now.  It was probably just before 7 am.  The contractions started to become really painful.  A little while later I was at 10 centimeters and my Jacuzzi was still filling up.  Gail suggested that I not get in because it might be hard to get me out. 

At 10 centimeters, I was in a lot of pain and told Josh I wanted the epidural but Gail suggested I start pushing and might not have time to get the epidural since I was progressing so quickly.  At 730 am, 4 hours after waking up with contractions, I started to push. I felt like I wasn't making and progress.  After about 30 minutes, Josh said he saw hair.  I didn't understand why they couldn't pull her out at that point.  I remember saying many times that she wasn't going to fit and that I couldn't do it.  I felt like I had no energy left to push.  After about an hour and a half, I knew I was almost done.  The nurses were getting their tools and instruments ready.  Finally, she crowned, which was such a strange feeling and with the next push, I could see her full head of hair. She was facing the ground.  Then I pushed the rest of her out which was more difficult that I thought.  I was thinking once the head came out, the rest would basically slide out.  Nope.  So she was out and they threw her on my belly.  Her umbillical cord was short so she couldn't reach my chest.  I couldn't see her face, just the back of her head.  After Josh cut the cord, they put her on my shoulder and I still couldn't really see her face.  The nurse asked if we wanted her to take some pictures.  Well all of our things were still in the truck, including 2 cameras and a camcorder, and all we had were our cell phones.  Not smart phones or even good cameras.  Then they took her to be weighed.  I guessed 8 lbs and 6 oz. but the nurse was right on the money by guessing 7 lbs and 2 oz.  She was 19 inches long and I was surprised she was so small even though she was 4 days early.  I was born at 8'2'' and Josh was 8'6'' I think.  So while Penelope and I were getting taken care of, Josh was texting and sending pictures to everyone. 

After things calmed down and we got to snuggle, she was taken to the nursery to get warmed up because her temperature was a little low.  Then I waddled down to the recovery room where I would stay for the next two days and she came to join us shortly after.  And Josh eventually went to the car and brought up the bags. 

 

And there you have it.  If you actually read everything and made it this far, I will reward you with a video that was taken a few hours ago of the beautiful baby.