Baby Adelaide came one week early. My OB determined I had preeclampsia when I went in for my normal appointment on August 23rd, so she sent us straight to the hospital to be induced. My feet had been swollen for the past few weeks, but it had spread to my legs a day or two before. It looked like I had elephantitis. Another clear indicator was my extremely high blood pressure - up in the 190s. Since I was obviously sick, and getting sicker by the day, she told us we'd be having a baby within the day.
I was already 4cm at that point, and had been having contractions for the previous hour. What the OB didn't tell me at the time was that she separated my membrane....this later explained why the contractions started to get much closer together and stronger when we arrived at the hospital. They hadn't even induced me yet and I was already progressing.
We arrived at the hospital at around 5pm. They gave us the suite right next to the nurses station, which luckily was about 3 times the size of the other rooms. We definitely lucked out!
The OB broke my water at about 6:30pm, and they started the epidural shortly after that. Unfortunately it didn't take the first time. After about an hour of horrible pain, I asked if the epidural should have kicked in by then....it should have. The anesthesiologist came in and repositioned it, and within five minutes I could feel it in my toes. I didn't feel much pain until the next morning. They started me on pitocin at around 11pm because I wasn't progressing as quickly as needed.
The epidural started to wear off in the early morning hours, so I had to keep self-administering more. At around 7am the OB came in and said it was time to push. I had been lulled into thinking labor wouldn't be too bad considering I hadn't been in pain all night....the last 2.5 hours of labor were excruciating. Every time I pushed the OB and nurse said you're almost there, we can see the head. That went on for two hours! Adelaide was crowned for an hour. She was a little too large to make it out on her own, so the doctor used the vacuum to help her out. To add to that, the epidural ran out towards the beginning of this phase...so I could feel everything - including the cut the OB had to make. Although it was a horrible few hours, it was entirely worth it.
Baby Adelaide was finally born at 9:31am on Saturday, August 24th. All in all, labor was about 17 hours long. When she made it out, the OB handed her to Justin so he could put her on my chest and tell me if she was a girl or boy. He was about to pass out at that point, but luckily held it together. ;) We were both incredibly emotional when he called out that it was a girl. We'd both wanted a girl for our first so badly, and she had finally arrived.
Justin got an amazing video of Addie's first minutes of life as they were cleaning her off and checking her reflexes. He was able to hold her soon after.
He's one proud papa! :)
Unfortunately the magnesium sulfate they'd given me for the preeclampsia made me feel horrible after her birth. I was extremely weak and couldn't see very well because my vision was really blurry. This meant that I couldn't hold or feed her, which really upset me. It also made me crash twice in the hours after labor. My blood pressure plummeted and my whole body started to shake. I think that may have been more scary than the labor process. Luckily after taking me off of the magnesium sulfate I started to level off again. I was finally able to hold and feed her later that afternoon, at around 4pm. Being able to finally hold her and see her was the most amazing feeling - I'll never forget that moment.
She was born at 8 pounds, 10 ounces, and 19.75 inches in length. The doctors and nurses said her umbilical cord was the largest (in diameter) they'd ever seen. She was definitely a healthy baby! Thank goodness I didn't go another week or she really would have been a 10-pound baby. I would have needed a c-section at that point.
Here she is on her way home. She look so tiny in her car seat. ;)
And lastly, a few photos from her first few days at home.
I'll try to post pictures more frequently. We have a ton already! This girl's entire life will be documented! ;)
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