Introducing....

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Birth Story

Saturday night, September 13th I started having contractions at about 5pm. We were going over to Jared's aunt Charlotte's house for Italian night. I kind of felt like my water was leaking, but wasn't sure if it was that or just me leaking more pee than normal. We went to Charlotte's and my contractions got closer from 20 min to about 10 min apart by 9:30pm. On the way home I called the hospital and because I thought my water had maybe broken and I had tested positive for strep b they wanted me to come in right away. I went home and took a shower and headed to the hospital. Turns out that my water had not broken. They had me walk around the labor and delivery floor for about an hour to see if we could make anything happen...but I stayed at 2cm. The contractions were getting stronger and I was feeling them both in the front and in my back. The back contractions were HORRIBLE! They said the reason I was feeling back contractions was because she was laying face up instead of down. So her spine was aligned with my spine and this was causing the back contractions. I labored all night and finally gave in and got the epi at about 5am. Jared tried to be there for me while they put the epi in...but he almost passed out and they had to have him lay down while the anesthesiologist finished. It wasn't nearly as bad as I thought it would be. The Dr. came in to check me at about 8am and broke my water and they decided to give me pitocin in my IV at that time as well. The epi was wonderful when it worked. I got to 4 cm by about 11am and then didn't dilate at all until about 3pm. Then I went from 4 to 8 in about half an hour. I finally got to 9 1/2 cm at about 4pm but stalled out there. During this time my epi wore off twice. They gave me a button to push every 5 min for the pain...but this didn't do anything to alleviate the back contractions I was feeling when the epi wore off. She wasn't moving down and I had just a lip around my cervix that the Dr. thought was too much to push through and the baby's heart rate was dropping with each contraction. At about 6 he started talking about c-section. I freaked out a little bit at this point. I cried. I had labored for over 24 hours and I really wanted a vaginal birth. They talked about the pros and cons and left for Jared and I to discuss. The most important thing was for us to have a healthy baby. So we decided the c-section was the best way to go. They got me all prepped and took me in at about 7pm. Jared was wonderful through all of this. He doesn't do well with blood and needles, but he was a real trooper. He even held my barf bag as I got sick. Caitlyn Anita Darling was born at 7:34pm on September 14th, 2008. She weighed 8lbs 11oz and was 19 1/2 in long.



Recovering from the c-section has not been fun....but it's totally worth it! I love our little girl more than I could have imagined possible. We waited so long for this and it was worth every minute!

Over Due....

This title fits for a few reasons. First I haven't updated this blog for 2 weeks. I've just been so tired that when I get home from work I don't want to do anything! Second - I was due on Tuesday and am STILL pregnant!

When I last posted my blood pressure was pretty high. It was high that whole week. My first appt was on Monday, and I had made a follow up appt for Friday. Well Thursday afternoon I wasn't feeling well so I called and they had me come right in. My blood pressure was actually better than on Monday, but still high. So they had me come back for my appt on Friday morning. Still high, but again not as bad as it had been on Monday. I was told to take it easy over the weekend and had another appt scheduled for Tuesday. The only problem was that my family reunion was that weekend and I was hosting at my house on Saturday. I did pretty good letting others take over and help out - but felt tremendously guilty about it and had a couple of crying melt downs in the process. But I got through it and had a great time with my family!

At my 39 week appt on Tuesday my blood pressure was back to normal! There was no change in my cervix...still only 50% effaced and no dilation. He had me come in for another bp check on Thursday and again it was normal. Yippee!

At my 40 week appt my bp was normal and I had progressed a little bit! I'm now 1 1/2 cm dilated and about 60% effaced. I know it could still stay this way for awhile, but it gives me hope that maybe she'll come on her own before my induction date on the 15th. Early Monday morning I was feeling a few contractions...this got me very excited. Only they stopped and I haven't felt anything since. I have also been losing my mucus plug slowly but surely this week. Yuck!

My last day of work was yesterday, so I'm home relaxing and getting ready for the arrival of our little girl! I'll try to have Jared take one more belly pic before we go to the hospital. There has been great debate at work all week regarding whether it looks like I've "dropped" at all or not. I think I have a little bit as the pelvic pain has gotten better...but the back pain has increased.
Soon there will be pictures to share of Caitlyn....I can't wait!!!