Our little girl is here!!!!

Nesting works!!! I spent the day on Tuesday power cleaning the house. I went to bed just exhausted at about 10:30 pm. At 12:22 am I woke up to use the bathroom.
As soon as I stood up, I felt the gush! My water had broken! I called the OB office and they told me to head into labor and delivery so that they could get my antibiotics started (I'm group B strep positive.) We called my parents to come over and be with DD. We got to the hospital about 1:15 am and were assessed. Yep, I was ruptured and dilated to 3! They got me to my room about 3am, got the iv hung and my antibiotics and told us to get some sleep. A good plan in theory! But by 4 am my contractions had started on their own. They weren't horrible, pretty mild, but pretty regular. At 5 am they came in and started the pitocin and checked me again. I had progressed to a 4. Of course the pitocin got things going pretty quickly. I handled the contractions "OK" but got a shot of nubane at about 6 am. Nubane rocks! I was able to rest really well between contractions. Sadly, that only lasts for an hour and then I was back to normal. They gave me a second shot at 7 am but it didn't do squat! At 7:15 I was calling for the epidural! It seemed like eternity before he arrived! They checked me again before they got started and I was a 6! My contractions were extremely intense by now and I was a moaning myrtle! He tried to talk me into an intrathecule (SP???) instead, They are quick acting but those only last an hour or so. Since I tend to "eat through" anisthesia quickly (I'm a red head) I begged him for the epi since it would last longer. Well.....it turns out I should have listened to him. About half way through getting the epidural I felt a huge urge to push. He got the primer dose in and I was screaming that I needed to push. They didn't even get me hooked up to the epi pump. (Yep...I was one of those screaming mommies begging for the doc to RUN!) They checked me again and in the 20 minutes it took to start the epi, I went from a 6 to a 10. Of course my husband, mom and sister had gone for a walk while they did the epi and then we couldn't find them! They had to page them over head. They showed up about the same time as the doc showed up, they got me on my back and in six pushes our little girl was born! I basically delivered "au natural" since the epi primer dose didn't take affect until AFTER I delivered! Then my toes went numb!

She is just a little angel! Her name is Rachel Faith. She was born on 5/21/08 at 8:25 am weighing in at 8 pounds 11 ounces and 21 1/2 inches long. She has red hair!

We are so thrilled and proud! The breastfeeding is going pretty well. She's a strong sucker so as long as we get a good latch we're good. Otherwise it HURTS!!!!! She's doing better than DD ever did so we'll see. If all else fails, I plan to pump and put it in bottles for her. But for now, all is good.

Thanks for all of your support and well wishes! I couldn't have made it through these months without all of you!

Jen

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