Our House: January 2016

She is here!!!! Thank the Lord because this mama was losing her MIND.

My due date was Jan 5th, Tuesday. I honestly thought she would arrive a few days before her due date because that is when the first 3 kids arrived. Samuel arrived at 40 +3 ( but that is another story for another time).

Anyways if you know me you know I am not a happy pregnant person ever and that only increases as it gets closer to the end. I thank God for my fertility but 10 months of insomnia, endless heartburn and nausea/ vomiting really puts a damper on life if you know what I mean. Plus when you have 4 other kids under 10 no matter how many times you say " Mommy doesn't feel well!" they either don't get it or don't care and just keep up with their endless requests and needs and life just goes on whether you feel good or not. So lets just say I was cranky and miserable. I had a membrane sweep at 38 weeks which did nothing but make me more crampy and make me lose some of my plug. Up till 40 weeks I was still aiming for 5,000 steps or 2 1/2 miles a day and hitting that goal so I didn't need to attempt walking to get her out. Already doing that! I had switched from my midwife practice to an OB practice at 36 weeks for a delivery in a hospital with the OPTION of drugs. Since I was seeing an OB I knew they were more willing to help things along and I am so glad they did.

Jan 6th I had a 8:15 Dr appointment. I had left Samuel and Nairi with a friend, bigger 2 kids were at school and Mike had left that am at 6:30 am for a work conference in Worcester, MA ( about 1 1/2 hours from our house or 2 hours from the hospital) I begged the Dr to do anything to end this pregnancy. He gave me an induction date of the following Tuesday ( so 41 weeks) and said he would " sweep the bejezus ( is that a word?) out of my membranes" He finished the tortuous sweep and said I think I broke your water. I said I didn't think so because I hadn't heard the POP and there wasn't much coming out. He had me stand up and still nothing but there was a decent amount of wetness of the pad from the exam table. He said I broke your water go over to Labor and Delivery and they can test the fluid and see if its amniotic fluid. I headed over to L and D next door and hung out in triage. I didn't want to call Mike to head home if it was a false alarm. I was hoping it was broken because I so badly wanted this over but at the same time I had told my friend I would be back in an hour or so and Mike was 2 hours away. In triage they had me try to go pee and see if I leaked anymore but nothing else came out. I sat in triage for 10 min or so and finally I tried to cough and boom... gush of fluid. Hallelujah!!!! It was baby day. I called Mike and he headed home. It was a little after 9 am at this point. I was 4-5 cm dilated and we were having a baby. At the hospital I walked around the giant room for about 2 hours straight till the contractions picked up. They were getting stronger but not that bad. Mike arrived around noon. Around 1 pm I was starting to breathe and lean into the contractions. Even though the pain was very manageable at that time I knew I wanted a epidural and did not want to miss the "window." I was pretty much there for the epidural ( our last 4 births because all natural except I had some Nubane with Keira). I was 6-7 cm at this time so I decided to get it before it was too late. I was terrified of the epidural but I knew I wanted to try it so I did. Getting it in was not nearly as bad as I thought and oh my that thing took away every bit of pain for about 2 solid hours. I could still move my legs just fine and switch positions just fine so it was a great epidural. I laid there in bed just relaxing ( so weird to do that in labor!!)

Around 3pm I started feeling some pressure and getting really nauseous and shaking uncontrollably. I knew she was getting close. The nurse said I was 8ish but needed to get her in a better position. I did hands and knees for a while. Around 4 pm they had me start pushing ( which again was weird because I was lying down in bed and the others I was standing or sitting on a birth stool). Just like the nurse had warned me the Epidural does not help so much with the pressure of pushing ( the part I hate more than anything!) Darn. With lots of yelling and encouragement from the Dr and a few nurses and Mike she finally arrived at 4:28 pm. Mama's work is DONE. She looked just like our others at birth. Tons of jet black hair. Alert black eyes and rosy red tan skin. I was holding her skin to skin and she immediately rooted on my chest, moving herself over and latched right on. Which I thought was hilarious. After they weighed her I realized why. She was 8 lbs 10 oz. Wow. Bigger than Samuel who was the current biggest baby at 8 lbs 5 oz. Anyways the staff were awesome about my wishes ( no shots other than Vit K etc ), delayed cord cutting etc. The 2 days at the hospital were awesome. I was there alone while Mike was holding down the fort at home so I wasn't sure if I would be lonely. The quiet was great, food good and so much time to just hold her and love her and bond. All in all feeling so grateful its over and it went well and everyone is healthy.

On to the photo dump in very random order.

Mikes first time holding her

Attempt at fancy frills ( I thought Keira and Nairi would love this picture and they did!)

Their first ever trip to a hospital to meet a sibling..... they loved it and were so excited, Ill admit it wasa little overwhelming for post partum mom though.

The hospital bed selfie. She refused to sleep in the hospital crib thing and there is no co sleeping allowed in the hospital but the nursing staff is fine with you lying in bed and feeding the baby so as long as I was awake ( and I was) when they came in to check on you they were fine with it.