Eva's Arrival

Hi Web, Brenna here. Jon said no one reads long posts, so I broke this long post into two: Brenna's Pregnancy and Eva's Arrival. 

She was overdue... I was worried she'd gotten too big and wouldn't come out! I was also worried because I didn't want to have to be induced, because of all the related issues. My last appointment was on Tuesday the 11th. My doctor said we'd see what happened, but scheduled me for an induction on Monday the 17th.

On Wednesday, I woke to some contractions about 3 a.m. but they went away. Thursday, same thing.

At some point, I decided to take matters into my own hands, and got some evening primrose oil. I can't remember if I started taking it Wednesday or Thursday... But Friday the 14th, I woke at about 3 a.m. with some contractions again. And they kept coming.

I was ready to go to the hospital at 6 a.m., because the contractions were a few minutes apart, but when I called, the nurse said they needed to be a full minute duration while three to five minutes apart. So I had to wait it out... It feels like the worst period cramp you've ever had... and then they get worse :) I just tried to sleep between contractions. I was timing them on an app I had downloaded on my iPhone.

Jon went to work, and just let his boss know he'd have to leave at any time. He surprised me by coming home at 11 a.m. or so, he had taken the rest of the day off. We took a bath, he read to me, and tried to keep me as comfortable as possible. I couldn't eat. I threw up the cereal bar I had eaten, which is LAME, because the nurses won't let you eat real food while in labor. :(

At 3 p.m. it was time to go to the hospital, so Jon packed me and the bags in the car, and we left the house. We were taken to a room, and the nurse checked me. I was at 4 cm at about 4 o'clock. She said she'd come check me again in an hour, and if I hadn't progressed, they'd send me home. I told myself that was NOT going to happen. I figured a cm per hour, and I'd have a baby by 10 p.m. Then a little while later, she came back saying she'd spoken with my doctor, and he said to go ahead and officially admit me into the hospital, and he'd be by to check me himself at 6 p.m. Good man. He broke my water about that time...

I wanted to avoid an epidural, and the nurse said I was handling things pretty well, but I wanted relief from the pain. I decided to have her administer Stadol. She said it was supposed to make me "not care" about the pain. But it just made me feel drowsy, out of control, and did NOTHING for the pain. :( This was around 7 p.m., after it took three tries to get an IV in my left arm. Then I threw up the jello they had let me eat and the other nurse said "well, she's in active labor..." I was glad, because that meant I was closer to having this baby out...

Jon and I thought it might be good to try laboring in the tub they have, but they couldn't get a good read on the baby's heartbeat, so I never went in the tub.

Jon was a trooper :) Mom was there with me too, and that was nice. Sarah also came by, and they all took turns giving me washcloths and handed me drinks, etc... :) 

OH! -there was a medical student "on duty", and early on the nurse asked if we'd mind if he was involved in the birth. (I don't remember his name... it may have been Craig, so that's what I'll call him...) I was pretty sure I wouldn't care, and I'm all about hands-on learning, so we said that it would be fine. And I felt good that I was going to have a "textbook" birth :)

So at one point, Craig came in and asked something like, "So, how are things going?" to which I exhaustedly and druggedly replied, "Havin' a baby!"

You know how at the hospital, they have that pain scale of numbers one to ten? Well, later, Craig came in a second time, and asked something like, "So, how's your pain level?" to which I growled, "Are you kidding?!?!" It wasn't funny to me at the time, but Mom described how she and Jon were almost busting up laughing, and I chuckle now.

Things kept progressing, and I was where I was supposed to be every time they checked me. The most painful part was the back labor. But I tried to relax and let the contractions do what they were supposed to do, and get that baby out... Then it felt like I had to poo, and I knew it was getting close. The nurse checked, and said "Oh, yep, she's right there... Lemme go call your doctor." And I said, "You mean he's not HERE?!?!" 

Then the hardest part was NOT pushing until the doctor got there and was ready. Then it was almost glorious to push with the contractions. I pushed for a short while, the doctor asked if I wanted to touch her head but I just wanted her out! Her head came out and he wanted me to wait to push her body out until they sucked the gunk out of her mouth, but I couldn't help it - out she came!

They placed this hot little mess on my chest and were toweling her off. She was pretty quiet, just gazing around, and making little cries. It was the weirdest smell. (-That was the strongest sense at the time, because my glasses were MIA.) She was beautiful! 6 lbs, 5 oz. 14 May 2010, 11:39 p.m.

(this photo was after she was wrapped up better)

They had to stitch me up a little. I wanted to nurse right away. While we tried to get her to latch on, they were stitching and I said "Ow!" and the nurse said "Does it feel like a pinch?" and I said "No, it feels like a pain in my butt!" A few minutes later, I said "Ow!" again when the other nurse tipped the lamp and it landed on my toe.

They did the routine checks and things, and it was neat to hear the doctor describing things to Craig (the med student). 

We had some visitors! Mom was in the room, but Dad, Kiana, Annie Grossmann, and Mike (Annie's boyfriend) were all there in the waiting room. They got to love on her right away. I asked, "Can I eat now?" and Mom got me a parfait from the cafeteria. It was amazing. 

Happy Grandparents! 

Aunties Kiana and Annie

Daddy Jon

We had to get up and moving though, they needed the delivery room... But we had to wait until another room was cleaned and ready for us. But we finally got situated in our room and tried to get some rest. She stayed in the room with us that night. On Saturday, she was having trouble keeping her temperature up, so they wanted to keep her under the heat lamp, so Jon's parents weren't able to hold her right away. But later on we cuddled skin-to-skin and she did well after that. 

That night as the nurse took her vitals, Eva weighed 5 lbs, 10 oz. She had lost more than ten percent of her body weight. They recommended that we supplement her with some formula to help her gain a little bit. Sunday afternoon, she weighed 6 lbs, 2 oz and we were discharged :) By her one week checkup she was 6 lbs, 10 oz... That's our girl!