Edwards Haps and Mishaps

I am one week old!

I can’t believe I am finally not pregnant! Thanks for all the congrats and well wishes! We are all doing fine at this point, and even Preston is coping well so far. Hopefully it stays that way!

Shaun did a pretty good job of describing the whole story of the birth…it was LOOOONG, then short, and IN-TENSE. Wow. I have always wanted to birth naturally…and honestly this wasn’t TOTALLY natural…before the nurse left for lunch she injected half a dose of something into the IV…which, in my opinion, did absolutely nothing…no relief. Luckily, I had read my hypnobirthing book (I know, sounds kind of crazy…but it isn’t as out there as it sounds) and had been practicing and I was able to keep myself calm for the most part. I may have died if I hadn’t practiced that! My mom and Shaun were awesome too! I may also have died if they weren’t there. And I know that you’ve all read the story below so I don’t have to go into too much detail…but seriously, I had been at 2-3 cm the last time the nurse checked. Then she left. Not too long after I thought “Okay, either my water is about to break, I am going to poop myself, or this baby is knocking. GET SOMEONE IN HERE!!”  And at that point I knew if those contractions I was feeling weren’t transition, then I was in for one wildly crazy (painful) ride. Thankfully the other nurse agreed to check me since my nurse was still out or I would have delivered my own baby…and I seriously wanted to when they told me I had to wait for the doctor because I was fully dialated.

I never had that urge to push with Preston since I had an epidural. I could feel pressure but no urge. And this was like the gag reflex, no stopping it…they wanted me to act like I was “blowing out a candle,” really?! Couldn’t someone else just catch the baby? Isn’t that all the doctor was going to do? That was the first time I felt not in control of myself and I wanted to cry…I’m pretty sure I did. It hurt. At this point I was just trying to survive and all I remember is I kept saying, “WHERE IS THE DOCTOR?” “Why do I have to wait?” “I just want to push her out!” Doctor got there…finally. I pushed, I could hear everyone saying “there she is keep pushing” and all I could think is “get out! get out!” so I was going to get her out. Then the doctor told me to stop pushing…she was halfway out. Seriously? Stop? Again, I wanted to die. Eventually, probably seconds later, but it felt like minutes, she told me to push again and out she came! They handed her to me and I sort of forgot I was holding her! I could only think, “LABOR AND DELIVERY ARE OVER!!! IT”S OVER” I always worry about delivery since the story is so unpredictable. I was talking with my sister-in-law Jami, wondering what my “labor story” would be and I finally had it. Labor was OVER, and all went very well. No complications, everyone was healthy, and I actually got to feel the full labor and delivery! It was hard, but hard things make us stronger and I feel so blessed!

So anyway, that was my take on the whole thing. We are grateful to have our little Ada in the family now! I’ll write the name story in another post…to keep you coming back :) For now, here are a few more photos.

New big brother:

P.S. that is the little outfit I came home from the hospital in over 26 years ago!!

Jami brought over the cutest little outfit so we took some pictures of her actually looking like a girl :)

First bath. Enjoying it.

Since Janelle is currently feeding our little Ada, I will go ahead and tell the story. If Janelle disagrees with my version of the story, its probably because she hasn’t slept more than 5 hours in the last 3 days.

I woke up Tuesday morning (June 8th) at about 4am. Janelle was already up, which never happens, and so I knew something was going on. She told me that she had started contractions and so we should be prepared to have a a baby (I’m not really sure what I would have prepared though, I do very little when it comes to the actuall labor and delivery). Anyway, contractions all day, but no baby. Lame.

Janelle got some sleep Tuesday night/Wednesday morning, but probably not enough. The contractions woke her up again around 4am. Contractions all day, like clockwork, 7 minutes apart. Painful, but not close enough for us to go to the hospital. Lame.

Janelle got NO sleep Wednesday night/Thursday Morning. None. I got a little bit of sleep, but you don’t care because this story isn’t about me, and I didn’t deliver any babies this week. By early Thursday morning, Janelle was getting pretty frustrated with her 7-minute apart contractions.  By 5am she was walking outside. The contractions got closer while she was walking, but went back to 7 minutes apart when she stopped. Lame.

Finally, we decided we were going to cheat the system by driving to the hospital and walking all around the parking lot before when went up to tell them Janelle was in labor (we had been told not to bother coming in until contractions were less than 5 minutes apart). However, on the drive to the hospital, the contractions moved under the 5 minute mark, so we decided to just go in.

We arrived at the hospital just after 11am. At the first check, Janelle was dilated to a 3. We were just happy she wasn’t a 1 anymore. We were told that if she hadn’t changed in 2 hours they would send us home. Janelle had painful contractions the entire two hours ranging from 2 minutes to 7 minutes apart. 2 hours later, she was still a 3. Lame. However, we had a sweet nurse who could tell that we did not want to leave, and since they were having a slow day, they decided to keep us for another two hours to watch the baby’s heart rate. Awesome.

Around 2pm our nurse informed us that she was going to lunch, but since nothing was happening we shouldn’t need anything. Janelle asked about getting an epidural since she had now been in early labor for over 48 hours, and had only slept for about 5 hours. She was told that her doctor said it was still too early because she was only dilated to a 3. Not cool. Janelle’s mom showed up to help. Awesome.

Within an hour Janelle’s contractions had moved so close together and so intense, she decided she must be more than a 3 and she wanted to be checked. We called the covering nurse down and asked her to please check Janelle. She told us we should just wait 5-10 minutes until our nurse was back. Then she looked at Janelle’s contraction printout thingy and decided she would check her. Good idea.

She checked Janelle and said, “No epidural for you honey, she is on her way out. I’ll go call the doctor.” WHAT? It took 2 1/2 full days to go from a 1 to a 3, and 45 minutes to go from a 3 to a 10! I’m not sure how any of it all works anyway, but I was amazed. Janelle was angry. OK, maybe angry isn’t the best term. She was ready to deliver the baby and frustrated that she was having to wait for the doctor to arrive. The next 15 minutes were probably the longest 15 minutes of Janelle’s life as she waited for the doctor and tried not to push. I have no idea what that urge feels like, but man, did she just want to push.

Our doctor walked in around 3:15pm. She geared up, got Janelle in position, said “push” and Janelle pushed. The next thing I know my little Ada is crying. Yeah, she pushed once, and Ada came right out. 10 fingers, 10 toes… healthy and CRANKY. Well, she was only cranky for the first hour. After that, she pretty much just wanted to sleep. And that is what she is doing right now. Love it. Oh yeah, stats: 7 lbs 5 oz and 20 inches long. Officially born at 3:26pm on June 10th, 2010.

Janelle was a trooper. I am so proud of her. She is an awesome mom. The best. Ada is beautiful. Very Sweet. We are glad she is finally here, and we are excited to get to know her as she grows and develops her personality.

What was I doing through all of this? Oh, well I was a trooper too. I sat right there on my stool and didn’t pass out once. That’s right. I even cut the cord without getting too sick. Janelle sure is proud of me… or too nice to tell me how much of a sissy I am.

OK. I know most of you skipped my narrative anyway, but for those who actually read it… Bonus. I’m not sure what your bonus is, but you sure get one. Pictures:

So, I’m pretty sure I was supposed to have a baby last week…right? Okay, okay…so due dates aren’t necessarily when the kid is “due.” They are just an estimation…but still. I’m ready, or as ready as I think I am going to be! I think it’ll be soon. I hope!

So, here I am at 40 weeks 2 days.

I am next to her crib…you can kind of see her cute tulip bedding…though she doesn’t really have a room. The crib is in our upstairs “loft” area…hence all the Preston pictures. We wouldn’t really fill her room with Preston…though I should probably think about adding her to the mix once she’s here huh? I will.

And here is Preston playing in all sister’s pinkness.

Well, let us hope she decides to come soon!

AND I decided that getting a new blog template was long overdue too…so here’s what I’ve got for now…it may change…who knows! I was getting sick of looking through all the options!

Baby is almost here…or at least she better be on her way soon! I am due on Saturday, so I am really hoping she isn’t a stubborn little one. The days are basically spent waiting…not wanting to do anything really. Moving around is hard. Standing up is a hassle. bending down to pick something up…no way. I’m ready. as ready as I am going to be!

Preston and I have spent a lot of time in our driveway lately. (we don’t have a yard…) So I sit in my camping chair while he drives his cars around, throws rocks, kicks balls, etc. Preston has been especially interested in baseball lately after watching Shaun play stake softball. So here are some of him…none of me yet…maybe if you are lucky I’ll post one of my growing belly…later.

Sometimes we play with a bat, but mostly a racket…okay, and a HUGE ball…that way he actually hits it :)