Claire's Birth.. aka Longest Post Ever

It's about time I posted something about the sweet new daughter in our lives.  Mostly this post is for me to remember all the details since it's the only journal I keep.. so feel free to skim.

Reason for Induction:
Everyone panicked when they found out I was being induced because they thought something was wrong.. so here's the reason.  Normally I had my doctor appointments on Fridays, but my 39 weeks appointment happened to fall on the same day as my sister-in-law's wedding, so I had to move my appointment to Tuesday instead.. even though it had only been 4 days since my last one.  As it turned out, I had progressed significantly in those 4 days and would likely go into labor by the end of the week. My doctor decided to induce me on Thursday, his hospital day, so he could control the whole thing. (Needless to say, I didn't make it to the wedding.)


We were supposed to arrive at the hospital at 5:00 a.m. to begin my induction.. I got up at 3:30, showered, starting loading up our stuff and then got a phone call at 4:00 a.m. saying they didn't have any rooms available and to wait until 7:00.  I'm convinced that that is the meanest thing you can do to someone.  Anyway, we eventually arrived and were admitted.  My nurse came in and hooked me up to a monitor to follow my contractions, a monitor to watch Claire's heartbeat, and then attempted to insert my IV.  Apparently my veins have a high valve count.. which makes for healthy blood flow, but BAD IV insertion.  It took six attempts. SIX. Three per arm. See photo for details.

Monitoring Claire's heart and my contractions

The first 3 attempts

By the time I got hooked up to everything, my doctor had arrived.  He did a quick check and then announced he was going to break my water and told the nurse to start my petocin.  I panicked momentarily because I thought they would give me SOME kind of pain meds before breaking my water, but as it turns out I felt nothing but gushing fluids.  The petocin kicked in immediately and my contractions had begun.  They were extremely.. effective.. and I progressed from a 2+cm dilation to a solid 5cm in the first hour.  

Contracting

Over the next 3 hours I only dilated to 6cm.  Somewhere in that time I got my epidural.  It was incredible.  It worked within 5 minutes. Getting it inserted, however, was more difficult than I anticipated.  Something that no one talks about is how much your body violently shakes during labor.  The combination of such intense pain and the crazy hormones surging through your body makes you shake uncontrollably.  With a gigantic needle going up your spine it's fairly important that you hold still.  Eventually we got it done.  After I was warm and tingly, Sean and I just sat around waiting for my nurse to come check me every hour for progress.  Somewhere between the hours of 1:30 and 2:30 I went from 6cm to 10cm and fully effaced!  They prepped my room and we got started.  After pushing for about 30 minutes, Claire made her appearance.  Best moment in our lives. 

First moments of life

Momma and babe

First family photo

First decent family photo.  It's amazing what cropping can do