dar a luz

Well, after my last post, I feel like I need to yell out a big, fat, "Just kidding!" because I really was in labor, after all.

I realized I might actually be in labor at about 7ish in the morning when I went back to bed and started reading to try and get sleepy. I started having contractions every 10, then 8 minutes. After a little over an hour the kids got up (they had slept in, yay!) and I decided I'd better kill two birds with one stone. That sounds creepy since I had two kids... but I just mean that I needed to get up and move to see if the contractions slowed down and I also needed to make the kids breakfast. So I did so, and the contractions got closer together, although slightly less painful when I was standing. I texted Jared to tell him about it and that I was going to call the doctor. I called, but the office wasn't open and there was another number to call. So I called that one, and they acted all weird about me calling when I should just go to the hospital to be evaulated. (Just doing what my doctor asked me to do, mmkay?) So while the kids ate their breakfast, I got ready to go and called my friend Kristin to ask her to watch the kids that day. Jared got home then, helped the kids get ready to go, and took them over. When he got back we left for the hospital.

During the drive, I just hoped that they wouldn't send me back home. With Nathan and Rylie, labor had been relatively cut and dry, and rather short. This time around, I'd had a few days of false or prelabor and plenty of painful contractions with no result, so I had no idea what to expect now. Jared had gone to the temple early that morning and told me he had thought, "It's a good thing I came, because I might not be able to go again for a while."

When we arrived, memories of coming to visit Nathan in the hospital flooded back to me. I didn't feel sad or a sense of foreboding, though. Even though I was in pain, I felt pretty positive and upbeat about everything. Jared came in after parking the car before I could even make it to the elevator, so we went up together. I was admitted and the woman at the desk asked if I'd preregistered. I had planned on doing that this week, but it was too late now! We walked back to a labor room and I only had to stop and stand still for a contraction once. The room was large and had a great view, which was nice. There was also a jetted tub that looked enticing, but I didn't end up using it.

So then a nurse checked my progress and said I was dilated to a 4 and 90% effaced and that we were definitely having a baby that day. Yay! She then told me that since I hadn't been tested for Group B Strep yet that they were going to have to treat me for it as if I had it. I was supposed to have the test that day at my appointment, actually. So they gave me penicillin for that. I didn't get the epidural right away since I was worried it would slow things down too much but they said with how progressed I was already that it would be fine. However, the epidural did end up slowing me down a little. It ended up being a good thing, though, since the penicillin needed about 4 hours to get into my system. Eventually they gave me a tiny bit of pitocin to get things going more, and soon after that Maya was born. But before that (or shortly after?), the epidural started wearing off in my core. My legs were pretty numb but everything above was starting to get full feeling back. I'm a wuss, so I was not a fan. Also, I'm noisy. I felt kinda bad that people were trying to talk to each other about important medical stuff and they could barely hear each other. I wasn't screaming or anything, just moaning loudly, I think. Anyway, they gave me extra and I soon felt a lot better. My legs completely lost all feeling, though, which was super weird. They just kind of flopped around and I couldn't move them on my own at all. I still had a little bit of feeling in my core, but no pain. So that part was perfect for me. I could still feel some pressure and I could tell when Maya came out just from feeling it.

When I was getting ready to push apparently Maya was already crowning but I didn't realize it. The doctor and the nurse were talking about how she had all this dark hair and for a minute I thought they were talking about me! I just thought it was kind of awkward but shrugged it off. I told Jared about it later and he laughed at me. It does seem like a typical thing for me to misunderstand! Anyway, it was time to push so I pushed once and her head came out, then pushed again and she came out the rest of the way. It was such a relief to feel her come out! I could finally take a deep breath again! She started crying right away so I knew she was breathing. There was a knot in her umbilical cord, too. Jared didn't cut her cord because he was filming her birth at this point. The nurses dried Maya off and took her vitals and measurements while I delivered the placenta. She weighed 7 pounds and 8 ounces, and was 19 inches long. At one minute old her Apgar score was an 8 and a little later it was a 9. I think her head was 35 cm. Anyway then they put that goopy stuff on her eyes and wrapped her up and let me hold her. It felt like I'd been waiting forever! It was so nice to finally have her in my arms. She wasn't happy for a while though unless I was bouncing her. I think it was just the sharper noises and bright lights and cold, but I don't know. After a while she calmed down more and I tried nursing her. It didn't come as easily as it had with Rylie (which was so easy right at first it was practically a miracle) but as of now she's gotten the hang of it and I'm remembering things again.

After she'd tried nursing a little while the nurse took her and Jared down to the Mother/Baby floor to get her more cleaned up and everything. Jared stayed with Maya in the nursery for that and then my nurse came back to help me get down to that floor as well. My legs were still so incredibly numb she and someone else had to roll me into a gurney and then later into my bed on the Mother/Baby floor. Awkward. I had chills at this point so they brought me heated blankets a couple of times. Dinner came not long after and it was warm although I didn't really get to eat it when it was super warm for various reasons. Of course by the time I did eat it, however, everything in my body was fluctuating and I'd started sweating. Oh the craziness.

So I wasn't going to have Maya room in with me at night unless she needed to eat but she's ended up staying both nights anyway. She's been a really good sleeper for the most part. This afternoon and tonight, though, she's been more fussy so I asked for a pacifier. She doesn't keep it in very long but it's better than nothing. I find myself a little more paranoid this time around (more paranoid? um. yes.) and at first it was kinda freaking me out just to go to the bathroom when Jared was asleep or out of the room. Also, even though they tell you to only allow the RN's with pink badges to take the baby in and out of the room, how hard would it be for someone to just snatch her and run, right in front of my face? I'm not exactly in any condition to sprint after someone. I did think about it, though. I'm sure I could make it for a little while, and maybe others would help if they saw what was going on... See? I told you I was paranoid. Not that any of you who know me well need reminding.

Anyway, I think Maya is so cute and she reminds me of an ewok for some reason. Jared occasionally calls her Maya bear, which seems fitting. She is so soft all over and it's partly because she's still got a little fuzz, kind of like Nathan had when he was born. He was waay more hairy, though. And it's still early and hard to tell, but she seems to be really similar in coloring to Nathan, too. I also kind of think she has Swinford eyes and she seems to have the same nose as Nathan and Rylie (and me). I say it's the Prince nose but I don't know where it came from before that. The kids seem to love her and always want to hold her (although they get bored after about 5 seconds most of the time). Nathan and Rylie loved visiting us in the hospital but I think part of the attraction were things like the buttons on my bed and the tv and things like that.

Aubrie is watching the kids for us now. Thank you again, Aubrie! You are awesome!

Shannon came this evening to take pictures of Maya and some of us with Maya. We'll try to get the film onto a CD soon and hopefully they turned out well so I can share some with you guys. It was pretty shadowy so we'll see.

I'm not sure I'm going to get much sleep tonight (or any night any time soon) but I'm happy Maya is here and healthy and soo happy I'm not pregnant anymore. That was not a fun pregnancy.

So anyway, if you want to see some of the pictures we have so far, you can look at the album I made on facebook here.