So, this blog was supposed to be a photographic journey about observations on daily life. I had hoped it would help me grow my photography skills. Obviously, that didn't work out as I'd planned, based on the sad number of posts I actually put up. Oh well.
But most of you know that we've recently embarked on an entirely different journey - parenthood. Our beautiful baby girl, Tara Marie, was born June 1st, 2012. Since that day I've taken a ridiculous amount of pictures, both with my camera and my phone. We want everyone to be able to see Tara as much as possible, since we live so far away, and I think this blog would be better used for that purpose. It'll be better than seeing her on a tiny camera screen in a text message, that's for sure!
Even though Tara is now 7 weeks old, I'd love to start off with the story of her birthday. After a wonderful 9 months of pregnancy, I was lucky enough to have a similarly wonderful labor and delivery.
For those of you who don't know, I was being watched closely for pre-eclampsia at the end of my pregnancy. I was on orders for reduced activity and was going in for regular baby monitoring called non-stress tests. Since Tuesday, May 29th, I’d been doing all the things they say to
try for natural induction of labor, hoping to avoid being induced. I ate
spicy things, walked, ate Chinese food, etc. My
NSTs on Wednesday and Friday went well, showing that baby was healthy,
but didn’t indicate impending labor. Since the NST on Friday morning
looked so good, my Dr felt comfortable enough with my slightly increased
BP to cancel the Saturday induction and allow me to continue on with
monitoring. I left the clinic and treated myself to a large iced chai
tea, feeling happy and very indulgent.
Due to a miscommunication, my parents mistakenly took the induction for a sure
thing, so they bought plane tickets and were due to arrive Sunday, making my drive to get labor going that much stronger. I decided to treat myself to a pedicure,
since I needed one and since massaging the feet was also one of
those things that might help bring on labor. My nurses later commented
on my cute toenails!
Jeff got home from work that afternoon and we intended to pick
up the house, mow the lawn, etc, before my mom and dad arrived. We were
going to do inside house things that evening, so we ordered a pizza and
were goofing around. At 6:45 I performed a ridiculous “Come out baby”
dance (which Jeff caught on video). At 7pm we decided to hang the
curtains in the nursery. I got up off the couch, walked 10 steps to the
nursery door, and felt a small “pop". It wasn’t much, but we were certain that my water had broken. The
dance worked! We called the hospital, let our parents know, put the few
lingering things into the hospital bag and waited for the pizza guy. My
mother was adamant that I not eat, since I could get sick during labor,
but I wanted that pizza!
By 8pm we were at the hospital and that’s when the fun began. While
checking in I began to really feel contractions. The strength of the contractions also went from 0-60,
pretty much instantly. For just a second, I contemplated asking for an
epidural. Looking back, I only did that because I had skipped the easier
contractions and went straight to strong ones, so I was scared about
how much stronger they had the potential to get. In the end, it was a
moot point, as we would soon see.
The urge to push was so strong that I begged to be checked. My first
check showed 7-8cm dilated and 100% effaced. One more contraction and I
was up to 8-9, and just one more brought me to 9.5. My fantastic nurse
was making sure I didn’t push, to make sure I didn’t cause swelling that
would slow the process. With her on one side and Jeff with oxygen
for me (the most wonderful thing they gave me!!) at the other, my
doctor arrived and helped me gently push past the 9.5cm lip. Once we’d
done that, it was go time. They gave me full permission to push and the
urge pretty much overwhelmed me. I had my eyes closed through most of
the process, lost in the crazy sensations and lost in my own head. I
very much remember wondering how in the world people do this again and
again.
After just over 1 hour of pushing, Tara was ready to join us. My
amazing doctor brought me through the final pushes and then she was
here. It was amazing and overwhelming and I was shocked at how fast
labor amnesia set in! Just minutes before I was willing her backwards,
and then she was there on my chest and the memories of the pain were
already hazy! She was 7lbs 9 oz, 19.5 inches long, and arrived at
11:32pm. From water break to birth, I was in labor for just 4.5 hours. Jeff was absolutely amazing through the entire process and tells
me that he thought it was incredible. He also filled me in on the
funny things I did during labor, like apologizing to everyone for any
inconvenience and calling everyone sweetie and honey. I was trying to be
polite while in labor!
We spent two nights in the hospital. After a crazy Saturday that included a trip to the ER for Jeff, we made it home Sunday afternoon. Of course, the weeks since then have been a crazy learning curve and have flown by. I can't believe time can go so fast. In the next few posts I'll bring you more up to date with Tara today, but for now, here are a few pictures of her birth.
