The First Day

So... the day has finally arrived. Little B is coming to join our family outside of the pod! I went to see the doc on Wednesday to see if any progression had been made in this baby having business. Dilated to a 2-3 and contractions coming every 15 minutes or so. Still not enough to go in, but he did tell me they have me scheduled to go in to be induced Thursday at 11am. That was a little earlier than I expected, but ok, let's get this show on the road.

Thursday, Miss A has so generously offered to take Moxie and watch her for the weekend while we are otherwise engaged. She also brought a bag of girl clothes. How did I get so lucky to have such great friends?? I am thankful so many of you are helping out!

So, I called ahead of time like Doc Housel suggested and they told me not to come in yet, they were a little too packed and there were going to be some discharges soon and they'll call me when they know when I should come in. Ugh. Waiting. Waiting . Waiting. By 2, I am a little frustrated since we are having to coordinate with Matt's mom to pick Linus up, have my mom meet us at the hospital, Matt could have gone to work for a bit, and all we've done is sit and wait. Not to mention the small bouts of anxiety that keep coming as I sit and think about it. I finally called them back, maybe there was a shift change and I got lost. I called and they told me to be in by 3:30... yikes, that gives us 3 seconds to get us all finished packing things up and in the car and out the door. I swear I told her it takes us 45 minutes to get there. Oh well.

Matt's mom met us at Ogden Regional so she could take Linus. Which is a good thing since kids weren't allowed anywhere but the lobby unless they were there for a procedure. Stupid flu.

Kirk, Jerri, Thank you so much for watching him those couple of days. It was so helpful and I don't know what we would have done without you! And I know Linus loved being there.

My mom met us inside and so finally we were able to get this show on the road. The CNA led us to our room. 525 (writing it down for posterity). She looked at me and told me to hang on a second, she had to get the small belly band. I felt as big as a house, but apparently I wasn't really all that big. I got the belly band on, the amazingly sexy hospital dress on, and got the monitors all in place so I could just lie in bed and hang out while they monitored me. For 2 and a half hours. I seem to get stuck between shift change a lot. It happened a lot last time. No worries though, I got the greatest nurse! She was toting around with her a paramedic student, he was doing his hours since he was almost done with paramedic school. I actually kind of sighed in relief when she asked if he wanted to do my IV. Not that I have anything against nurses. On the contrary, usually they are good, I just have crappy, skinny, valvey veins. Last time I got 3 sticks and one of the bad ones was the anesthesiologist. I figured that he's been an EMT-I for a while to get to paramedic school and that he's done a few IV's in the field. It has to be tough to do IV's in a moving ambulance. So, this fella, he whipped out the 18g needle, and this time I looked away and practiced my breathing excercises I learned, and yes, it hurt, but he got it in easy breezy. One stick. It hurt the whole time it was in, and I think it was close to the tendon in my arm cause I couldn't type. I couldn't really move my fingers due to the achiness it caused, but there was no way I was going to ask for a new one. It was going fine and I was going to stay put.

I started watching Glee (it's a guilty pleasure) and soon after it was finished, they started the pitocin. I asked the nurse for a birthing ball and she brought it in soon after Glee was finished. I just want to recommend it to anyone who is going to be going through labor anytime in the future. It was so helpful! I sat on it up against the wall. It's supposed to mimic squats but it isn't so hard on your legs and it promotes spontaneous movement to help ease the pain. Which was good. The pitocin started and immediately I was feeling it. Wowzers. I hyper stimulated the first 20 minutes, so I was immediately having the contractions hard and close together. It wasn't has bad as it was going to get, but enough to take my breath away. I put in the first season of Grey's Anatomy and sat on the ball and enjoyed.

Pretty quickly, the doc came in and broke my water... Gross!! I can't even imagine how awful it would be to have that happen in public or at home. If it was just leaking, fine, but the gush??? Ew! Nothing like feeling like I just peed my pants, again, and again. Housel did get a laugh out of me watching a hospital show in the hospital. I just explained I needed something to do and that was what I had. I just started watching this season and hadn't seen any of the first few seasons.
While I stayed in bed for a minute to keep catching the amniotic fluid, it was really neat to feel how the contractions worked. They started up at the top and moved down and around literally trying to push the baby out. Last time I didn't feel that, it was all back labor, but this time it was really neat to feel. My mom reminded me that pretty soon I wouldn't care about the mechanics of labor. Of course she was right.

The nurse came back in and pumped the pit up to 8. The paper that records the baby's heartbeat and your contractions measures contractions 0 to 100. I pretty soon I was having contractions every minute or 2 up at 133+. The first one caused me to issue an obscenity because it surprised me. It was a little embarrassing what with my mom there, but I guess it mostly goes with the territory of having babies. I only said one other swear word and that was because the toilet paper roll was a piece of crap! The rest of the experience all I could think was "AAAAAGGGGGHHHHH OWIE OWIE OWIE" And that is pretty much what came out of my mouth. I didn't even get to finish my second episode of season one before the contractions got so strong I didn't know what I wanted. I didn't want to sit, I didn't want to lay down, I didn't/couldn't stand and walk, I wanted to get on all fours but didn't want my bare butt to be bared to all. I just got to where I didn't want anything. I didn't want Matt to touch me, but I wanted him to rub my back, then he did and I didn't want him to anymore. I finally just started to cry. And then realized I forgot to put on my waterproof mascara.

My left hand started to go numb due to the hyperventilating I was doing. I couldn't slow my breathing down. The nurse came in and helped to coach me through the breathing for a bit to help calm me and she got me in a sitting position and showed Matt how to push against my knees to ease some of the pressure. It helped a little. Just not enough. She said that during my check to see how far along I was, I was a 6 but I was progressing very quickly and that was probably causing a lot of the pain and she said I was hyper stimulating a little from the pitocin so that was another factor. She was great by not just going and getting the anesthesiologist. She asked and I just cried and told her I was scared to get one. After getting poked in the spine 3 times last time, I just wasn't interested. She assured me he was amazing and so I caved and told her to get him in. She had me go use the restroom and I must say that is very difficult. Your body doesn't want to pee at a time like this. And as I mentioned before, the stupid toilet paper roll!! It was so stiff, it would only give you a square at a time. I finally cursed it while I went through 3 contractions just to get what I wanted off. I finally quit and used a paper towel.

I am a needle phobe. I hate them, I don't want to be stuck by someone I don't know, I have trouble almost every time they come near me. But I just couldn't stand the transitional phase any more. I think she told the doc that I was terrified, he was very nice to me and gentle and helped coach me through the contractions also. Because I was so scared though, it felt nice to be able to yell through the icky parts like the lidocain and the initial pressure of the poke and the threading of the catheter. Especially since he kept nicking a nerve and making my leg feel like it was being electrocuted. I told him it was the contractions, which to some extent it was, but it was very freeing to yell out my fear. At the same time, he was telling the paramedic student everything that was going on and why things were the way they were. It was comforting for me to know the ins and outs of the epidural. I am not one to say ignorance is bliss with a lot of things and a needle in my spine is one of those things I'd like to know as much as I can. He was telling the student if I felt something/this is why. Or if I felt something else/this is why. He let me know that it takes about 15 minutes for it to get numb, so hopefully I won't progress too quickly and have it all be for naught. Once I started relaxing, I felt very light headed and had a severe headache and my blood pressure dropped. That made me panic in my head, but I was too tired to care. The nurse gave me O2 and in about a minute I felt so much better!! Stupid hyperventilating. =)



The nurse didn't even get a chance to put the catheter in. She checked me and there was baby head hair. I told her there was pressure and she got the gloves on just in case Housel didn't make it. I still felt my feet, I still felt my stomach, Oh My! Am I going to feel the whole thing? I didn't know! Housel got there just in time. I pushed once, her head was out and she tried to cry. She was crying before they could get her on my stomach. Poor little girl was ready to join us. It was really funny that he put her on my stomach back to me. No one verified that she was a girl. I kept waiting and waiting and no one said anything... in the end, she was still a girl =D.



I want to thank Matt for being so great this time around. It's easier to know what to do when I ask for it and having it not be the first time around. Thanks for the back rubs, thanks for holding my hand, and thanks for keeping your thoughts to yourself until after she was born, haha. I'm glad you were able to stay with me in the hospital. Thank you for filling my water and getting me juice and coke at my whims. I love you!



I also want to thank my mom. She was great also. Thanks for helping me move around and not saying anything about me not know what I wanted near the end. It has to be frustrating to sit and watch. Thanks so much for wiping my face with a wet washcloth and for wiping my nose when I cried. And for wiping away my drippy mascara. Thanks for holding my hand and helping me maneuver with all the things hooked up to me. And thanks for being such a great Nana. I love you!



Again, thanks Kirk and Jerri for watching Linus. There is no way to tell you what a help that was!

And Thanks to Miss A for watching Moxie. Even though she came home and pouted at me for 3 days, I am glad you have your dogs to run her ragged. She needed it.

So, Beatrice Grace Bailey made her debut into the world weighing in at 7 pounds (technically it was 6 pounds 15.6 ounces) and 19 inches long. Her head was covered in thick black hair and I think she's beautiful and perfect. And so began the first day of the rest of her life.