The Aftermath

Well, it's time for the super long play-by-play of childbirth that no one really wants to read, but I need to get down so that I don't forget all the details!

First, let me calm any fears you may have that I am deep in the throes of postpartum depression. After having the baby and seeing her face, a lot of the fear and stress left immediately. I still have moments of the "Baby Blues" mostly when I am overwhelmed or really tired, but for the most part things have been good.

Okay, so let me start off with a few pictures taken in the last weeks of pregnancy.

This picture was taken at 38 weeks, I believe. I couldn't believe how big my bell had gotten, basically overnight! So I took a picture of it for two of my bestie's as proof!

So this is actually two different pictures within DAYS of each other. The one on the left I look like a huge whale, all spread out and crazy, and then two or three days later, the baby dropped and she was like a ball in my stomach! I just had to document that.

Since I was at risk for gestational hypertension, and had gestational diabetes, my doctor decided he didn't want me to go over my due date. I REALLY didn't want to be induced, because the induction with Christian was horrible, but having her come on her own was not meant to be. We ended up at the hospital on June 10th, 2013 at 7:00 am. I got all checked in and they started the induction process. My body was not ready, I was only dilated to a 1, my cervix was really not soft or anything. My doctor wanted to give me the misoprostal pills vaginally (thanks doc) to help soften my cervix and get the contractions started. These were given every 4 hours. With Christian, I was only able to have 2 doses of this before my contractions got too close together and they had to switch to pitocin. This time around, I was able to take 5 doses before my body started to take over on the contractions. The only lame part of miso is that you have to lay on one side for an hour after it is given, then you can use the restroom and then you have to lay on your side for a second hour. This is killer for a pregnant woman who CAN'T get comfortable to save her life! Since my blood pressure was good though, after the second hour, I was able to get up and go walking. Jared and I walked all over the hospital trying to get the contractions to really start. We basically did this the entire day.

Oh, I forgot to mention, about 10 am that morning, we got a call from our alarm company saying that our alarm was going off. Oh joy! So my dad went over to check the place out and everything was fine - just a false alarm. We ended up getting a total of THREE false alarms while I was in labor (one of which was at 2:30 in the morning!)! Um, hello! That is way too much stress for a pregnant woman in labor! I think my cat was going crazy or something, because we still have no idea what would have set off the motion detectors.
All I can say is that I hated our alarm that day.

About 10:00 pm on the 10th, the contractions started to really get going. Jared was exhausted and so he ended up sleeping while I labored a bit. What a wimp. He slept longer than me, had a HUGE energy drink, and was still asleep before I was. Lame. About midnight, things started getting painful and I was at a 4. The nurse asked me if I wanted an epidural then and I decided I wanted to labor a little longer before I got one. Now keep in mind I had always planned to have an epidural, I just didn't want to slow things down before they really got going! At about 4:00 am I was at a 6 and felt comfortable getting an epidural then so that I could rest and relax before I needed to push.

This epidural was NOT as good as the one I got with Christian. The anesthesiologist had me sit on the bed and kind of kept rearranging me until she thought I looked level. I felt level and she said, "I think your right side is a little too far forward" so she had me move it farther back. This felt "uneven" to me, but I didn't say anything...and I should have! She gave me the epidural and it hurt SO BADLY but only on my right side, and then...only my right side went numb. Awesome. I couldn't even move that right leg. It was the most bizarre feeling and I hated it. I told them the problem and so they just pumped more drugs in. That took all the pain away, but now my right side was completely immovable.

I was able to sleep a bit, like I said, and about 9:30, the pain started again..and it was bad. They checked me and I was at a 10. Again, the pain was localized on the left side. The anesthesiologist came back and finally did SOMETHING to help with the pain on the left side. I began to push a bit because it felt better, and "labor down" for about 45 minutes.This is where things started to suck. For some reason, when I would push, baby's heart rate would drop, but only if I was on my back or on my left side. So they had me lay on my right side with my left leg in the air, gripping the side of the bed to push. Uh....that's all I want to do, keep my leg in the air! They also put an oxygen mask on me, which is horrible. It's huge and hot and heavy and you feel like you can't breathe...all I wanted to do was rip it off my face! The whole time I was just praying that the baby would be okay. So many people have had to get emergency c-sections because the baby's heart rate would drop as they were pushing and I was just terrified that after 27 hours of labor, I would end up getting a c-section! Luckily, she stabilized and I was able to roll onto my back and begin to push.

From the first push, Jared, Dr. Knight and the two nurses said, "I can see hair!". They were so encouraging! Well, if you have seen pictures of her you know she has A LOT of hair, so she probably wasn't as close as everyone thought! lol

I ended up pushing for 15 minutes and all of a sudden the doctor said, "Oh! There are eyes! She is face up!" and the nurses said, "She is sunny-side up!". They had NO IDEA that she was face up until they saw her eyes because she had soooooooooooo much hair, they thought it was the back of her head! hahaha My doctor said that it was pretty impressive that I pushed out a baby face-up in 15 minutes, and that it was the equivalent of delivering a 12 pound baby, so now he knows I have nothing to worry about with big babies...uhhh....thanks doc. I hope he didn't jinx me!

So baby was born and she gave out the weirdest, deepest cry I have ever heard...it was more like a moan. It creeped me out. THEN, they put her on my chest and it was like deja vu. This little girl looked JUST LIKE Christian. It was beyond bizarre and I was speechless. Then they weighed and measured her and she was almost EXACTLY the same size as Christian had been. I couldn't believe it. I felt like I was reliving my first birth experience. She was beautiful though, and Jared was instantly in love, it was adorable.

Now here are the pictures you have been waiting for!

Here she is right after birth. Leila Ruth Joyner. Such a sweetie!

Oh, I forgot to mention. I ended up getting poked 3 times for the IV. This is the aftermath of try number 2!

These pictures are both taken within the first 5 days of life. My beautiful babies.

Look at those squishy cheeks!

Christian loves to pick out Leila's headbands. Here he is sporting his favorite!

Jared has more pictures on his phone, and I asked for them, but....as you can see, he hasn't complied. He is fired. I will have to take matters into my own hands ;)

All in all, we are settling in. Leila is pretty much the best baby ever, so I am trying to enjoy it before she turns into a complete hormonal mess when she is older. The hardest part was WAKING HER UP to eat. She basically slept the first two weeks and it was frustrating trying to get her to eat. Now she is on a 3-hour schedule like a champ and sleeps 5-6 hours a night. Basically - amazing. In other words, I should not look as tired and haggard as I do :) We are still getting to know each other, but she is a sweet girl and definitely Daddy's little princess already!