Well folks, I have officially been a mommy for 10 days now.
Hadley Elizabeth Karch was born on February 5 at 4:22pm. She weighed 7 lbs, 12 oz and was 19 inches long.
The birth story:
On the way to the hospital. I was measuring 40 inches around.
I was induced Friday morning (the 4th) at 8:00am with cervadil. They monitored me for 2 hours, and like most people, I was sent home because nothing was happening.
So we waited and waited all day long. We went for a walk, watched some movies and then played some scrabble. It was during scrabble at about 8:00pm that I went into labor. The contractions were about 8 minutes apart. Funny side note: that morning when I was being induced I asked the nurse 'how do I know when I go into labor because I have been having so many braxton hicks, I don't know if I will know the difference' she responded with a 'ohhhhhh believe me, you will know the difference'. Was she ever right!! Real contractions feel nothing like braxton hicks!
Anywho, I tried to go to sleep, given the long road that I knew was ahead and that I should probably be rested. HA! There was no way I sleeping. Excitement mixed with contractions - yeah right! The contractions really weren't that bad though so I casually labored between my bed, the bathtub, and shower. By 2:00am they were 3-4 minutes apart so we decided to go into the hospital.
I went to admitting and was hooked up to the monitor and examined. No progress since the morning (when I was induced I was 1cm and my cervix was very high). Bummer. However, a loophole to being sent home presented itself: the nurse said that I had two options - one, get sent home, or two, f I wanted something for the pain (morphine) then I would have to stay at the hospital for another hour to be monitored.....brilliant!! I took the morphine! Which by the way, was a shot in my thigh/buttox and hurt more than the epidural. So from 4:00am - 5:00am we walked the halls and I ate lots and lots of ice chips. It really wasn't that bad though because I wasn't in active labor, so the contractions were minor. I was examined again at about 6:00am to find out that I had made about a 1/2 cm of progress. GREAT! However, loophole #2 presented itself: I was going to have to come back to the hospital at 8:00am for my second induction, so they gave us the option of just waiting it out at the hospital. Done. I REALLY did not want to go home. So, we spent another 2 hours walking the halls and I ate lots and lots of ice chips!
When 8:00am came around they examined me again and now I was 1 1/2 - 2 cm dialated. Oh boy. But the doctor on call (bless her heart) admitted me and said they would start me on an oxytocin drip. So I was moved to L&D and hooked up to the IV. My heavy contractions started right away. HoooooooooBooooyyyy did those puppies hurt. We decided to do some more walking (which was no joke almost the death of me - can anything prepare you for pain like that?) and when I returned to the room 45 minutes later, I was examined and voila, I had dialated from 1 1/2 to 6 cm in 45 minutes. No wonder it hurt.
EPIDURAL TIME!! The anethesiologist came in and started going over the risks.......blah, blah, blah.........I think my exact words were "I don't care......moan.....pant......get that thing in me!!!!!". After the epidural was in I went through about 2 more hours of labor and it was time to push!
I pushed miss Hadley out in 35 minutes which would have been 25 minutes had the doctor been ready........I had to wait 10 minutes with her crowning for the doctor to come!!! Wow, you want to talk pain......how about a freaking head half way through you for 10 minutes not being able to push!
When she popped out and they placed her on my chest it was the most surreal moment I have ever experienced in my life. Its just so amazing how in one instant my life completely changed. The creature who had been living inside of me for 9 months was really here. She was a real, living, breathing human being. No words can describe it.
I was in fact, so infatuated with her, that didn't even really notice them stitching me up for an hour.........yeah, I had a 3rd - 4th degree tear. Um, one word, OUCH!
Freshly out.
Yeah, I know its not the most flattering picture, but here we are for the first time as a family.
And here is my girl after being home for a few days.
Not going to lie, the last week and a half has been a whirlwind. There is so much that I wasn't expecting. To say its been hard doesn't encompass all of the emotions I have been feeling. Hadley is a good-ish baby, I think we have just been completely shocked into parenthood and all that it entails. Will I ever sleep again? Does the monotoney ever end? etc, etc, etc. I wish someone would have told me some of the things to expect. I beat myself up for a week straight thinking I was doing everything wrong. Why was my baby not as perfectly content as other people's babies seem to be. Or why was I not completely enamored by my baby on day one like so many other moms are. Or why can my baby not seem to get breast feeding!! Should it really take an hour to get her to latch!?
That being said, its amazing how quickly you do learn YOUR baby. Things are already getting easier and more enjoyable as we figure her out. I fall more and more in love with her everyday. I love just watching her facial expressions as she sleeps. I really am in awe of our little miracle.
One question I have for moms out there though: how do you switch a baby who has their days and nights mixed up? For example, trying to wake Hadley up during the day is the hardest thing, but at night she wont go to sleep!! I finish her last feeding and she is wide awake so we have to bounce her to sleep. Then we all go to sleep and she sleeps for about 4 hours before waking up to feed. I feed her and then she will NOT go back to sleep. Last night for instance she was wide awake from 3am-6am. SO frustrating!!! We dont let her nap for long spurts during the day and we have tried keeping her up during the day, but lets be honest, trying to keep a newborn awake is not the easiest thing to do. Advice???
Anywho, that is Hadley. She is beautiful. We love her. Life has changed!
We had our first photoshoot last week with the amazing Allison Cahoon, so you can go here to check out those pics.
Leah xoxo
Hadley Elizabeth Karch was born on February 5 at 4:22pm. She weighed 7 lbs, 12 oz and was 19 inches long.
The birth story:
On the way to the hospital. I was measuring 40 inches around.
I was induced Friday morning (the 4th) at 8:00am with cervadil. They monitored me for 2 hours, and like most people, I was sent home because nothing was happening.
So we waited and waited all day long. We went for a walk, watched some movies and then played some scrabble. It was during scrabble at about 8:00pm that I went into labor. The contractions were about 8 minutes apart. Funny side note: that morning when I was being induced I asked the nurse 'how do I know when I go into labor because I have been having so many braxton hicks, I don't know if I will know the difference' she responded with a 'ohhhhhh believe me, you will know the difference'. Was she ever right!! Real contractions feel nothing like braxton hicks!
Anywho, I tried to go to sleep, given the long road that I knew was ahead and that I should probably be rested. HA! There was no way I sleeping. Excitement mixed with contractions - yeah right! The contractions really weren't that bad though so I casually labored between my bed, the bathtub, and shower. By 2:00am they were 3-4 minutes apart so we decided to go into the hospital.
I went to admitting and was hooked up to the monitor and examined. No progress since the morning (when I was induced I was 1cm and my cervix was very high). Bummer. However, a loophole to being sent home presented itself: the nurse said that I had two options - one, get sent home, or two, f I wanted something for the pain (morphine) then I would have to stay at the hospital for another hour to be monitored.....brilliant!! I took the morphine! Which by the way, was a shot in my thigh/buttox and hurt more than the epidural. So from 4:00am - 5:00am we walked the halls and I ate lots and lots of ice chips. It really wasn't that bad though because I wasn't in active labor, so the contractions were minor. I was examined again at about 6:00am to find out that I had made about a 1/2 cm of progress. GREAT! However, loophole #2 presented itself: I was going to have to come back to the hospital at 8:00am for my second induction, so they gave us the option of just waiting it out at the hospital. Done. I REALLY did not want to go home. So, we spent another 2 hours walking the halls and I ate lots and lots of ice chips!
When 8:00am came around they examined me again and now I was 1 1/2 - 2 cm dialated. Oh boy. But the doctor on call (bless her heart) admitted me and said they would start me on an oxytocin drip. So I was moved to L&D and hooked up to the IV. My heavy contractions started right away. HoooooooooBooooyyyy did those puppies hurt. We decided to do some more walking (which was no joke almost the death of me - can anything prepare you for pain like that?) and when I returned to the room 45 minutes later, I was examined and voila, I had dialated from 1 1/2 to 6 cm in 45 minutes. No wonder it hurt.
EPIDURAL TIME!! The anethesiologist came in and started going over the risks.......blah, blah, blah.........I think my exact words were "I don't care......moan.....pant......get that thing in me!!!!!". After the epidural was in I went through about 2 more hours of labor and it was time to push!
I pushed miss Hadley out in 35 minutes which would have been 25 minutes had the doctor been ready........I had to wait 10 minutes with her crowning for the doctor to come!!! Wow, you want to talk pain......how about a freaking head half way through you for 10 minutes not being able to push!
When she popped out and they placed her on my chest it was the most surreal moment I have ever experienced in my life. Its just so amazing how in one instant my life completely changed. The creature who had been living inside of me for 9 months was really here. She was a real, living, breathing human being. No words can describe it.
I was in fact, so infatuated with her, that didn't even really notice them stitching me up for an hour.........yeah, I had a 3rd - 4th degree tear. Um, one word, OUCH!
Freshly out.
Yeah, I know its not the most flattering picture, but here we are for the first time as a family.
And here is my girl after being home for a few days.
Not going to lie, the last week and a half has been a whirlwind. There is so much that I wasn't expecting. To say its been hard doesn't encompass all of the emotions I have been feeling. Hadley is a good-ish baby, I think we have just been completely shocked into parenthood and all that it entails. Will I ever sleep again? Does the monotoney ever end? etc, etc, etc. I wish someone would have told me some of the things to expect. I beat myself up for a week straight thinking I was doing everything wrong. Why was my baby not as perfectly content as other people's babies seem to be. Or why was I not completely enamored by my baby on day one like so many other moms are. Or why can my baby not seem to get breast feeding!! Should it really take an hour to get her to latch!?
That being said, its amazing how quickly you do learn YOUR baby. Things are already getting easier and more enjoyable as we figure her out. I fall more and more in love with her everyday. I love just watching her facial expressions as she sleeps. I really am in awe of our little miracle.
One question I have for moms out there though: how do you switch a baby who has their days and nights mixed up? For example, trying to wake Hadley up during the day is the hardest thing, but at night she wont go to sleep!! I finish her last feeding and she is wide awake so we have to bounce her to sleep. Then we all go to sleep and she sleeps for about 4 hours before waking up to feed. I feed her and then she will NOT go back to sleep. Last night for instance she was wide awake from 3am-6am. SO frustrating!!! We dont let her nap for long spurts during the day and we have tried keeping her up during the day, but lets be honest, trying to keep a newborn awake is not the easiest thing to do. Advice???
Anywho, that is Hadley. She is beautiful. We love her. Life has changed!
We had our first photoshoot last week with the amazing Allison Cahoon, so you can go here to check out those pics.
Leah xoxo
