Friday, August 19, 2011

And we're off!

...like a herd of turtles...
I started our family blog a few weeks ago and so far we have one awesome Youtube. Gotta start somewhere right? I hope this venture will help us stay connected to family and friends as well as kind of a scrapbook for Riley, since so far I have been unsuccessful at scrapbooking. Here's a good story for the purpose, previously posted on my VA family's blog.

Riley Kay Munion: June 20, 2011

Baby post by special request: (Emmy, this is for you)
For those of you who still read the blog (Emmy), here is the story of sweetums birth.
As Riley was four days late and I didn't want her to miss her grandma's visit, Mom having flown out for the occasion, I decided to be induced on Monday morning. Birthing wings are pretty busy here so we were relieved when the hospital called and told us we could come in at six am. I yelled upstairs to wake Mom and Dave and then went and jumped on Dave for good measure. I was so excited!

In the hospital:
Once there and hooked up to the monitors, we saw that what I thought was just baby stretching out were actually contractions about five to seven minutes apart. Yeah! Once they started me on pitocin they picked up pretty quick and I could definitely recognize them. About ten thirty I was ready for the epidural. As much as needles freak me out the contractions were worse. And what bliss! After the epidural was in I slept for the better part of five hours. Dave and Mom bonded I guess.

At five thirty ish I was dilated to seven cm and they let the epidural wear off some so that I could feel when I needed to push. Mom and Dave were there holding my hand and getting me ice chips (did you know hospitals provide FLAVOR for their ice chips? 7-11 style, fantastic). Dad and Tim arrived after driving all day from Nebraska. My progress had been real slow and steady so I convinced Mom to let Dad and Tim take her back to our house so she could shower and get her stuff and check into the hotel with Dad and Tim. They got lost on the way and Dave was on the phone giving directions when the nurse checked me and said, "You are at a ten, the baby is right there - are you ready to push? Oh - and she has hair - I can feel it." Ok. Dave told Mom and Dad did a U-turn and the nurse said I could wait till Mom arrived push. Waiting when you have the urge is HARD. But its also a strategy, called "rest and descend", apparently. Shortens pushing time.

Mom got there and I started pushing at six thirty. It took two contractions for the baby to crown but then she was stuck behind my pelvis for a long time. Too much info? haha. After 45 ish minutes the doctor says, "Baby's not happy anymore, we need to get her out!" She was out in two contractions, thankfully, but when they put her on my chest she wasn't breathing or moving and and her heart rate was 4. eek! The NICU team came in and started to CPR and gave her a shot and got her to cry after five minutes. That cry seemed like the most beautiful noise I'd ever heard and I started to cry too. Oh by the way, she was 7 lbs 1 oz, 19 inches long, and born at 7:22 PM.


They let me breastfeed her and then she and Dave went to the nursery where they cleaned her up. I got dinner brought into the labor room - chicken alfredo, zucchini, milk, roll, and cookies - it all tasted fantastic after a food-less day.


Then we all took ourselves to a recovery room with a pull-
out bed for Dave and said goodnight to everyone at ten o'clock.


We slept in the hospital for two nights. The first night I didn't sleep very well mostly because I was processing the past 24 hours, and partly because I'd slept a lot in the day. Dave I don't think slept well either night - he was on the alert for if I or baby needed help. The second night we let the nurses take Riley to the nursery when we went to bed so we could get some more rest, but I woke up at three missing her and went to get her. She was in the middle of being tested but I got a nurse to promise to bring her back to us as soon as she was done. I guess after being with someone constantly for over ten months, you get separation anxiety when they are gone? I don't know - the hormones were interesting too. I might have had some mild baby blues for a few days, tearing up for no reason, but now I feel good. Recovery has been relatively quick and I'm enjoying doing things I couldn't while pregnant - painting my toenails, eating after seven pm, buttoning my pants...Riley must be the sweetest baby in the world - I'm besotted, as is Dave. People from the ward have brought us dinner the past three nights, and we have gotten lots of visits and calls from family and friends who we are happy to have share this occasion with. Life is grand :)

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