Birth Story and 3 Weeks

So yesterday Aubrey was 3 weeks old. I can't even believe I'm typing those words, I have a beautiful little baby girl who has only been in my life for 3 weeks...but at the same time I can't even imagine my life without her. The last few weeks have been amazing, and stressful, and tiring, and full of love, and starting in awe of this perfect baby that somehow hubby and I created. And even though she's here in my arms, sometimes I still think back to the day she was born and feel like it was all a dream. Even my pregnancy seems like it happened a million years ago. I think its just so amazing how in one day everything can change so drastically, it makes the whole birth experience even that much more amazing in my mind.

So this is going to be long and over detailed, because I have the worst memory and don't want to forget anything! Aubrey's birth really couldn't have gone more smoothly. I always imagined those typical tv scenarios, waking up in the middle of the night...shaking hubby awake with the words "its time". Frantically packing up the car and heading to the hospital. Well, ours was the complete opposite. I woke up on Saturday 1/8 and felt the teeniest bit crampy. I'm talking period is three days away crampy, nothing I would have considered could have turned into labor. BUT, I was almost a week late at this point. So hubby and I decided to get up and go to brunch...we had been on house arrest all week and had both been working from home all day, so we finally needed to get out of the house. We both showered, and during the shower I felt what I thought were a couple more substantial cramps...but again small enough where I was questioning if I was just so desperate to go into labor that I was making them up in my mind.

Hubby even asked who goes into labor on a Saturday morning? I mean really it was too perfect, we were both home, Hubby wasn't downtown at work or anything, we both showered, I dried my hair, did my makeup, it was way too convenient if I really went into labor. So off to brunch we went and I was still feeling crampy. The first place we picked had a 20 minute wait so we drove off to the next place. During this drive the crampiness became more like super mild contractions, every 10 min or so there was a teeny cramp. I of course blanked on what the baby class said as far as timing and when to go in, so I decided to call the dr and ask. Hubby was passing a gas station and decided to fill up the car, just in case we needed to head downtown. Also, it was a beautiful sunny day so he said might as well get a car wash while we're at it.

So we're in the car wash line, and there are about 4 cars ahead and now 4 cars behind. And I jokingly said to hubby wouldn't it be hilarious if I went into labor and you had to back out all these cars, hah! Literally 5 seconds later my water broke...and my words to hubby were "omg, something is coming out of me!". It was such a weird sensation, like warm pee running out of you and not being able to stop. Luckily hubby had put a towel in the car for this exact situation, and we both were just laughing hysterically! I think we were both in shock it was finally happening, and that we were stuck in the car wash line of all places. So while I called the dr. back to give them an update we sat and waited to go through the car wash, and yes we kept the receipt and its definitely going in Aubrey's baby book!

So the Dr. said to come on down, and we went home and cleaned up, grabbed our hospital bags and drove downtown. On the way down my contractions started heating up, every few minutes and were comparable to period cramps. I was admitted right way once we got to the hospital, and we had to wait about two hours until the delivery room was ready and we got to go upstairs. During this time I was still dealing with the period cramps every few minutes, but the nurse said I was only a 1. I always new I was going to get the epidural, so the minute I got upstairs and got my IV I asked for the epidural girl to give it to me. My pain was just starting to get worse than period cramps, and that was enough for me! Man, was that epidural amazing...I mean the idea of it was totally scary, and being the huge baby I am I totally cried when they made Ryan leave the room. But it was really no big deal, a tiny sting when they put in the numbing stuff and then boom, my legs were nice and tingling and I felt nothing in the way of cramps.

So from here out the story is pretty boring, the nurse kept checking on me and I was still a 1 up until midnight when they finally decided to give me pitocin. Then things finally got moving, I think I was a 4 at about 3am, and a 8 around 5am when the dr. came in and "stretched" me out to a 10. They let me sit a little longer to let the baby move down so I wouldn't have to push as long. Which apparently worked because the dr. came in at 6:30ish and Aubrey was born at 6:57! The pushing was no big deal at all, and as I was having her I actually thought omg, I'm not going to tear because I really couldn't feel a thing...wishful thinking I might add. Because she was late she did have meconium, so the dr. warned us there was be a team from peds in the room when she was born to make sure it didn't get into her lungs. So when Aubrey made her arrival, the Dr. announced she was a girl...to my and hubby's total dismay and they took her over to the baby table. It seemed like an eternity before I got to hold her, probably only 15 minutes or so while they cleaned her up and tubed out the meconium. I was bawling with excitement and worry, but hubby was there watching and kept saying she's okay, she's okay.

When they finally brought her over to me it was the most amazing feeling in the world. She was so beautiful, and teeny, and perfect...and most importantly she was ours. It was the most wonderful experience and her birth couldn't have gone any better. Not to mention when they wheeled us up to the recovery room we got the corner suite with a gorgeous view of La.ke Mi.chigan and the Han.cock building!

So there is so much more to discuss but I'll save that for another day, right now I need to do some major blog catch up! There are so many blogger babies on the horizon, can't wait to see how everyone is doing.