Tabitha's Birth Story finally!

Tabitha is here! I am finally finding the time to update and send out her story and pics. She is doing great! We are trying to get this bfing thing down. She was born on June 29 at 3:16 pm. She was 8 lbs. and 20 inches long and healthy! I am doing great.

Here is our story:
I checked into the hospital on Monday morning at 7:30 am for my induction. I was feeling great and even decided to wear makeup this time so at least a few of my pics would look good. Then they started me on IV fluids. This was awful. They had a really hard time getting my veins to cooperate and had to stick me 4 times before it worked. I was in tears it hurt so bad.

The nurse checked me at around 10:00 after I got settled into a room and I was dialated to 3 cm and about 50% effaced. Then they gave me an enema. That was fun. I can't remember what time they administered the pitocin.

They started the epidural at 10:30. My epi w/ my first DD wasn't bad at all, but for some reason they had a hard time this time. It hurt really bad!!!! For some reason when I was bending over my vertebrae were not seperating and he kept having to move it around. It was really bad.

At 11:00 the doc came in and broke my water and inserted an internal monitor and a catheter. This didn't hurt at all. She said I was 4 cm and 75% effaced at this point. My left leg became completely numb, but not my right. It was weird and this didn't happen last time either. I was numb "down there" but not in the legs the first time I had one. They had to pick my leg up and move it for me. At first after the epi I did not feel my contractions at all and they were progressing pretty good. I started to get stressed because I could feel a lot more in my right side and thought the epi only worked on one side.

At 12:30 I really started feeling contractions but only on my right side. I kept topping off my epi but it didn't seem to help on my right side. They didn't hurt too bad yet. They were 2-3 minutes apart lastig 45-50 seconds and moderately strong (7 out of 10).

At 2:15 I was really feeling the contractions on my right side and they were starting to hurt so we called the anesthesiologist to come back and check it. They did an ice test and it seemed like it was partially working on my right side because the ice wasn't cold to the touch. But I could still feel the contractions on my right side so they said they would add something more to it. My contractions were 2 minutes apart lasting 60 seconds. They felt like about a 6 or 7 to me, but the nurse told me that they were actually about a 10 and the worst they would get, so the epi was working just not as good as on the left side. I felt nothing on my left side.

At 2:30 they checked me and I was dialated to a 10 and my contractions were 1 minute apart.

At 2:45 I was at a station 0, complete, and having very strong contractions. They said that they were going to let me start pushing to push through the pain. They said that I was mostly feeling the pressure of the contractions and not the pain, but it was a little painful. Tolerable though. I couldn't believe it was already time to start pushing!

At 3:00 they had me try pushing so they could see how well I did. I pushed 2 times and they told me to stop because I was pushing too good and I needed to wait for the doctor. I couldn't feel at all when I was pushing. It was weird. With my first DD I felt a ton of pressure when I pushed and it hurt. This didn't hurt at all so apparently the epi worked. They had me push a few more times because the doc was on her way and I pushed 4 more times and they said stop, she's crowning and the do is not here yet!
I had to wait for the doc to come in and she came in, I pushed and she came out at 3:16 pm weighing 8 lb. 0.06 oz. and 20 inches!!! I couldn't feel any pain and it was amazing. Then we had to wait a few minutes to push out the placenta before I could hold her. I was frustrated because I just wanted to hold her! It was overwhelming seeing and hearing her. They didn't have to cut me this time, but I did tear some and she had to stitch me up. I kept watching everyone tell me how beautiful she was and show me to her, and I just wanted to hold her!!! The doctor finally finished stitching me and they gave her to me to hold. It was amazing! Then after I got cleaned up, they let the kids come in and meet her and that was pretty neat too, showing them their new sister for the first time. It was all an amazing experience and I feel so blessed. They kicked everyone out that came in to meet her and moved me to a real room while they took her to the nursery to finish cleaning her up and I had a pizza waiting for me so I finally got to eat. I was starving!
After everyone left I just held her and fed her and held her some more. I didn't want to put her down!!! She is so wonderful! I was feeling great and I didn't feel like I had just had a baby. That didn't kick in for a couple of days. I was running on adrenaline! I am a little sore from the stitches, but it's not too bad. I had to take motrin for a few days for the pain in my back where the epi was, but nothing too bad. She was bfing right away and I was so excited. However, apparently she was not latching on because after 3 times, I started cracking and hurting like no other pain i have ever felt. She bites and sucks so hard that I couldn't handle it. I was in tears from the pain. I started pumping and giving her bottles until I could heal and I met with a breastfeeding consultant. She helped me a lot and now breastfeeding is goind great! We came home on Wednesday and she is doing great.

She has gained weight and is almost back up to her birth weight of 8 lbs. BTW- I have lost 19 pounds since I had her- the 5 pounds that I gained while I was pregnant plus another 14 pounds! BFing is really helping!

Here are some pics at the hospital:
http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/v730/kristirichards1/Tabitha%20hospital/

Here are the pics since she has come home:
http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/v730/kristirichards1/Tabitha%20hospital/Tabitha%20is%20Home/