Baby Adalee: The Birth Story

I'm warning all you readers now, this is going to be a long post.
Monday May 10 we had a Doctors appointment. He checked me and told me I was about a 2 or 2 1/2. He told me he was fine with me going a week overdue, but after a week we needed to start looking at inducing me. I was a little bummed I hadn't had this baby yet but I was ok with waiting another week. So we made another appointment for the following Monday.
Tuesday May 11 started out very ordinary and ended extraordinary!!! I woke up around 8:30 or 9 am, grabbed me a bowl of cereal and watched TV for a little bit. Cameron has Tuesdays off and he was still sound asleep in bed after I unsuccessfully tried to wake him up. (I usually let him sleep in on his days off because he works such long hours during the week and needs to catch up on his sleep. ) I started straightening up the house and doing a little bit of laundry. Around 11am I call to Cameron from the bathroom that I'm pretty sure my water broke. It was very convenient that I was on the toilet when it broke. That woke Cam up!!! He jumped out of bed and started scrambling. I literally had to grab him and tell him to calm down or he was going to freak me out. I wasn't having any contractions so I was confused if we should go to the hospital or wait for some contractions to begin. We kind of hung out at home for a while and finished gathering up any last minute things we would need at the hospital. We called our parents and then decided to head to the hospital. We arrived at the hospital around 12:30. I felt so weird checking into the hospital but not feeling "in labor". I always imagined myself in pain and having contractions when I got to the hospital. I was calm and happy, and I'm sure nobody believed me I was here to have my baby. By the time I got all hooked up to the monitors It was after 1pm. My parents came up and then Cameron's parents showed up soon after. They checked me when I got there and I was about a 3. The nurse came in around 2pm and told me my Doctor wanted to start me on Pitocin since I wasn't having contractions. I was kind of mad I had to be put on Pitocin because I had planned on being able to get up and move around during labor, instead I now had to stay in bed the entire time. We sat and visited with family for a few hours and they kept turning up my Pitocin dose. I eventually asked if I could sit at the edge of my bed because I was so uncomfortable laying down, they said I could as long as I kept all the monitors on. Cam was a great coach and was there to remind me to breathe and rub my back. As they increased my Pitocin I stared getting nauseated with every contraction. I really didn't want to throw up. I felt I was doing pretty good coping and managing my contractions and pain with breathing and focusing but soon my contractions were running back to back and I was getting no relief between them. That was when it got too much. I felt so sick and was having a hard time catching my breath so I asked for an epidural. The anesthesiologist came in and had me roll onto my side....that was when things got really bad. As soon as I rolled onto my side I started throwing up. I couldn't even concentrate on what the anesthesiologist was saying because I was having such bad contractions and felt so sick. I just let him do his thing. After the epidural the nurse checked me and I was at a 5. My Doctor came in shortly after that and told me he expected me to progress about 1 cm every hour so he estimated I would have the baby by 9 or 10 pm. A few contractions after the epidural the nurse came in again and said they were having a hard time finding the baby's heartbeat or it would drop with every contraction so they gave me oxygen and said if they still were having a hard time monitoring it they would have to place and internal monitor on the baby's scalp. She came back shortly after and said they need to place the monitor because the monitor couldn't pick up the heartbeat since my contractions were getting so much stronger. We kicked everyone out of the room so they could place the monitor and then the conversation goes as follows
Nurse: "Well we don't need the monitor, you're complete!"
Cameron:"Complete? What does that mean?"
Nurse: " She's completely dilated and ready to push."
Me: "Holy crap! Go tell my mom to come back into the room."
So Cam goes to get my mom as she is telling everyone in the waiting room that I'm only at a 5 and that I probably won't have the baby until 9 or 10.
I literally went from 5 cm to 10 cm in 30 minutes! They had me do some "test pushes" to see how well I did. Apparently I did too well because after pushing for 3 contractions they made me stop and roll onto my side and wait for the Doctor. He arrived 20 minutes later and after pushing for 3 contractions and a small episiotomy, they placed the prettiest baby girl on my chest!!! Adalee was born at 6:52pm. I was so glad they had a mirror in the room so I could see her being born. What an awesome experience! And I was so glad my mom was there to share that experience with us also. After she was born I was in my own little world and didn't even realize how much was going on around me, I was just focused on my sweet little baby. They got me and Adalee cleaned up, my mom stepped out of the room so we could just have a few minutes as a new family. I nursed her and then her daddy got to hold her for the first time. Cameron had a permanent smile on his face the whole night. He is such a proud daddy! Our hospital stay was great but we were sure anxious to go home. Enjoy a few pictures from our amazing day! After the epidural! and a much happier and less nauseated Ange

Adalee Marie Snyder 7lbs. 5 oz. 21 inches long!

Happy Daddy. I love it how she is just staring at him

I love this face!!!

I know this post is way overdue, but we are at home adjusting well. Addy is a great eater and a pretty good sleeper when her tummy doesn't hurt. Its amazing how much love you can have for someone you just met! We just can't get enough of our baby girl and Cam and I often fight over who gets to hold her. More pictures and updates coming soon. This time I promise not to wait so long.