More Details (L&D and all that jazz :))

Well, since it's been a few days and I'm still delinquint in the picture area I thought I'd jot down a few details about my labor and delivery (mostly for myself to remember in the years to come, but I know I like to read about that kind of stuff...so this if for you ladies (or men :)) out there that enjoy all the "juicy" details too! :)). I truly have had to admit my limitations this week as we've been back in the "swing of things"...having a newborn and 3 other busy kids (plus the lack of sleep, back pain and half of our household with colds) have all really put a damper in my blogging/emailing/general functioning abilities. But, I didn't have high expectations as far as that goes, so I guess that's good.....but I do promise to post some new pics as soon as daddy Kev can put them on a website or at least get them on our computer....cuz I truly can't wait to show off more photos of our newest beautiful girl...the ones we already posted truly don't do her justice...she's as pretty as they come!

Anyway...so before I forget and without furter ado I thought I'd jot down my whole "labor of love" story from this weekend :) My dear, sweet hubby tried to keep all the info up-to-date on a notepad even though he was as exhausted as I was that night....and we had the sweetest L&D nurse (Karen) who actually printed out my contractions/baby heart-rate chart and wrote down all the details of my dilation, etc (complete with girly scrapbook stickers). How awesome is that!? I so appreciated that in the midst of the blurriness of that night as now I'm able to really sit and look at the details and remince about what a miracle it all was.....

So, if you read my blog that early Sunday morning you know we headed to the hospital around 2am. My contractions had been coming on and off that whole Saturday before. I tried to keep moving even through the pain and exhaustion cuz I really had a feeling "this was it" and didn't want it all to stop and have to be induced. And I guess that last minutes shopping spree at the mall with Nina and the jaunt to the park with the kids that evening must have helped cuz by 10pm my contractions were picking up in consistency and getting much stronger (5-10 minutes apart and 60-90 seconds long). Still manageable, but definitely real. Kev started to time them about that time and I think he knew this was IT too cuz he decided to go to bed early and get "some" rest. I think he got an hour and by midnight I was really uncomfortable and I had to wake him up...I'm sorry, but it's sooooo hard for a laboring woman to keep track of her own contractions as far as timing/duration go....cuz at times it was all I could do not to crawl out of my own skin screaming and waking up the whole neighborhood! :) A little before 2am we put a call into the doc's office. She called right back and I was slightly annoyed that she felt like she had to talk to me instead of Kev....I wasn't really in a place to be gabbing and giving details. And what kind of question is "so, what's going on?" I think those were her words when I got on the phone. Isn't that a no-brainer question for an almost 41 week pg lady! Anyway...so we were "ok'd" to go the hospital and we threw all our stuff in the car and off we went saying a quick goodbye to Nina who was just going off to bed herself...

Honestly my contractions were not horrible at this point. I remember Dylan's being much worse, but I also remember how sporadic his were and how far along I was once I got to the hospital...and I didn't want to take any chance as far as not getting the epidural....that was top priority! So, I was admitted at 2:30am and when they checked me I was 4-5cm/100% effaced/-1 station. Not surprising at all since I had been 3cm that whole week. I got lucky at this point cuz the anethesiologist was right outside my door and if I wanted an epidural I had to do it NOW! I didn't need to be pursuaded and in he came! YAY! Honestly I had had some passing thoughts of trying to do "au natural" labor....but I had two good reasons for NOT going with that option....first was the pain (duh!)...not the pain of labor, but the pain of the birth (I always tear or have episiotomies and I didn't want to feel that kind of pain....I think I could have stood the whole contraction thing, but the cutting and pushing a watermelon out of me...that was not something I wanted to feel!)...plus I was really exhausted having this be another "night" delivery...and Kev was semi-equally tired and I wanted us both to get some rest or at least for him not to have to hear me in sheer agony for hours.....thus, the epidural was my new best friend that night at about 3am :)

Ok, so the epidural could have it's own blog post, but I won't bore you with ALL those details! I'll just say that it didn't work right away and only worked on half my body for half the time. Ugh! Actually, it's sorta funny (and sorta not) but the doc/anesthesiologist and I had joked beforehand about how it only half works for some people and then lo and behold that very thing ended up happening to me. Not what I intended. The right side of my body was nice and comfy, but the left side was feeling everything and feeling it for the right side too (or so it felt). I could feel every contraction for about 2 hours after the epidural went in. I didn't complain for awhile, but honestly if you pay to have an epidural and go throught the pain in your back of getting it in you, you may as well have it work....so after a couple hours the nurse propped me on my left side and gave me a few boluses of extra epidural fluid and an hour or so after that it all seemed to numb right up (thank goodness!!!). Cuz that's probably when the horrible last phase of labor was setting in.....

Anyway....so by that time I was sitting pretty with my numb body and feeling no pain. I was unfortunately feeling very nauseous and shaking like a leaf. I think both were side effects of the epidural though I know labor can do that to you too. So, needless to say I puked the last part of labor, which wasn't much fun and I was truly trembling from head to foot...also not fun. But, at least I was doing both in very little pain! :) I even got a few nods of sleep in amidst the puking and shakes...Kev tried too, but sleeping on those hospital sofas isn't very conducent to a comfortable rest. I thought my doc would come in and break my water shortly after my 3am epidural, but she must have dozed off to sleep herself cuz by 7am I was still laboring and still pg. I think my mom called about this time hoping we'd had the baby....I think Kev jokingly told her we had and it was a boy :) (he's so mean!). Anyway....finally my OB came in at 7:15am to break my water only to find it had already broken in the 4 hours she was sleeping! She wanted to know when it had happened and I kinda glared at her like, "how do I know...I can't feel anything down there!". But, I'm guessing it happened one of the times I was puking or shaking! But, that was the first time my water has broken on it's own...usually I have a bulging bag at 10cm. Thankfully the water was clear and I was 8cm dilated/100% effaced/0 station....and an hour later at 8:20am I was at 10cm (and told there was a "very hairy baby head" sitting right there ready to come out!). And you all know she was born at 8:30 so things went VERY fast at this point!

Actually the doc wasn't even in the room and I was feeling pressure (this was at 8:20) and then I felt the horrible urge to puke and the nurse got really nervous. She said something about how she'd had women "vomit babies" out and of course that made me feel so great...but I could not control the urge to puke and did so right then...but luckily the doc came in at that point so if she "fell out of me" it would have been ok. With that I pushed once and the head was out and then again and SHE was out! YAY!!! I don't think I've ever had the fast of a delivery (as far as the pushing went...I think the actual labor part was longer than Dylan's by an hour or two...and instead of an episiotomy like with my last 3 I had a 2nd degree laceration...not sure if that's better or worse, but when you push sumo-sized babies out what do you expect?!?)....but out our new baby daughter came at 8:30am on Sunday, September 21st 2008! What a glorious moment that was. She was absolutely beautiful (which, honestly, I knew she would be...but I think all us mamas worry about having "ugly babies", so it put a smile on my face to see she was as gorgeous as her big sisters!)....she had a head full of dark hair...very similar to Hailey's wild dark mane when she was born...and she had the fullest and plumpest little face with this sweetest little mouth (also like Hailey's). She really was/is the spitting image of Hailey.....but then there was her size. I think the doc said something about how big she was when she came out, and she said she'd be in the 9lb range, but none of us thought she'd be trying to outdo her brother in that area....but lo and behold when they put her on the scale she was just a half ounce smaller than him! We were all shocked.....another 9lb, 15oz baby who also was 22.5 inches tall (exactly like Dylan was!)...very coincidental. The scale actually weighed Ashley at 9, 14.1, but somehow the computer rounded that up so we ended up with 9, 15? Weird.

And just like that we had a new daughter....as beautiful as the rest of our kiddos and perfect in every way (Apgars 8 & 9). The feelings of that whole morning are more than I can put into words. To see your 4th baby born is like seeing your 1st...it's still such a miracle and still so emotional...especially when your 4th looks like your 1st (and honestly I'd do it all over again if I could...I love the whole excitement surrounded births!). It has all brought back so many memories. I feel blessed to the core by our new sweet daughter. Ashley was her name right away, but as far as middle name...well, that took a couple hours (even though I thought it was decided)....finally Kev let me pick Claire :) I have always loved that name since Dylan's birth....and so it was/is......we have a new daughter, Ashley Claire. And honestly, it's like she's been here all along. She fits in perfectly. All the kids adore her. Hailey, of course, is like a second mom...so gentle with her and I'm sure they'll have an amazing bond. I know if I need a bathroom run or a quick break Hailey can watch Ashley and my heart won't worry. The younger sibs on the otherhand...sometimes they love Ashley a little too much. They mean well, but Dylan just doesn't grasp the concept of carefulness and he still runs/races cars/throws balls around her like she's a baby doll on the ground. But, he is so darn sweet every day as he hops onto our couch and says "hold my baby?" He really does love "his baby" and he actually says her name quite well "Ashererly" :) And Shelby...she is what I call "the baby hog". If she had a choice she'd hold her lil' sister every waking minute of the day. And she is there at a moment's notice if I need a diaper or a pacifier. She is definitely into her sister! But, she too can have her moments of fiestiness around the baby....so all these things I have to watch....especially when I'm on my own again next week....

But, for now we are adjusting to the life of 6 in the Steg household. It's not always easy...the first night was semi-sleepless. She had slept all day and wanted to eat/fuss all night. Kev was especially exhausted...I actually felt more rested than I did in the hospital. Last night Ashley slept almost the entire night...unfortunately for me my milk came in and since she didn't eat much I felt like I was sleeping with two huge rocks on my front side :( Not great timing, but I think at least daddy Kev slept better? My back is feeling better as long as I don't lift much and keep popping the tylenol. And Ashley...she is truly just the sweetest thing. She had a sorta fussy day yesterday, but I fear she has a slight cold due to me, Nina and Big Bro all being sick around her birth....so I'm hoping that was the reason for the crying yesterday. Today she has been sleeping since 5am (6 hours ago)...and doing so very peacefully in Poppi's arms :)

So, things are good. It's definitely an adjustment having a newborn again and also having 3 kids to care for (not exactly like the lazy days of just having Hailey to care for), but Nina and Poppy are helping and so many others have offered their support and help. We can't thank you all enough....to all of those who have visited (and will visit! :))...to all the emails (which I have yet to read, but can't wait!), to all the blog comments, and all the gifts and flowers and phonecalls. Truly...it's so wonderful to be wrapped in love at this time. I've been super emotional the last couple days (wonder why?!), so knowing I am thought of and prayed for is near and dear to my heart. We feel so blessed in so many ways....not only by our sweet new daughter, but by all of you who support us and share in our joy.....thank you!!!

Well, I know that was an eye-ful to read and I expect most of you didn't or skimmed it....but I just wanted to jot down my thoughts and such while they were semi-fresh in my brain. I promise to post some more pics by this weekend! And I hope to show off Ashley's darling hospital pic today if I can just figure out how to post the link! Love you all and thanks again for all the support!!!