Monday, January 30, 2012

And we're back...






Hi, folks. I'm back. Tomorrow marks the last day of January and I can honestly say that I have survived one heck of a month!
Aside from being a tad "stopped up," Mattie is doing great. She's filling out, eating every 4 hours, starting to make eye contact and just as cute as she can be. Reagan loves on her a little too hard sometimes, but loves her baby sister to pieces. The first two weeks were ROUGH (emotional, sleepy, overwhelming, etc.) and ended with some tears as my mom went back to her real house. (I'm still trying to convince her that she and my dad need to buy a lot and build in our neighborhood) She did have to go and we had to start living real life eventually. And we have. Go me!
I always like hearing birth stories, so I thought I'd write Mattie's. Don't worry, I don't get too graphic.
Here goes it...
We moved on January 2nd. I 'thought' that would allow plenty of nesting time since I wasn't due until January 18th (which had been moved up from the 25th) Reagan and Winnie stayed with my parents after Grandaddy's funeral so that Devin and I could get things done without helpers stopping our progress.
The 2nd was a busy day, but we got it done. Tuesday the 3rd (my sister's birthday) was spent getting our new washer and dryer and a pedicure. The nail techs warned me that they had put women in labor more than once with their mad massage skills. I welcomed the risk, not thinking it was a reality.
That afternoon, my mom brought Reagan and Winnie back home and started helping me do a few things around the new casa. That night, as Reagan was getting ready for bed, I felt a random gush. (gross, I know. that's as graphic as I'll get.) I have never had any "issues" with bladder control, so I thought this was very strange. About 15 minutes later it happened again. So strange. I told myself that if it happened a third time I would call my doctor. It didn't happen. Luckily, I had a doctor's appointment the next morning at 9:20. With that thought in mind, I went on to bed.
Wednesday morning I woke up feeling a little funny. Around 7:30 I had a weird cramp. 5 minutes later, another one. 5 minutes after that, yet another. And so on. I told Devin to go on to work and I would call him if this was the real deal. My mom thought she better drive me to my appointment "just in case" and we decided to bring my hospital bag, too. She and I dropped Reagan off at preschool and went on our merry way...all the while I had cramping every 5ish minutes.
When I got to the doctor I told them something was up. I'm not sure if they believed me because it didn't seem like the message had reached Dr. Murray when she came into the room. She did a little test to see if my water had broken and told me that my strange gushes must have been something else. Say what?! Anyway, she examined me and I was dilated 3 cm. After assessing the situation, she decided that something was happening and sent me down to labor and delivery to be hooked up to monitors.
I arrived at labor and delivery around 10:30 or 10:45. My nurse was wonderful! We clicked right away. After my i.v. was in (not easily...had to dig around with the needle) and the monitors hooked up, my nurse told me I wasn't going home. I was contracting some every minute. Like whoa. I called Devin and told him it was really labor day and to hop on his horse and get to the hospital. (By the way, my nurse told me my gushes were probably a high rupture in my water)
Dr. Murray came in and broke my water and I was 5 cm. Contractions started getting stronger after that and I asked for my epidural. My next check, I was 7 cm. The anesthesiologist came in and administered the drugs (water continuing to gush as I sat hunched over a pillow). I waited and nothing. It was hurting. BAD. A few minutes later, nothing. A little longer. NOTHING. My next check I was dilated 9 cm. and my epidural WASN'T. WORKING. Finally, after 3 doses of drugs, wishing for death, about 45 minutes to an hour of I-can't-even-speak-pain and repositioning the line, my epidural started to work. I was 10 cm.
Mattie was not very far into the birth canal and her heart rate started dropping. I was so happy to finally be numb that I didn't really think much about the whole team of people in my room. They had me wait (at 10 cm) to see if she would drop further down and she didn't. Her heart rate was low and staying that way. Finally, after about a half hour, my doctor said I could push for an hour and a half, but she wouldn't let me. The baby needed to come out. So, there it was. Another C-Section for me. Honestly, I was ok with it. I wanted to see what it was like to go into labor on my own and I had. Off to the operating room we went.
This time was different than before. For one thing, the anesthesiologist was so nice and a lot more attentive than the jerk from the first time. He even massaged my shoulders when they started hurting from laying flat and spinal fluid leaking up. The radio was on and playing some of my favorite music. I was wheeled in to Aerosmith and during delivery Queen's Under Pressure was playing. (Seriously)
At 2:48 Mattingly Jo ("Mattie") Garofalo was born. She was pink and perfect. She weighed 7lbs. 9 oz. and was 20 inches long. She looks a lot like Reagan, but has different ears and eyes. It will be fun to see her change over the next few months.
My hospital stay was great. I didn't want to go home! My nurses were awesome and the quiet was wonderful.
Going home was hard. My house didn't feel like a home. Thank heaven for my mom. She cooked, cleaned, unpacked, did laundry, walked Winnie, drove Reagan to preschool, picked up carloads from the other house, you name it. What would I have done without her?
I experienced a whirlwind and needed some time to catch my breath. I'm thankful Mattie decided to come early and I didn't have to spend one more day pregnant. I haven't slept on my stomach yet, but I have a feeling it will be soon. Oh happy day!

Tuesday, January 10, 2012

How much can a person accomplish (survive?) in a week and a half?

How about this:
Have Christmas and New Year's
Lose and bury a grandparent
Close on a new house
Move into said house
Have a baby

It's true. I can do hard things. I am doing hard things. Very quickly. I'm fine. Just feeling out of place (this house doesn't feel like home yet and my mom (God bless her) has had to do a lot of my nesting for me since I literally can't). I'm feeling emotional (read above). I'm feeling overwhelmed. No offense to anyone, but I just want to be in my bubble for a little while.

This, too, shall pass. I sure have a cute baby to hold in the process. And, Reagan. Oh, Reagan. This has been a lot for her 3-year-old-self to take in. Each day is better and for that I'm grateful.

Stay tuned, readers. I WILL be back. Just let me catch my breath.