Laurel Sue

She's here!

Laurel Sue
9lbs, 3oz
21.75 inches

July 30, 2015, 9:55am

On Wednesday night, Jim and I stayed up late talking (1am) and hadn't been in bed long (2am) when I felt a sharp jab from the baby.  I'd been almost asleep, but that thoroughly woke me up, so I stood up to go to the bathroom.  My water had broken!   I think her kick did it.  I very excitedly woke Jim, and we proceeded to gather our things to head to the hospital.  Jim was in a little bit of shock since I've always been induced before; we'd both resigned ourselves to the idea that I'd be induced again this time.  I felt calm and happy; I hadn't been laboring before my water broke, so the contractions were just barely starting and I was sure we had plenty of time.  I'd wondered if I'd know when to go to the hospital if labor started on its own; there was no doubt with this!  I woke Annie and Logan to tell them that we were heading to the hospital; their faces lit up!  They were so excited.  Once our babysitter arrived, we headed in.

We had time to take my before picture like we've done with our other babies.  #5!! 

We settled in and I tried to rest a bit while I still could.  Around 5am my doctor came to check me, and did an ultrasound to check the baby's position.  I wanted to be sure she was head down!  She was.  :)  Up to that point, my contractions had been consistently 5 minutes apart and they really weren't hurting yet, so I suspected I hadn't progressed much.  Much to my surprise, I was dilated to a six.  There's quite a difference between natural contractions and pitosin induced contractions!  Wow! 

For the next two hours my contractions steadily increased in intensity while I wondered if I'd want an epidural or not.  I've always had an epidural before, but I wasn't sure this time since I was laboring naturally.  Ultimately I decided to have one, so about an hour later (8am) the anesthesiologist came in to start it.  I was really rather scared about delivering without it, and I suspect that my mental state would have made it even more difficult for me at the end if I hadn't had the epidural.  Once we learned that she was so big I was grateful I'd made that decision!

I immediately fell asleep once I was feeling numb, and then woke up to a bit of chaos.  Around 9am, I had the sudden urge to throw up and at the same time the baby was moving all the way down.  I asked for a bag, and was suddenly surrounding by nurses who were moving me and administering oxygen...all while I heaved.  After a few confusing minutes, they assured me that everything was fine.  Baby had moved very rapidly and her heart rate had significantly dropped at the same time.  They moved me to help her position, and the oxygen was to help both of us...my nausea was just unfortunate timing.  Her heart rate came right back up and she was pretty much ready to make her appearance.

I hadn't previously met the doctor who helped us through the delivery, but he was fantastic!  He was very patient with allowing my body to do the work and letting me choose how things went.  I was really pleased with him.  Once it was time to push, I found out how strong my epidural was; I couldn't feel a thing!  I had the same problem when Abby was born.  With the others I could feel when I had contractions and when it was time to push.  So once again that made things more difficult.  The combination of being overly numb, her size, and probably the fact that I'm not as strong as I used to be made it difficult for me to push her out.  I think delivery took 15 minutes this time!  Compared to my middle three babies who appeared in a couple of not so difficult pushes, I really worked this time!  I think I used every muscle in my body...even my biceps are sore today!
  
Little Laurel finally made it here at 9:55am.  Her cry was really tiny...they had to convince me she was okay.

While they took care of her, the doctor did everything possible to prevent me from bleeding out like I have in times past, and he was successful!  That had been my biggest concern for myself beforehand.

Once we were re-settled a bit, we sent for the kids to come meet their new sister.  The were really excited.  Abby went back and forth between being luke warm and obsessive.

The whole day I wanted to take a nap and was unable to for one reason or other, so by evening I was feeling a little on the crazy side; I'd been awake for two days!  Jim ended up staying the night in the hospital with us so I could sleep better.  He kept the baby near him and listened for her little noises so I could rest.  Knowing he was there for her, I slept hard!

Today I've been feeling much better.  I'd had almost a full night's rest which was really good since Laurel has been fussy most of the day.  The nurses took her for a couple of hours this afternoon so I could have a nap, but otherwise I've been holding and/ or nursing her pretty much all day.

Jim's mom brought the kids back early in the day to see us again.

 Family picture!  I am quite swollen still...

Jim went home with Audrey and the kids, so I've been alone since then.  Laurel is finally having a peaceful moment, so I'm taking advantage of that to update here.  :)  Hopefully we'll both rest well tonight, and then tomorrow we'll be heading home!

Kids Say

Alex, "Mom, I have my cold bumps!!"  (AKA goosebumps)

Alex, "Mom, I'm keeping my thinker on since I'm having a bad day!"

Abby counting and then throwing herself on the couch, "Two, three, two, THREEEE!!!!"

Alex bringing me beets from the garden, "Mom, the beets keep falling out of the ground!"

On a hot humid day Alex looked at the moisture on the windows, "Mom, it's frosting outside!"

We were getting ready to go somewhere and Abby climbed into the driver's seat of the van.  When I went to grab her she squealed at me, "I drive!"  Then when I told her no she indignantly asked, "Why?!!"

Alex, "My brain is hurting Mom!  Maybe some food got in it."

I gave Logan a job to pay off some of his debt and Alex asked, "Can I get some debt too?"

Alex explaining why he said something by mistake, "My bad thinker came out!"

Alex, "Dad!  This morning was really awkward.  I ate breakfast all by myself.  I was really awkward."

Alex, "I'm going to eat forever!  I mean all night and all day.  Will my tummy be as big as yours?"

Progressive Photo Shoot

My mom wanted a picture of Abby in the pillow case dress she made for her, so I snapped one with my phone this morning.

Since Annie was wearing her pillowcase dress as well, I invited her to join in the shot.  Just for my mom.  This was all I intended.

The next thing I knew, Logan decided he wanted to be in the picture.

And suddenly we were getting all sorts of cute poses, but I was still using my poor quality phone camera.

The kids wanted to take more pictures, so we finally pulled out the real camera.  Except that I think I have a ghost who adjusts the settings on it every time I put it down, and I don't actually know how to put them right.  So our first few shots were overexposed.

I decided I'd better turn off the flash (which is the only thing I know how to do), so our next shots were underexposed.  *sigh*

I still love some of these pictures anyway.

I pushed some button (??) and suddenly my picture quality improved.  (I really should learn how to use my camera properly...it's only been 7 years.)

The kids still wanted to take pictures, and I'd finally warmed up to WANTING some decent pictures, so I proposed we go outside (where the natural lighting works out in my favor more often despite my lack of camera knowledge).

We're having a very hot, humid day so the camera fogged up immediately.  Bleh!

After it adjusted and I'd dried the lens, we finally had some decent pictures.  That's a good looking pack of kids!

I love their smiles best in this one, but Annie had been rubbing her eyes so much that they look swollen.

Abby lost interest...

We tried to convince Abby to join in one more picture, but she wasn't having it.

Logan has been bugging me to take his baseball pictures (since I refuse to pay the exorbitant prices for the professional ones).  He made up all of his own poses.

Playtime finally...I tricked this stubborn girl into looking at me.

The others are out in the sprinkler right now (Abby is surprisingly uninterested).  It's a great day for getting wet.