Alex is Here!

Our sweet little girl decided to come to meet her parents earlier than expected...here is her story.

As most everyone knows, I have had the easiest pregnancy. We got pregnant within about 2 weeks of starting to try, I didn't have any morning sickness, everything has been surprisingly easy since day one!

Last week started like any normal week. I went to work, we relaxed at night and just did our thing. Little did we know everything would change on Wednesday, July 8th. (FYI, I'm going to be pretty blunt and some of it is gross, but hey, there is no way around it!)

Tuesday night was like any other night. We had some friends over to watch a few shows, I did some stuff around the house just like any normal night. Around 3am Wednesday morning, I woke up because it felt like I peed on myself a little. Sounds gross, I know. I got up and went to the bathroom to check it out. It didn't look like pee because it was clear, then I felt a little more. I still wasn't exactly sure what it was. I never thought it would be my water breaking since only 5% of the peoples water actually breaks. I got back in bed and just laid there for about 5 minutes, then I felt it again. I got back up, changed clothes and got back in bed. Silly me was still kinda thinking it was just pee and maybe the pressure from Alex was causing me to leak a little. I leaned over Josh to see what time it was and it woke him up. He asked what was wrong and I told him I was leaking a little and I thought it just may be pee. He got up and went to the bathroom, not even thinking twice about it. I kept feeling it so I got up and went in the bathroom too. Once he actually saw the leakage he said we needed to go to the ER in case it was my water breaking. I insisted on taking a shower first which pissed him off. He thought I was acting too calm like it wasn't a big deal. My thinking was, if this was labor, I wanted to shower because who knows when I'll be able to again. He got dressed and fed Cooper and I took the fastest shower of my life and got dressed and we headed out. I still thought we would be back home soon so I only took my purse with me. I had read you should have a bag packed at 36 weeks just in case, that was on my to do list for the following weekend.

So we got to the ER around 4:15am and the lady at the desk called labor and deliver to come get me. Since they weren't sure if my water broke, they put me an a recovery room so I could change into a gown so they could check. They basically have a strip of paper, if it turns blue your water broke, if it doesn't you just peed or it is discharge. As I was changing clothes, I started leaking even more...on the floor and on the puppy pad. (I call them puppy pads because they remind me of the pads you put down for puppies when you are potty training them, this is basically the same thing, but bigger, and it is on the bed in the hospital rooms.)

So of course, the paper turned blue immediately and they took me to a labor and delivery room. I wasn't having any contractions at this point. They hooked me up to the fetal monitor and the other monitor that tells you when you are having contractions (in case you don't know). While 1 nurse was hooking everything up and taking my blood pressure, the other was starting an IV. She had a hell of a time finding my vein so another nurse pressed around on my arm while she dug the needle around until she hit the vein. I actually started crying it hurt so bad. I think Josh was nervous at that point...I mean, if an IV makes me cry, what was pushing a baby out going to do? So they finally got the IV set up and one of the nurses said she was going to do an internal. For those of you who don't know what an internal is, they basically stick their fingers up you to until they reach your cervix to see check for dilation, effacement and the baby's
station. (dilation= how open your cervix is, effacement= how thin your cervix is, station= where the baby's head is in comparison to the lower part of the lower part of the pelvic bone). You usually have internals at your weekly appointments starting at 36 weeks. Since I didn't make it to 36 weeks I had never had an internal. So the nurse started. Again, I cried. It hurt like nothing I have ever felt before. I was already 2 cm dilated, 70% effaced and Alex was at station 1 (goal is 0 or a negative number.) She started me on a Pitocin drip. Pitocin basically induces your contractions so you dilate quicker.

At this point, it was time to just wait. About 30 minutes later I started to feel contractions. They weren't too strong or consistent, but they were there. About this time, the nurses had a shift change so the new nurse came in. She wanted to do another internal. I warned her I cried at the last one, she warned me she is rougher than the last nurse, so she was pretty sure I was going to cry again. I was 3 cm dilated at this time. She came in a few minutes later to tell me the anesthesiologists was next door so if I wanted an epidural now would be the good time to do it. She said once I had the epi, she could crank up the Pitocin to get me ready faster. I was scared to death, but thankfully, it was quick and almost painless. I mean, compared to the IV, this was a piece of cake. Once the epi started to work, I didn't feel a thing. She cranked up the Pitocin and I just relaxed. She same in several time to do more internals. I continued to dilate to 5 then kinda got stuck. She asked to make sure I couldn't feel anything then she started stretching my cervix. She opened me up about 1 cm so I was at a 6. She came back a while later and checked again and I was to a 7. The next few hours I just hung out, we watched TV, I started a list of things Josh needed to get me from the house and my parents showed up.

Once they got there, Josh headed home to tend to Cooper and grab my stuff. When he got back I was dilated to a 9 and just kinda stuck there. Alex has dropped a lot but it still wasn't time to push. She did all sorts of things to help me progress, like actually pushing Alex's head up to help me loose some more of the amniotic fluid. It wasn't helping. I decided to take a nap and wait. When I woke up a new nurse came in, checked me and told me it was time to start pushing. My parents were sent out and all the equipment was wheeled in. At 3:35 the doctor showed up. Oh, I left out one detail. my normal doctor was on vacation so another doctor I had never met was delivering Alex. He came in earlier in the day to meet me and make sure everything was ok. So, back to it, I started pushing at 3:35. It wasn't as hard as I thought it would be, or as painful. I highly recommend getting an epidural. It was a life saver and made the delivery so much easier for me. I pushed 3 times for 10 seconds each with each contraction. As I started to push the doctor snipped me to make sure I didn't tear when she was coming out. I didn't feel a thing, but it sounded disgusting! Around contraction #5 Josh said he said her head come out. Since it was on the 3rd push he said the doctor pushed her back in. When the next contraction came, it took one push and out she came. Josh had said he wasn't going to watch but he ended up watching the whole thing. He said once her head and shoulders came out she kinda flew out like a torpedo. I heard her cry and I immediately started crying. They wiped her down and put her on my stomach so I could see her. She stayed there for a few minutes, then they took her to the other side of the room so they could weigh her and take measurements. While they were doing that the doctor put a few stitches in where he snipped me. Josh stayed with Alex. They brought her back to me and I got to try breastfeeding for a while. Josh went out to share the news with the family . Everyone got to come in and see her for a bit. We were all in love from the minute we saw her.

It's feeding time to I'll add a post tomorrow with everything that happened over the next 5 days.

Alexandra Rae Stafin
born July 9, 2008
3:44pm
5 lbs, 12 oz, 19.5 inches long