Baby C has arrived!

You may have guessed from my absence that Baby C is finally here!  And we are obviously no longer Team Green... ITS A GIRL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  

Baby C arrived at 3:37 am on 11/15/11 (39 weeks, 3 days) after only 4.5 hours of labor -- Yes you read that correctly!  She weighed in at 7 pounds, 12 ounces and 21 inches long.  She is absolutely beautiful and perfect in every way.  :-)  DH and I are so beyond in love with her! 

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And for those of you who are interested, the (med-free) birth story:

I had fallen asleep on the couch watching tv on the evening of the 14th. I woke up around 11:00 pm thinking maybe I was having contractions, but they weren't too painful.  DH and I started cleaning up the house a bit "just in case", although he wasn't convinced this wasn't a false alarm.  Soon I noticed the contractions were coming every 5-8 mins, and that I had started bleeding. The blood was more than I expected for (what I thought was) early labor, so around 12:30 am I called L&D to see if I should come in. The nurse assured me some bleeding was normal and to come in when my contractions were 4-5 minutes apart.

About 30 minutes after hanging up the phone, my contractions were consistently coming every 2-4 minutes and lasting a minute or more each. DH and I decided it was time to go. I had at least 3-4 contractions during the 10 minute drive to the hospital. By the time we arrived at the hospital, I was 7 cm with a bulging bag of waters. I don't think anyone (me and DH included) expected me to be that far along! The fact that I had already progressed that far without too much pain gave me a huge confidence boost that I could actually succeed with the med-free delivery I had hoped for.

The next bit of the story is kind of a blur. I met the on-call doctor (who was amazing by the way) and told him I wanted to do this naturally and asked if he was open to me trying different positions while pushing, instead of flat on my back. Thankfully he was super laid back and said I could do whatever I wanted. I remember having a LOT of pressure during this time and thinking the baby was about to fall out, but the rest is pretty much a blur. I remember joking with the doctors and nurses in between contractions and swearing under my breath (and then apologizing to everyone) during contractions. I also remember when my water broke because it was such a weird feeling. I was kind of squatting at the edge of the bed, trying not to push, and it just exploded like I'd been hit by a water balloon in the crotch. lol I know I finally told the nurse that the baby was coming and my body was pushing it out without me. She called for the doctor but I guess he was taking too long, because she decided to check me. She couldn't even find the other side of my cervix and called me complete around 2:45 am.

She must have successfully paged someone, because before I knew it the on-call doctor, a resident, and two other nurses appeared and started breaking down the bed. I used the squat bar for a little while and really liked it, but I was exhausted and my legs got too tired so I stopped. Then I got on all fours and that's where I stayed until Baby C was born. Pushing really wasn't that painful -- it was such a relief to be able to push against the pressure -- but it was really hard work. And it was very surreal, I could feel Baby C move down every time I pushed. After about 45 minutes of pushing she was finally out! DH is in medical school and the doctor let him "catch" and cut the cord, and he was the one to announce we had a baby girl. That was really really special for both of us that he got to do those things.  :-)

The only bit of drama is that Baby C apparently took a big gulp of fluid on her way out and was sounding a little gurgly when she was first born, so they took her to get checked out while I delivered the placenta and got cleaned up. I had a 2nd degree tear inside my vagina, but it was small and only took a few stitches to fix. By the time I was fixed up Baby C had checked out just fine (7/8 Apgars) and I finally got to meet my baby girl!

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DH and I still can't believe she is here and are totally in love. I also still can't believe how lucky I was having such a fast and easy delivery. My recovery has been great and Baby C is breastfeeding like a champ.  I truly could not have asked for a better delivery or a more perfect baby.  :-)

I will do my best to keep posting on this blog, but it might be sporadic as Baby C eats (what feels like) constantly and I'm trying to get a little rest in between. 

I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving!