THE ONE WHERE OUR PRECIOUS LORELEI IS HERE!!!

Forgive me for not posting in a while but I thought I had two more weeks until our precious baby girl made her arrival.  Boy did she have different thoughts!

I will try and update from my past post until present.

The last time I posted was October 1, 2011.  Lorelei would make her arrival on October 21, 2011.

The last weeks were hard on me.  Some of my morning sickness returned.  I made frequent bathroom breaks anywhere from every hour to every hour and a half but overall I still felt great.  I had no Braxton Hicks contractions or any prelabor signs.

On October 19, 2011, we went to my 37 1/2 week appointment.  Jonathan and I had convinced Dr. Chamberlain to do one last utlrasound just so we could be 100% sure she looked great and was head down.  She was and Dr. Chamberlain guessed her weight to be around 7 pounds but informed us there was no guarantee as her head was already at a -2 station and I was 80% effaced and 1 cm dilated.

I went to work the next day and even stayed late trying to get some things organized on my desk.  This was Thursday 10/20/2011.  I didn't feel "right" that day or that is the language that I told Jonathan.  I had asked him to please get off early so that we could walk while the sun was still up.  He agreed and came home and we went on a 30-45 minute walk just as we had been doing since 36 weeks (when my morning sickness had basically ended).  We were finished walking and I had no swelling.  I really only had one bad day of swelling and that was a few weeks prior.

I felt great after our walk and we ordered a pizza for dinner.  I showered and then decided to finish packing the hospital bag because we needed to put some things in it that couldn't wait until the last minute.

We finally went to sleep close to midnight and I awoke at 1:45 a.m. to make a bathroom trip as usual.  This might be when there is too much information for some of you--so just skip ahead to the pictures below.

Anyways, I was in the bathroom and heard a loud pop.  If you know me, you know that I overreacted and thought that the umbilical cord had broken and I freaked out! I jumped up and lost my mucus plug and then my water broke immediately.  Still being Lindsey, I went into the bedroom and told Jonathan to come make sure that my water had broken, etc.  He sort of stumbled out of bed and then realized what I was saying and turned high gear on and got dressed and started packing the car for the hospital!

I asked him to call the nurse because I wasn't sure if I was supposed to wait until contractions started to go to the hospital.  At this point, I was having no contractions.  The nurse informed us to come in as soon as possible so I changed clothes and we were off!

We did stop and get gas on the way because the car was on empty and again I was having just mild back pain at this point.  When we arrived at the hospital, I went on up to the 3rd floor while Jonathan parked the car.  By the time he got there, I was in triage making sure that my water had broken (ha-there was a puddle underneath me).  I promise no woman had as much water in her as I did.  At this point, my pain was around a 2 out of ten and it had been an hour since my water broke.  They put me in a room and told me to rest.  Within one hour, my contractions were bad and I was asking for an epidural.  It was around 5 a.m. once I finally got the epidural and she labored down around 9 or so.  I started pushing at 10 a.m. and she was here at 11:18 a.m.

She weighed 8 pounds and 10 ounces and was 20.5 inches long.  They had to test her for diabetes because she was so big to be 3 weeks early.  You may not think that is big but think about everyone that has an 8 pound baby usually has them on time or late.  So...she was huge.

She came out, looked around, made "big arms", and screamed.  Dr. Chamberlain and our Nurse Ginny said that her cord and placenta were perfect.  We donated her cord blood, and she received a nurse that said she saved a life!  I am an advocate for cord blood donation.  If you are not going to save it for your baby, please donate.  Our doctor and nurse were surprised that we were going to donate because not many people do.  I am so surprised by this since it can save a life or more than one.  This was my vent for this post!

Once my epidural wore off and I was able to use the restroom by myself, they moved us to a post-partum room.  I really did not have much pain or soreness.  I just felt heavy and was uncomfortable sitting for various reasons that all pregnant mommies have experienced I'm sure. If you have not, count your blessings.

Continued on next post...