Our baby girl is here! She was born on Monday at 1:14 pm weighing in 7 lbs and 1 ounce and 18 1/2 inches longs. On Sunday we went to to the Steenblik's for dinner and after dinner we went for a nice long walk on the park way. My lower back started hurting while we were walking, but I didn't know if that was just because I was walking a lot, or if it had to do with progressing my labor.
Well about 2:00 am my lower back really started hurting. I kept going to the bathroom to see if that would help the pain, but it didn't seem to help. At 2:45 am I start checking the clock to see if these pains were contractions and if they were coming at a consistent time. Sure enough ten minutes later the pain came back strong. It lasted a minute or so and then went away. Then ten minutes later the pain was back...then eight minutes...then seven minutes.
So I decided to get up to see if that would change the timing or the contractions at all. I got the boys clothes together and the contractions kept coming. I decided to call my midwife's phone service and start getting ready to go to the hospital. Tony came out with Josh (who we had woken up while we were talking about my contractions) and we started getting stuff in the car and ready to go. My midwife called back and said to go ahead and go to the hospital. My contractions were coming now about every five minutes and they were really painful. Mostly lower back pains - oh my they hurt so bad. I couldn't even breath through them they were so bad. Tony loaded the car and woke up Tyler. I was half surprised that Tyler was able to sleep through all the commotion, but I am glad he did. We (even Koda) all got in the car to go to Tony's parents to drop off the boys.
We got to the Steenblik's at about 5:30 am and then headed to Riverton to get to the hospital. The contractions were still super strong and coming about four-five minutes apart. I started feeling pretty sick in the car and threw up. Luckily I still had a throw up bag in the car. I think that I was making Tony gag a little bit while I was throwing up - poor guy.
We checked into the hospital at about 6:00 am. We had to first go into a prep room to see if I would be admitted. They checked me and the baby and then decided to admit me. They then moved me to the labor and delivery room. My contractions were still coming regularly and strong. I was sure that those were the hardest contractions that I have had with any of my babies. A lot of pain in the back and front. They needed to get the IV in and the poor nurse had a really hard time. She tried three times and then called the anesthesiologist to come and put in my IV. After he got that in then the blood lady came in to take some of my blood. Three more sticks later she got the blood that she needed and then it was epidural time. I have to say that this epidural was the weirdest thing I have ever had done to me. It started out "normal" but then he said that I might feel something "weird" so not to over react - then all of the sudden my hip started to spasm and then my whole leg kind of jolted all by itself. It was so crazy it made me start to cry. It wasn't that it hurt, but it was just so weird...I can't even explain it. But it worked really well and I had no problems with pain after that.
About 30 minutes after I got the epidural, I all of the sudden got really faint. My blood presser got really low really fast and it made me sick. I told Tony that I didn't feel good and thought I was going to pass out. He got the nurse who called the anesthesiologist back and he came and gave me some medicine in my IV to make that feeling go away. It got worse for a couple minutes before it got better. But the medicine worked and I started feeling better. It was pretty weird.
I just hung out for a couple hours before Julie Jones, CNM came to check on me. She came about 10:30 am and she checked me. By that time I was at a nine and she broke my water. Unfortunately their was maconium in my water - meaning the baby had pooped. So that meant that a couple more people would come in when I had the baby to make sure that everything was okay with her. She didn't seem too concerned, so I was happy about that. She had the nurse increase the potocin so that my contractions would be stronger and help move the baby down. Julie had me hang out for another hour or so before she checked me again. By that time I was at a ten and ready to go. She let the contractions continue to do their job and let them move the baby down. About 1:00 pm it was go time. She had me push once and then told me to stop because the baby was right there. Julie still needed to get on her gown to be prepared to deliver the baby. So once she was dressed I pushed one more time and the baby's head came out, and then one more good push and the rest of her was delivered. It was amazing. They brought in a mirror so I could see the whole thing and it was super neat.
Megan came out screaming and showed us all her strong voice. It turned out to be good that she kept on screaming to make sure that her lungs were nice and clear. The person from the nursery took good care of Megan and made sure that everything looked good with her and she showed no negative side affects from the poop in the water. We were very happy about that.
I had a first degree rip and had to get sewn up for a while. I watched them work on Megan and Tony took lots of pictures. After I was all sewn up and cleaned up we still had to wait in the labor and delivery room because Megan's temp was low. So they had to put her under the warmer (which luckily is right in the room). She was there for what seemed like a long time before we were able to go to the long stay rooms. So they bundled her up and we headed to our recovery room. Once there I was able to try and nurse Megan. She was actually pretty impressive. She latched pretty well. After a couple hours Tony's dad came from work to visit and Tony's mom brought the boys to come and meet their little sister.
Tyler and Josh reacted a little differently then I thought that they would. Josh feel asleep in the car so he was pretty out of it and only wanted to be held by Tony. He didn't want anything to do with me or Megan. He wouldn't come and sit with me or even talk to me. Tyler came and looked at Megan and then asked me if I could bend over now. While pregnant I would have Tyler pick things up for me because I couldn't bend and I told him after I had the baby that I would be able to bend again. So it was funny that that was the first question that Tyler had for me. After a little while Tyler decided he wanted to hold Megan and he was super cute about it. Then quite a while later Josh was ready to take his turn holding Megan. He didn't last long, but at least he cared enough to try. Then they all went home and we had some dinner. After that Sherri came to visit and brought a lovely Lily flower. It was a nice visit and I was glad she came.
That night wasn't too bad. The nurses still had to come check on me every four hours and then they brought in the baby when she was hungry and then the blood person came at like 4:00 am to take my blood - why so early - who knows. Megan had a hard time nursing through out the night which was tough because she actually did pretty good during the day. She pooped lots that first day, but then only pooped once the next day. I was hoping that the pooping would continue and the good eating to avoid Megan getting jaundice like both boys did - but she still got it.
We enjoyed our time at the hospital for the next couple days. We had a couple visitors and tried to get some rest while we had nurses to help. All the checks on me and Megan were good. Tony and I attended a breast feeding class and had the lactation lady come visit us. It was nothing I hadn't already heard, but I figured a good review couldn't hurt. We did end up giving her a couple ml of formula a couple times to try and help with the jaundice. When they took her blood her numbers were high so we do have to take Megan into the doctor tomorrow to check to see if she has better numbers. Lets hope that her numbers aren't so bad that she has to be under the lights. I guess we'll find out. Super glad to take this baby home and be an awesome family of five - go Team Steenblik!!!
Today had been a pretty good day. It started off by a pretty good night sleep for everyone at the Steenblik household. Josh only woke up once and I put him back in bed and he stayed there for the rest of the night - a small miracle in it's self. Then Megan only woke up twice to eat last night. I really hope that tonight is as good as last night was.
Tony took Megan in to get weighed again today. She was up, so now we just have to keep feeding her every two hours and giving her formula with the nursing. I was hoping that my milk would be a little better today, but it hasn't really. I decided to start taking Fenugreek - which is an herb to help with milk supply. I figure I will give that a try and see if it helps at all. With Tyler and Josh I took a prescription, Reglan, and it worked a little bit so I am going to see if this works better. I got a 100 count bottle and you are suppose to take 2-3 pills 3 times a day, so I will give it to the end of the bottle and see if it helps.
The boys are still doing good with Megan. Tyler asked to hold her more today. It is super cute to see how much he loves her. Josh has been a big helper with diapers and helping Megan with her binkey and burp cloths. It is sweet that he wants to help so much. Josh's cold seems a little better today. I only gave him one breathing treatment right before bed. Tyler has a running nose and I am really hoping and praying that he doesn't start coughing.
