Allie Michelle Steenblik

Baby Allie was born last night.  It was a very long day that didn't turn out like we thought it would at all.  The day started with us calling the hospital at 6:00 am to see when we could come in for our scheduled induction.  They told us they were busy so to call back at 7:30 am and see if they had slowed down.  I called then and they said they had three ladies come in so I needed to wait a couple more hours.  They said probably around at 10:00 am but to call in at 9:00 am.  They ended up calling me about 8:30 am telling me to come in at 10:00 am.
Tony and I decided to go and walk around the new Costco that opened just that morning.  Lucky for us they opened early so that really helped the time go by much faster as we waited to go to the hospital.  There were a lot of people there and plenty of free samples.  They nurse said I could eat but to stay away from protein and dairy.  So I was able to enjoy about half the samples, so I was glad about that.
We got to the hospital and got checked in and given our room.  I changed into the lovely gown and waiting to get the process started.  Lucky for us we got a "new to this hospital" nurse and she took a long time to do most things.  She couldn't get my IV in so she asked for another nurse to try.  They were all busy so I had to wait.  The second nurse couldn't get it either, so then she suggested getting the anesthesiologist to do it.  A third nurse thought she could do it and came and poked me two more times before getting the anesthesiologist.  He came in and took a look at my veins (which are terrible) and then brought it a machine that shows your veins.  It was pretty cool.  He was able to get the iv in my hand and then, over an hour later, I was able to start the induction process started.
They started me on the pitocin and Julie checked me.  I was about a 3 and still 70% effaced.  So I still had a long way to go.  It was about noon at this time, so we sat back and waited for the contractions to start.  They started fairly quickly but not too strong or too close together.
I waited about two hours and then decided the pain from the contractions was getting pretty intense so I asked for the epidural.  The nurse did check me before the epidural and I hadn't progressed very much, so that was really hard to hear.  I was pretty sure the anesthesiologist was missing me, so we had to bring him back in.    He did a good job getting the epidural in.  It didn't hurt too bad and I didn't have any funny reactions.  It started working pretty fast and I was very happy to have the pain gone.

Then we waited and waited and waited.  We let the drugs do their job and waited for Julie (my midwife) to come and check me.  She came about 6:00 pm and I was at about a 6 and a negative one station.  We were hoping to be further progressed, but what can you do?
After about a half an hour or so I started feeling the pain of the contraction on my right side.  Then I noticed that I was able to move my right leg pretty easily, so I moved to my other side to try and get the meds to work again.  After about a half an hour and it wasn't getting better we had the anesthesiologist come back in (he was missing me again).  He gave me a shot of some more drugs and that helped with the pain.  While this was happening I noticed I was have a lot of pressure with the contractions.  I wasn't sure if it was because it was time to push or just because me moving around.  But then the pressure got more and more intense and I was getting very excited hoping that it was going to be time soon.
Julie came in and checked me and I was ready to go.  Fully dilated and the baby was right there waiting to come out.  Julie got ready to deliver and it took only a few pushes to get our baby girl out.  She had her little hand close to her face which caused me to tear and she scratched her little face.  Besides that she was perfect.  Super purple when she came out but quickly pinked right up.  They cleaned her up and took her measurements and then gave her back to me for some skin on skin time. The best time ever.

After Julie cleaned and stitched me up I was able to just enjoy snuggling with Allie.  She was born at 8:15 pm and weighed in at 7 lbs 2 oz and was 19 inches long.  She was smacking her lips so I nursed her on one side and she seemed to do pretty good.  We swaddled her up and Tony held her while I changed beds to get moved to our next room.  It was about 9:45 pm when we finally got to our recovery room.  The nurses did more vitals on me and then I was finally able to eat a sandwich before trying to nurse Allie again.  She sort of tried but wasn't too interested in nursing.  So we sent her to the nursery and tried to get some sleep about 11:30 pm.

I would love to say that I slept great last night, but I didn't.  It was hard to get comfortable and to sleep.  They had to check me every 4 hours.  Whatever, I will sleep some day.  They did bring Allie in at 3:00 after her bath and I tried to nurse her again.  She still wasn't interested so I waited with her until 4:00 to see if she would change her mind, but she didn't.  So I said they could just give her a bottle in the nursery.
They came in at 6:00 am this morning to take my blood, so we have been up since.  They just brought her back into us and said she ate about an ounce and slept pretty good in the nursery.  Tony is snuggling with her now.
We thought we would have had her a lot earlier yesterday, but I am just glad that she is now here and is healthy and strong.  We love her so much already and can't wait for her to meet the rest of the family.  We are so blessed