Monday, December 5, 2011 at 9:05am, we welcomed the newest, tiniest and cutest member of our family, Miss Anna Simmons!
After a long week of maternity leave, counting down every second and wondering when we would meet "Kermie", we were getting desperate. I tried all the old wives tales to try to help move labor into action. I was eating fresh pineapple, taking long walks (and nature hikes), eating spicy food, etc. etc. etc. and still...nothing. I decided to just let it go and the baby would come when the baby would come.
Sunday, we had a nice day together - went for a nature hike in a nearby park, had Five Guys for lunch, made spicy steak fajitas for dinner, and just watched some TV later on. About 1:30am, I woke up with what I thought was a stomach ache. Tried to go to the bathroom but with no luck. Went back to bed and continued to feel these pains, which only seemed to be getting worse. I was grinding my teeth and finally said "Maybe I should be timing these pains". At which point they were regularly 10 minutes apart. (Up until this point, I thought I had had contractions throughout the week. If those were contractions....then I don't know WHAT these were. Hell, I'm guessing). I decided to wait until 3am to wake Doug up, and then suddenly the pains moved to 7 minutes (or less) apart. I woke him up and said "This is not a drill, get up"
I struggled through the pain and took a shower. I was dirty and couldn't go to the hospital without a shower for God knows how long! The hot shower water felt so good, but I was still really struggling with the intense contractions. Doug and I scrambled around finishing up our packing, putting last minute stuff together. All week I said I would eat before we left for the hospital, but hilariously enough - the very idea of food at that point was nauseating. We left the house around 4am, and in the car I said "Call your mom now - I don't think they'll make it if we wait" A call to RI, and a weird, creepy, foggy drive to the hospital and many painful contractions later, we were there.
(totally pretending... I had not had the drugs yet and this must have been in between dying of pain)
After a hiccup at the ER where you have to check-in, I was admitted, put in a room, in a gown and I struggled through the pain. They tell me "Oh there's no doctor or anesthesiologist here, so just hold on as best as you can." I wanted to die. Thankfully about an hour or so later, they came with the delightful pain meds. I was already at 5cm, and within that hour I was at 7cm! It was going so fast and Doug's parents had only just left RI! By about 8:00 I was at 10cm, but they wanted me to wait for the baby to drop down a little bit, but then just out of no where the nurse said "Let's give this pushing a shot" and suddenly we were really having a baby. I just kept saying "This is the weirdest day of my life". I was prepared, but not really! It didn't seem like this was happening, but it sure was!
One half hour of pushing, and THERE SHE WAS! It was amazing and surreal and QUICK.
Doug's parents hadn't arrived yet, so we had about an hour of family time before we let everyone in on the big news. It was fun to just have that quiet time before all the craziness began. Anna was quiet, was very happy being held by her Daddy and we just tried to take in the moment as best we could.
Some photos, since I know everyone is really looking forward to that:
We even had our first "bath" - which was essentially just a wet washcloth wipe down.
(they were also checking out Daddy's handy work on the deck)
The first week of life was not without problems though, of course. We have been breastfeeding from the beginning and I was experiencing a decent amount of pain. I knew this wasn't normal and after we got home on Wednesday (and Anna hadn't been peeing/pooping as regularly as they told us she should), I called a lactation consultant to come help me out. I didn't need to continue on a bad path since I knew that nursing shouldn't hurt like it was. Turns out, this wonderful consultant was a gift from God. She (rightly) diagnosed Anna as being tongue-tied and therefore she wasn't able to nurse properly and wasn't getting all she needed. We had to get "surgery" in order to correct it. Doug stepped up the next morning, got us right into a doctor in Edison who was highly recommended, and we rushed out of the house on Friday morning a little bit after we had gotten out of bed for the day. Not exactly how I thought my first "outing" with the baby would go! I didn't even have the diaper bag packed, the tags were still on it!! But thanks to Doug (of course, for everything and then some) - we did it. We made the drive, the baby was well-behaved and we didn't run into anyone in the waiting room (which we were both dreading, going to an Ear-Nose-Throat doctor).
Since then, things have been exponentially better - Anna is eating like a champ, and the dirty diapers just keep on coming!! We are all getting used to each other, and every day has its highs and lows. The night time is the hardest part of the day for me, as I seem to want to cry every night at dinner (Sorry Doug!). I know it's normal and soon enough I will be feeling more and more like myself. Everything is a huge adjustment and we are learning more and more every day.
It has been wonderful having Doug home with me all week, and of course I am dreading tomorrow when he leaves for 8+ hours for work. My mom took off so I won't be alone, but Wednesday is another story. I can totally see now how I could go all day with my one accomplishment being "I brushed my teeth!"
We go to the doctor tomorrow for a weight check and it will be nice to get out of the house. I have been a bit of a hermit this week, which is to be expected. I am trying to get used to my role as mom, and everything else can wait. Besides, its COLD out there now too.
Hard to believe just over a week ago, I looked like THIS:
(thank God no one told me just how big I really was)
More to come, whenever I can - as this post took like 6 hours to compose!!
