Birth Story

We had a baby! Here's the story...

Pregnancy

I was blessed to have a wonderfully uneventful pregnancy--no morning sickness, no serious aches, pains, energy loss, or swelling, and just a little discomfort toward the end of my last trimester.

Laboring at Home

I was due July 27th and started contracting the evening of July 24th.  Contractions were intense, but to my frustration, they were 10 minutes apart by early morning July 25th and not the recommended 5 minutes.  Later that morning, they actually died down.  So, I worked from home that day, waited it out, and tried to get a little rest from the sleepless night.  Unfortunately though, I wasn't able to sleep due to excitement and work emails/calls. Andrew stayed home that day as well and we were able to ready our hospital bags and buy a few last minute items.

By early evening, my contractions started again and my water broke around 9--show time!  We headed to the hospital where I was admitted.

Hospital
All along, I planned on laboring naturally as long as I could and then get an epidural.  After listening to friends' testimonies, attending childbirth classes, and conducting research on my own, this plan seemed most reasonable to me.  I asked to get an epidural at 2:00 am July 26th.  The exhaustion of not having slept for the past 30+ hours was too much.  I hoped the epidural would go smoothly... but the CRNA misplaced it the first time.  She had nervously asked whether it felt "off"--which it did!-- and then placed it again without re-numbing the area.  That second one hurt quite a bit and as I'm writing this today (6 weeks postpartum), my back still hurts in that location (maybe that's normal, but I'm blaming it on the misplaced epidural).  At least the epidural was effective and I was able to get some sleep.

By midday July 26th, I was not progressing as quickly as the doctor wanted me to, so the nurse increased my pitocin in hopes to move things along.  At one point in the afternoon around 7 cm, the doctor mentioned the possibility of having to do a c-section if I didn't progress more.  Luckily, I progressed at a reasonable rate after the pitocin increase.  Praise the Lord I didn't have to have a c-section!

Finally by 6:45 or so, it was time to push.  Andrew almost passed out when the nurse asked him to hold one of my legs (this is before I started to push, lol).  So, they scratched that plan, had Andrew sniff an alcohol swab and sit down.  He was by my head for the rest of the time.  Later, Andrew told me he thought there would be a curtain between him and what was going on down there like there is during a c-section.  Anyway, I'm just glad he was in the room, supportive and encouraging.  I pushed for about 10-15 minutes and Alana was born at 7:02 pm.  It turns out Alana was born "sunny side up" (face-up, aka the wrong way), which is why she was stuck in the birth canal for so long and was extremely cone-headed when born.  The doctor said it was amazing that I was able to push her out this way.

Alana is here!

Born at 7:02 pm July 26, 2013

Weight:  7 lbs 3 oz

Length:  20.75 in

Interestingly, Andrew and I didn't have an immediate connection with Alana.  In fact, when the nurse placed her on my chest, she felt kind of "foreign" to me.  Of course I loved her, but the tears and emotions I thought would overwhelm me, did not come and they didn't come for Andrew either.  I always wondered if adopted parents could have as tight of a bond with their adopted children as with their bio children, because I had heard about "this immediate, intense emotional bond" parents suposedly have with their bio children right when they're born.  Now, I think that immediate bond is only there for some parents.  For others, the bond develops--and I would think it can develop as intensely with bio children as with adopted children.  

Here are a few pictures of Alana at two weeks old