What an amazing four days we've had! As I'm writing this, Daddy and Meredith are sitting on the couch watching the Buckeyes play and I'm sitting next to them--does it get any better than this? While the baby is sleeping, I thought I'd post a few more details about how our daughter made her entrance into the world.
On Wednesday morning, I checked into the hospital to be induced (three days overdue). Because Chris was in surgery that morning, my parents went with me. The OB broke my water around 9:15am and we settled in for a long wait (or so we thought!). I was 2-3cm dilated and 75% effaced when we started the induction. We started pitocin around 10am and the contractions got going pretty quickly. I wanted to wait until I was 4cm for an epidural, so anesthesia came in to do the initial consult and she said she'd be back in a bit. Unfortunately, she got held up with another patient, so I had 30 minutes of some pretty uncomfortable contractions before the epidural got placed. Chris got to the hospital around 12:30 (just as the CRNA was finishing up). My toes went numb right away and that's where things stopped. It turns out that the epidural placement and dosing weren't as effective as I needed it to be and it took over two hours to get the right combination to get me comfortable, which finally happened around 3pm. I learned that unmedicated childbirth is not for me! At 1:30, I was 4cm. The next time I was checked, around 4:30, I was 10cm, 100% effaced and +1 station (4cm to complete in three hours--guess that's why those contractions hurt so much!). I was totally numb, so we decided to wait for me to push and to give Meredith some time to descend further. About 10 minutes later, my blood pressure had gotten pretty low and Meredith started to show some signs of distress, so I started pushing. For the first hour and a half of pushing, I couldn't feel anything at all and it made things go pretty slowly. Once the epidural had worn off, I was able to push more effectively and Meredith was born after a total of two hours and 15 minutes of pushing. Meredith was occiput posterior (face up instead of face down), so I ended up with a third degree tear. Chris was an amazing labor coach. He really kept me from losing it when things got difficult. We had a wonderful nurse and two phenomenal OBs who did the delivery (they are also our good friends). It made such a difference to have them there--I trusted them completely and knew they would make sure Meredith and I were both taken care of. Our families and friends were in the hall waiting patiently and it was great to hear their voices when the door opened. Dr. Krew and Dr. Gill, the wonderful perinatologists who put up with me every day at work, were also outside and kept a close eye on how things were going. I felt so lucky to have them there--they worried so that I didn't have to!
So, when Meredith was born, Chris cut the cord and she went straight to the warmer. Daddy ran between the two of us, giving me details and taking lots and lots of pictures and video (make sure you check out his great video on our picture site
http://gallery.me.com/christopher_rooney--there are also some new Meredith pictures and he updates them almost daily. Aunt Meghan and Mimi (my mom) have also been adding photos. Aunt Meghan has nicknamed Meredith "McMuffin"--too cute!). I finally got to hold her after about ten minutes and haven't wanted to put her down since. We were discharged from the hospital on Friday morning and have just been hanging out at home and getting to know each other. We've been having some more success with breast feeding and had a great appointment with the pediatrician this morning for a weight check (7lbs. 13oz.). We're heading back to the pediatrician on Monday for another weight check. Monday just happens to be our first anniversary. What a difference a year makes!
So, that's our story. Thanks to everyone who has sent e-mails or called to wish us well. We love hearing from everyone (even if we're not so great about answering the phone just yet!). Feel free to leave comments on the blog--we'd love to read them when we're up for those 3am feedings. We're so excited for all of you to meet our precious girl!
