Whitney is finally here! (catching up on blog posts)

I want to write about my labor and delivery for journal purposes. It has taken me a long time to recover and actually be able to write about it. I had a very rough labor and delivery - quite traumatizing actually.

Here's me when we got to the hospital - smiling and ready to get my baby here.
Little did I know it would be 22 hours later!

I was induced on August 3rd, my actual due date, because I had been having high blood pressure. I went in to the hospital around 6:30 AM. I didn't sleep the night before because I was getting nervous and anxious and they told me they could call me in any time after midnight. So Ryan and I got to the hospital and they got me all hooked up...monitors, IV, and blood pressure cuff. I was dilated to about a 3 when I got there. Later they started the pitocin and I started to feel the contractions. After Dr. Fagnant broke my water, they really started to get strong and hurting. I got the epidural around 1 pm. It took a while for the anesthesiologist to get it placed just right, but after it was all over I was feeling lots better. I could still move my legs pretty good the whole time. I liked it that way because I could move positions a little easier. I dilated pretty slowly all day long. My contractions weren't very strong even with a lot of pitocin! So it was a pretty long and slow day. I tried sleeping but never really could. Ryan stayed with me the entire time and my parents were there most of the day and they were there with me all night until Whitney came. My sisters and aunt Sheila stayed pretty close by and when I was fully dilated they came and waited in the waiting room and came in my room right in time to see Whitney come out. I think by around midnight I was fully dilated but Whitney was still up pretty high, so I pushed for a little bit to see if I could get her to come down some more. I pushed for a while and got tired so I took a break and ended up throwing up and feeling miserable. I was told I have a very prominent pubic bone so they told me it was going to take a lot of pushing to get Whitney under it so she could come out. That was an understatement! I ended up pushing for about 4 hours. I seriously thought I wasn't going to be able to do it. It was the hardest thing I've ever done in my life. There were a lot of things that contributed to my awful labor and delivery.

1. My contractions were weak. They are supposed to be like up in the 70's or so on the monitor and mine were all around 40. Normally, someone in labor does about 30% of the pushing and the contractions do the rest. Well, my Dr told me I was doing most of the pushing because my contractions weren't hardly helping.
2. Whitney was posterior and decided to flip right before she came out. It took LOTS of different positions I had to get in to get her to flip.
3. My epidural wore off when I was pushing. I couldn't feel contractions but I could feel the burning and awful pressure down there. It was the worst pain I've ever felt. The anesthesiologist tried re-dosing my epidural but it didn't work. My Dr ended up doing a pudendal block that didn't really relieve pain for delivery but helped for the stitching up part. So pretty much, I delivered naturally. I don't know how anyone ever does it.
4. Prominent pubic bone + 8 lb baby don't mix very well!

Well, by 4:32 am I delivered the most beautiful baby I've ever seen. It was a very emotional experience that's for sure. I was completely out of it and exhausted. Whitney had a little trouble breathing right after delievery so she had some help from the respiratory therapists. She came around pretty quick and ended up being just fine.

Here are pictures of her holding her daddy's hand.
So precious.
She weighed 8 lbs 3 oz and was 20 inches long.

Ryan was the proudest Daddy ever. He was so excited to see his little baby girl.
These pictures are of me and Ryan holding her for the first time.
It was love at first sight.

Whitney sucked on the nurses finger until she could breast feed.
It was so cute!
Look at those chubby cheeks!
Oh my goodness she's the cutest thing I've ever seen.

Whitney's first bath.
Look at all that dark hair!
I couldn't believe how much hair she had.
I was not expecting that much!
It's absolutely beautiful.

These pictures are priceless.
I had Ryan take these pictures of me but I couldn't keep my eyes open because I was so completely exhausted and and drugged.
I love my new baby girl.
She was so cuddly and cozy with me.

Some of our visitors at the hospital

"cutest baby in the nursery"

Ryan wanted to wear his "China" shirt after Whitney was born so she'd know what kind of asian she is. haha.

Going home!