Our Sweet Little Annie

I thought I was going to have one or two more posts before this one. One about how great Tucker is and how we've been spending the last of our time as just a couple and a last pregnancy update. Guess not!

Diana Joyce arrived one week ago on Sunday, June 29th, at 12:42 AM after only 2 hours of labor and 12 minutes of pushing. True to character, she was rather eager to get here. 

We are absolutely smitten, and several times a day, we catch ourselves marveling over the fact that she's really here. She's taking a nap with Daddy right now, so Mom got some time to use the bathroom, eat some food, and enjoy some quiet alone time. And I've had lots of people asking for the birth story, so here it is, in all its gooey glory.

On Thursday the 19th, I went in for my 37 week appointment. Everything looked good, 3cm and 90%, but they did have me head over to the hospital to check for amniotic fluid leak. Good news, no leak. Tucker was a bit disappointed we didn't get to have a baby that night, but I was a little relieved because the hospital bag only had like two things in it at that point.

Two days later, Saturday the 21st, I'd been having contractions pretty regularly (4-5 minutes apart), but that was normal, and they weren't getting stronger. However, that night, they suddenly became 1-2 minutes apart. The doctor said if contractions were less that 5 minutes apart and lasted more than an hour, to head to the hospital. Well, these contractions started at 10:30 PM after a long walk, and by 2:30 AM, they were still going. So I finished packing the bag, and we headed in to get checked. They hooked me up to monitors for an hour. I was definitely contracting but didn't make any progress so they sent us home with wishes that they'd see us in the next few days.

However, the next few days were quite uneventful. My mom surprised us by driving up from Arizona for a few days to help with last minute baby things - Best Mom Ever award. We took lots of walks. I was taking evening primrose oil to encourage cervical softening and dilation. I ate an entire pineapple. Lots of bouncing on my exercise ball. Spicy foods. Breast pump. Pretty much everything except castor oil. And nothing changed except some fun bloody goop.

By my appointment that Thursday, I was still only at a 3+ dilated. However, the dear doctor was kind enough to strip my membranes and encouraged me to watch for any changes in the next 24-48 hours.

Unfortunately, within the next 24-48 hours, there still wasn't much change.

Saturday the 28th was my 22nd birthday. We had a nice relaxing day, beginning with Tucker making smoothies for breakfast. We got a deep-dish pizza for lunch and headed out later that afternoon for a giant snow-cone and a movie date to see Captain America.

We got home around 6:00 and settled in for the night. I Facetimed my family for a bit. My grandparents called and said nice things and made me cry, being an overly emotional, 38w4d pregnant lady. And then I laid in bed next to Tucker and cried to him for awhile. A little after 8:30, my Aunt Kaylani called to wish me a happy birthday, and I cried/laughed to her.*gets up to get squeaky, hungry baby* I got out of bed so that I wouldn't annoy Tucker by talking loudly on the phone next to him and walked into the kitchen. I felt what I thought was my hip popping (common occurrence), but 30 seconds later I was dripping. I started laughing and told Kaylani, "So....you're not going to believe me....but my water just broke." Tucker looked up from his book completely startled. Kaylani laughed too, and we said our good-byes. It was go time. Tucker made a very quick run to the store to get me a new toothbrush (mine broke the night before) and some headbands while I jumped in the shower to rinse off.

The contractions started immediately, and were very intense. Now, a lot of you know I've been preparing for a natural birth practicing self-hypnosis techniques. Very relaxing, calm breathing, etc. But every success story I've read was so much slower and calm. My contractions began 1-2 minutes apart and were very intense. I was doing my best to relax myself and focus on my breathing. Tucker was a little frustrated because I couldn't answer most of his questions as he was trying to pack up the car. He also jumped in the shower for a minute and came out to find me squatting next to our bed breathing very deeply and trying to keep everything relaxed. I do remember him asking me at one point if we had any moseying time, and I immediately replied "No." You know, most people like to wait at home as long as possible and then go. Well, we didn't have much waiting time.

We got to the hospital, and we had to stop every few feet while Tucker practically held me up during a contraction. We made it inside, got a wheelchair, and went up to Labor and Delivery. Tucker did a great job answering all the medical questions and signing forms and just letting me do my thing. They took me strait back into a room and verified my water had, in fact, broken. Tucker helped get me into the hospital gown while continuing to answer all Nurse Janae's questions. And I'm just going to take this moment to say that Janae is an awesome human being. I'm so glad she was my nurse. She supported every decision and did her best to help me feel comfortable. Anyway, she checked me, and I was at a 4 (which was a little discouraging) and 100% effaced. She remarked on how unusually low baby's head already was (+1) and that she could probably already see her if she looked.

I had no sense of time at this point. I was really struggling to keep it together. The whole point of self-hypnosis is to relax every muscle and breath through contractions as they build. But there was absolutely no break time between my contractions (which were now shooting down my legs and through my back) to regather myself, and I felt myself slipping. Tucker and Janae kept encouraging me and reminding me to relax and breathe, but I was shaking uncontrollably, I was feeling nauseous and dizzy, and I couldn't think straight. I asked for the epidural, and they came right in and did it. Immediately after the epidural was in, Janae checked me again, and I was already an 8 1/2! Typical dilation is 1cm per hour, so when she said I was a 4, I thought we'd be there for the next 6 hours, but only 40 minutes later, I was almost done! No wonder my contractions were so crazy - I was progressing 20x faster than normal! So I didn't feel at all bad about the epidural. 10-15 minutes later, I was fully dilated at 10cm and ready to go. However, right then, a lady came in at 31 weeks with preterm labor, and the doctor had to give her his attention. Totally understandable. So the epidural was another blessing in that they could ask me to wait for awhile. They got the other lady stabilized and on steroids, so Dr. Drews came to check on me. He considered waiting a little longer "to let baby descend by herself," but as soon as he sat down and saw where she was, he realized she wasn't going to wait any longer!

Janae held one leg while Tucker held the other, and it was time to start pushing. My blood pressure immediately plummeted down to something like 82/45, and I got dizzy so once again, things were put on hold for a couple minutes while they added meds to my IV. Blood pressure slowly reached a healthy level again, and with the next contraction, I gave three ten-second pushes. I did the same with the next two contractions after which, I got to reach down and feel her head. So weird! On the fourth contraction, I pushed two more times, and she was here!

Two hours of labor and twelve minutes of pushing. Janae told me people would hate me if I told them that...oops.

I looked up at Tucker who was overcome with amazement and happiness, and I was immediately so thankful that he was right there with me and that we were in this thing called parenthood together for the rest of our lives.

Dr. Drews held the scrawny purpley thing for a few minutes clearing out the mucus from her nose and throat while we waited for the umbilical cord to stop pulsing. Then he called Tucker down and handed him a pair of scissors, instructing him where to cut. Baby was immediately wrapped in a towel and put on my chest where we started to rub her down. She was making all sorts of squeaky noises and finally let out a big squawk so the nurses would leave her alone. She quickly quieted right back down and snuggled into me while she looked around, blinking bleary-eyed at her daddy and sucking her thumb rather vigorously.

I think it was this point that Tucker said, "I like Diana Joyce." We'd been considering a couple different names, but both really loved this one after two of our grandmas. Joyce is also my middle name, and while Diana is beautiful and classic and timeless, her nickname for now is Annie.

We got to snuggle her for a couple hours while Dr. Drews put me back together (I tore, but instead of tearing down like most people, I somehow tore up, so he got to piece me back together, and I've got 3 sets of stitches. It's mighty fun, lemme tell ya.). The nurse did steal her away just for a few moments to weigh and measure her. 6lbs 13 oz, 18 inches long. And then we even got a chance to nurse, which she did quite well at right off the bat.

Daddy got to go with her to the nursery for her bath while they moved me down to the recovery room. There, I met Hayden, my night-time nurse and one of my favorite people. I seriously felt like she was beyond willing to do anything for me, and I didn't hesitate one second in calling her several times in the middle of the night to bring me a new ice pack or, ya know, teach me how to use the bathroom again.

Daddy and Annie came back about an hour later, and we were alone as a family for the first time. We took a moment to say our first family prayer, and I can honestly say it was one of the most spiritual moments of my life.

I'm so glad I get to be a mom to this teeny girl, and I'm so glad Tucker is right in it with me. I know Annie was supposed to come to our family right now, and things feel so right now that she's here. I still have moments of "You sure this thing was inside me?!" and "This is a real human! With skin and bones and a brain! We made that!" But mostly, we just stare at her all day long and talk about how great and perfect and sweet she is.

She is getting better at nursing. Her initial latch is pretty painful, but she usually fixes it rather quickly. She hates burping and spits up quite a bit. Getting her diaper changed is her least favorite thing in the whole world, but she's getting used to it. She's slept longer and longer each night, so we'll see if that continues. She loves stretching her legs out straight, just like she did inside me, and quickly finds a way to stick them out if she's swaddled. She still finds her thumb at least once a day. It's pretty darn cute, but I'm not sure we'll find it as cute if it continues til she's 3... She almost always sneezes 3 times in a row. She doesn't like the carseat but really loves the car. She does well sleeping through noise and wakes up if it's too quiet. She makes great faces.  And she loves to snuggle up on Mom or Dad's chest.

I can't believe we've had this teeny baby girl for one whole week! And even though I didn't absolutely LOVE everything about being pregnant like some women, I can definitely agree that all the throwing up and back aches and joint pain and waddling and mesh undies and frozen Depends and messed up schedules are completely beyond worth it.

We love our Annie!