Welcome Madeline Grace!

This post is 12 days overdue but I knew once the baby came, blogging would inevitably fall on my priority list.

"The baby". SHE. The baby is a SHE. And Mark and I have a daughter. It still sounds crazy and we've had 12 days to get used to it. We were both fully convinced that we were having another boy so this has been quite a mind adjustment for us. But we couldn't be more thrilled or more in love with her. Our little Maddie Grace.

Madeline Grace's Birth Story

As most of you know, I was not particularly a fan of going through another induction. Jacob's induction was so long and complicated and scary, that I didn't want to have to go through that again. But the Doctor insisted that inducing at 39 weeks was the right way to go, given that this baby seemed to be just as big as Jacob had been. After developing that horrendous pain in my back a month before my due date, I began to welcome any plan that involved getting baby here sooner, so that I could find some relief to my pain.

On Monday, 9/28/09, we had our last prenatal visit with Dr. Rost. He did another ultrasound and this time, determined that the baby was approximately 8 lb. 8 oz. I had progressed to about 2.5 cm and my cervix was still very soft. So, the induction plan was set in motion and we were to arrive at the hospital on Wednesday, 9/30/09 at 5 am.

I didn't sleep much the next 2 nights. I kept wondering if baby would still come on his/her own and if not, was it the right decision to induce early? Only time would tell -- but I was super anxious about the whole thing.

We arrived at the hospital on Wednesday, 9/30/09 at 5 am and were led straight to our birthing room. Lou Ann, our nurse, had to go over a ton of questions and paperwork to get started. At the same time, another nurse tried to put in my IV. Let me emphasize tried. She first tried my right wrist and blew the vein there. I watched in horror as my hand swelled up (and HURT). I think she was nervous after that and ended up blowing another vein in my left hand. By then, she was super nervous and thankfully declined sticking me again. She left and got a smaller needle and let Lou Ann do the honors (in my right hand again) and Lou Ann got it in effortlessly. Thank goodness for Lou Ann!!

They started pitocin around 6:15 am to start my contractions. They start with very small doses at first and increase the dosage every 15 minutes until the contractions are about 3-5 minutes apart. When we went in, I was already 3 cm dilated. So, in the beginning, it's just a waiting game. Mark and I watched TV, played Scrabble on his iPhone and read magazines to pass the time. By around noon, I had progressed to 5 cm and was really feeling the contractions. Dr. Rost said he preferred to break my water after I received the epidural since things can progress quickly (and become much more painful) after the water breaks. I wanted to move things along so I asked for the epidural so that he would finally break my water. The anesthesiologist came in around 1 pm to give me the epidural and unfortunately didn't "find the right spot" the first time so he had to do it again. I don't know what it is with me and needles lately, but every time I have to get stuck with one, they have to do it twice because they miss. When he finally got the epidural in, I felt relief almost immediately as my legs and lower body went numb. At that point, it was just another waiting game to see how long it would take for me to progress to 10 cm. By 3 pm, I was 7 cm dilated. I tried to rest but after a while, I noticed that the epidural was only working on the side I was laying on, which left the other side in awful pain. I'd keep switching sides, but nothing was making me comfortable. The anesthesiologist came back in around 3:30 pm to adjust the needle. He started taking off the tape on my back where the needle was and I was terrified that he was going to do the whole thing all over again. If he was going to re-stick me, I had already told myself I was having none of that and I'd have to deal with the pain on one side. But, luckily, he just had to move the needle slightly so that the medicine was balanced on both sides. When he left, I was completely numb and started worrying that I wouldn't be able to push when the time came because I literally could not feel ANYthing. When I pushed with Jacob, I was able to feel some sensations in my legs, but this time there was nothing. I started imagining another 3 hour pushing session because of this and was starting to freak out about it. When Dr. Rost came in, I told him they needed to dial the epi down because I couldn't feel anything at all and he assured me that it wouldn't be a problem at "go" time. By 4:30 pm, I had progressed to 9 cm and Dr. Rost said he would come back at 5 pm and I would start pushing. That 30 minutes had to be the longest of the day. I was so nervous/anxious that we were headed into another marathon pushing session (when I had Jacob, the pushing seemed neverending) and I was also still super nervous that the baby's shoulders would get stuck again. All I could do was pray that the delivery would go smoothly.

At 5:05 pm, Faye, our lovely nurse came in and said it was time to start pushing. I was convinced this was going to be a wasted effort since I still could not feel a darn thing down there. I guess I should have welcomed the relief from the pain, but I was so worried I wouldn't be able to push correctly since I couldn't feel the baby moving down. Faye instructed me to push for 10 seconds, 3 consecutive times with each contraction. With the first contraction, I started pushing and Mark immediately saw the baby's head. Faye said "did your first baby have that much hair?" I couldn't believe it! I said "does the baby have a lot of hair?!" and Mark just looked at me and smiled and said "yes". With the second contraction, I pushed some more and baby's head was making its way out. With the third contraction, baby's head was almost out and Faye had to call for Dr. Rost to come in immediately as the baby was completely crowning. She told me to stop pushing! Dr. Rost flew in the room mocking me saying "I won't know how to push! I won't know how to push!" (in his best Angela interpretation). Ha. That made me laugh. Apparently, I knew exactly how to push because I felt pressure once again and I said "I'm feeling pressure again" and they told me to push very slowly. Baby's head came out and I could hear crying. I was so in shock because we didn't hear Jacob cry for almost a minute after he was completely out and here was our baby crying and he/she wasn't even out of me yet!! Finally, they told me to give it a "half" push and Dr. Rost slowly and carefully pulled the shoulders out. Oh my lord, what a relief! When Mark told me the shoulders were out, I could finally breathe easily again after 9 months of worrying about shoulder dystocia. Another small "half" push and baby was completely out. It was 5:22 pm.

I was anxiously awaiting the big announcement of the sex of the baby. Mark was behind me leaning forward trying to see as well. At first, from his limited view, he thought he saw "boy parts" and announced to me "we have another little boy!" I immediately giggled and thought "I knew it!" But, a quick second later (after Dr. Rost and Faye looked at each other with confusion), Mark said "Wait, no, IT'S A GIRL!" I was utterly confused for a split second until I looked down at Dr. Rost holding the baby up and sure enough, it was a sweet baby girl. I could NOT BELIEVE IT!! I never, ever thought we were having a girl. We were both in shock. They laid her on my chest and I just kept saying "Oh my god, oh my god. I can't believe it!" Mark got to cut her cord and then the baby nurse took her to clean her up. I couldn't take my eyes off her. In fact, I don't even remember Dr. Rost delivering my placenta and I barely remember him stitching me up (one whole stitch -- NOT BAD!) Mark got to take lots of pictures of her while she was weighed (8 lb. 6 oz!), measured (19.5 in), and cleaned up. Then she was wrapped up and given to us. Our baby girl. Sweet Madeline Grace.

It's been 12 days now and Mark and I still can't believe we have a daughter. In fact, it's hard for me to use the word "daughter" because it's something that I never really thought would be a part of my vocabulary. As much as I've always wanted a baby girl, I never believed it was in the cards, and for that, I am so incredibly grateful for this chance to be her mother. I still look at her in disbelief. Is she really ours? We get to keep her?! When I look at her, she looks so much like Jacob it's scary, that I do realize that yes, she is a part of Mark and I -- and a part of her brother too. And our family is now complete in so many ways. Someone pinch me please. :)