Lily's Here!

Well, it's taken me a little while to get back to blogging, but here we are! Since I never had the chance to write our 38 week post, I'll share with you guys the 38 week belly pictures below:

I was pretty uncomfortable that last weekend, especially as it was getting pretty hot outside. If you'll notice, my feet and hands were pretty swollen at that time, as was my face. 

As I've written in a previous post, the doctor had been monitoring my blood pressure pretty closely throughout the last few weeks of my pregnancy. It had been doing really well, staying in a normal range as long as I followed the doctor's orders (which was difficult at times!). The Monday after we reached 38 weeks, I noticed I wasn't feeling very well and it was more than the usual discomforts of pregnancy. I went in for my 38 week appointment and had my blood pressure taken, which was much higher than it had been previously. My doctor decided to send me over to Labor and Delivery to do some continuous blood pressure monitoring and monitoring on Miss Lily to make sure she was doing fine, which she was. I stayed in the Triage section of Labor and Delivery for the afternoon and saw my doctor again at around 5:30 that evening. After checking on my blood pressure and assessing me, she decided it was time for Lily to come on out, as I still had a headache and my blood pressure was doing better, but had not returned to normal. So, I checked into the hospital and we got ready to get the show on the road. 

I had been keeping in touch with my family and Richard via text message (yay for modern technology!) so most everyone knew what had been happening over the afternoon. Shortly after I got settled into in my labor and delivery room, Richard arrived with all of our stuff which we had packed a week or so before, after prepping the house and dropping off the dogs at their boarding facility for the time we were going to be away. My doctor came in around 7:30 (Richard and I were in the middle of watching Wheel of Fortune) and got me started on Pitocin. I was only a centimeter dilated at this point, so she warned both of us that it was going to be a long process. My mom and Katie arrived not too long after that and kept us company for awhile, which was nice especially for Richard, as I wasn't the best of company at times. Mom ended up staying with us at the hospital that night, while Katie was able to go back to her house to sleep for awhile, as she needed to be up and moving in the morning for work. 

At about 6am the next morning, my doctor came back in to check me and I had made it to 3 centimeters, which meant that we were making progress. She decided it was time to break my water, which was a milestone in my opinion - however, it also meant that the contractions got a LOT worse. Up until that point, most of the contractions were really only cramping, coming every 2 or 3 minutes and were not very painful. After my water was broken and each time the pitocin was increased, the contractions began to get progressively more painful. I don't think there's really a way to describe the pain until you go through it. Because of the pitocin, I wasn't getting much of a break between contractions, so I really just had to hang on and ride them out. Around 10 am, I was getting close to the breaking point - the contractions had become so painful and were so close together, I couldn't talk at all and had taken to just laying on my side and shaking for the most part. When my nurse came in, she immediately asked me if I wanted something for the pain. Initially, I decided to just try something in my IV, as Richard and I had discussed an epidural being the last resort. The Stadol she gave me did help for about 20 minutes. It mainly just made me be able to detach myself from the pain and doze, which I definitely needed. Unforunately, it wore off pretty quickly and I was left fighting with the constant contractions again. Around 11 am, my nurse came in again to talk about pain control and I decided to get an epidural. My decision to do so was due not only to the extreme pain I was in, but the knowledge that if I didn't get it, when the time came to push I would be so exhausted that I may not be able to do it. So, she called the anesthesiologist and he administered the epidural - ahhh, the relief was amazing! I was able to talk again and joke around and both Richard and my mom commented on my 180 degree change in demeanor after I received the epidural. 

Unfortunately, I hadn't really progressed much by the time my doctor came in to check me around 11:30 - I was only at 4 cm. She told me we would give it another few hours to see how I was doing, but if I hadn't progressed by at least a couple of centimeters by then, we would need to seriously consider doing a c-section. I was not happy with this news - the one thing I had really wanted to avoid was a c-section, as I heard the recovery was really difficult and to be honest, because I had been looking forward to the time when I pushed that baby out and got to hold her for the first time. At about 3:30 that afternoon, the nurse checked me and gave us the not so good news - I was still at 4 cm. My doctor came in about an hour later and checked me again and we got the same news. She decided that we needed to do a c-section. Needless to say, I was pretty upset but I knew that this was the best thing for both of us. I was really pretty nervous the entire hour leading up to the surgery, but luckily, Richard was there the entire time which kept me calm. I also got a very nice surprise right before heading back to surgery - Cara had driven all the way from Virginia to come and see me. She was able to come into the room and visit for just a second right before we went back. It was so nice to see her right before that - I was so surprised and incredibly touched that she would travel all that way (with all 4 of the kiddos, no less!) to see me and it was really nice to get her support before the c- section. Richard was able to walk with me almost to the operating room and the nurse said she would be back in to get him as soon as we were ready to go. 

After I was on the operating table and all anesthesia-d up, the nurse went and got Richard, who looked very handsome in his doctor scrubs :o).  He sat beside me and kept me laughing and upbeat until we got to hear Lily's first cry - which of course, brought tears to my eyes. I had wondered what it would be like to hear that first cry and it was seriously amazing to realize that the little person we had waited for was finally here. I got to see her as the nurse walked by with her and she looked so cute (if kind of gross, with all the goop on her). Richard was able to go with her and took tons of pictures as they gave her a bath and did her weight and Apgar scores, while they put me back together, (Lily scored an 8 and 9 on her Apgars :o) ) . I heard later that both of our families were able to watch from outside the nursery as well. Unfortunately, I didn't get to hold her for awhile after she was born, as I was in recovery. But, Richard came down to stay with me and brought me all her pictures and told me how cute she was (with her little conehead) and that she was doing great. I finally got to hold her about an hour after she was born. If I do say so myself, she is the cutest thing I've ever seen. Sometimes, it's hard to believe Richard and I created this little person. Holding her for the first time was definitely one of the most special moments of my life. Lily was born at 5:33 pm on May 4, 2010 and was 5 lbs 4 oz and 20.5 inches long. 

We stayed in the hospital until the following Saturday evening and I have to say, for the most part, the recovery hasn't been nearly as bad as I was expecting. I was up and walking the next day (I quickly realized that the best way to get back on my feet was to get out of bed in the morning and not get back in until the nurse made me or I really had to take a nap). Lily is doing wonderfully - she had a slight touch of jaundice, really really slight, but since she was so little, the doctor's wanted to treat it aggressively to make sure it didn't get worse. So, she got her first suntan while in the hospital. By the time we left on Saturday, her bilirubin level was down to a great low level and she's had no problems with it since. She is most definitely an eater -she has already gained back 4 of the 5 ounces she lost after she was born! According to our pediatrician, babies have 2 weeks to reach their original birth weight, but it looks like she's not going to take that extra time. Her doctor thinks that she has great muscle tone and, because of that, she will probably grow pretty quickly.

Lily is really a great baby. We've had one night where we both only got about 4 hours of sleep, but her other nights have gone really well. She loves her bouncy seat and loves to be cuddled and swaddled. If she's upset, more often than not all you need to do is swaddle her really tightly to calm her down. She's not a huge fan of tummy time, but I think that's mainly because she can't yet hold up her head for very long and laying on her tummy really interferes with her watching everything going on around her. She's got a great grip and will snag your finger as often as possible. The dogs are very curious of her, but have done so well not trying to lick her or be in her face. Oz is definitely the more nosey of the two - he always wants to know what she's doing and will often nose-bump her bouncy seat when she's in it, if we're not watching. Anytime she's up during the night, he's up as well, peeking over rail of the bassinet to see what's going on and, if it's time for her to eat, he'll post himself at the door until she's back in her bassinet. If she starts crying, he can get pretty anxious and wants the problem to be fixed immediately. Stella, for the most part, just watches her and then goes about her own business. She seems to have accepted her into the house pretty easily. 

Although things have changed for us, we're both so happy that Lily is finally here. As the weeks and months go by, we'll be interested to see how she grows and changes and I'll try and keep everyone updated on how things are going in the Gabriel house! Below are some pictures from her birth and once we got her home: