Tuesday, August 17, 2010

Lexi's Arrival Story

So last Wednesday at my Dr. appointment I was in tears begging my Dr. to induce me Friday. After explaining very sympathetically that he couldn't do that, he told me to come into his office Friday morning and he could strip the membranes again and possible "augment" the labor. Friday morning he stripped them again. He told me if I have any kind of consistent contractions to go into the hospital. He said they don't even have to be painful. So that day we did several different activities to get me going. I did have some contractions, but nothing too consistent. Around lunch time I thought I might take a very small dose of castor oil. 3/4 Tablespoon and a little trip over to the pool contractions started. They happened like that for a couple hours. I wasn't feeling well and couldn't eat dinner. I told Alex we should go in. He was a bit surprised because I hadn't told him about the contractions. I was just trying to make sure they were for real. So we arrived at the hospital. They got me into the room and hooked up to the monitors. I was dilated to a 4 and contractions were on the monitor every 5 minutes. Ok so you'd think great...I get to be admitted right? Dumb nurse says "I think I'm gonna send you walking around for an hour, you still have a pretty good smile on your face so we'll see if we can get those contractions stronger". I'm thinkin' ok dumb nurse...I'm smiling because you have NO IDEA how excited I am to be here...despite the contractions! I say "well, my Dr. told me the contractions don't have to be painful to be admitted". She sent me walking anyway! Whatever, so we're walking the halls. I ran into an old friend who was a labor delivery nurse and I told her to come be my nurse. Then by some miracle I ran into MY Dr.!!! Hallelujah!!!

So Dr. Christenson was in the hall way. I was so excited because I knew he would understand. Of course he did and went down to the nurse's station and told them to admit me. I got admitted, but then I had to wait and hour for the anesthetist to come in and give me an epidural. My Dr. wanted to break my water, but I insisted he wait until I was numb. The anesthetist arrived and I was doing ok. Right after he was done, Dr. Christenson came in and broke my water. This was all around 10:30pm. Soon my contractions were getting much harder and the epidural wasn't quite kicked in. Then they took a sharp turn to PAIN!!! The epidural wasn't numbing my right pelvic area and I was having to breathe through contractions that were not letting up. The anesthetist gave me two more doses into the epidural line. I didn't know what to do it was so painful. Now, my legs were DEAD and my left pelvic area was DEAD. The nurse checked me around 11 and I was complete! I went from a 4, getting my water broke, to a 10 in just a 1/2 hour!! It was time to push. At this point my relief came and my lower body was one sold mass of NUMB. 11:17pm Friday August 13th, Lexi Beal was born, weighing in at 7lbs 12oz measuring 20inches long.


We stayed two nights in the hospital. I actually look forward to these stays for a couple reasons. The nursery can take the baby over night. And I get a break from the "craziness" to enjoy my new little one. Food and Pain meds are served to me and I don't have to think about anything other than getting some R&R.
That went by quickly, and Sunday we came home.
Here are Lexi's cousins Brynn and Brayden.
Here we are today. The kids are back and Alex is kind of getting back to work. Today he has a meeting, then tomorrow and Friday he will go in. Next week, I am On My Own! Wish me luck in a quick recovery :)





Lots of Love and Thanks to EVERYONE who has taken my kids, made and delivered meals, and brought nice gifts. I appreciate all the prayers on my behalf and I have no doubt it was because of that reason I was able to have little Lexi on Friday. Love you all!

12 comments:

  1. Congratulations! She is SO CUTE!!

    I love the two night stay as well, because it's the only time you can get any sleep without having to get up with babies. I was pretty mad when I found out that the hospitals here that my insurance covers DON'T HAVE NURSERIES! They FORCE you to room in with the baby from the moment it's born. Ridiculous. I can't even go to the bathroom by myself and they expect me to hop up and down caring for a newborn? Barbarians.

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  2. That is a miracle you had your baby on Friday. Hooray. Lexi is adorable.

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  3. Congratulations! I had a similar "we aren't going to admit you just yet" experience. I was almost a week overdue and having contractions every 3-4 minutes, doubled over in pain. But since it was my first baby, and I was only dilated to a 1 they made me walk for an hour. After 50 minutes the nurse saw me laying against the wall in pain and agreed to check me again. I was dilated to a *7* and almost missed out on the epidural :) And believe me, going from a 1 to a 7 in 50 minutes was all the natural laboring I needed!

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  4. Passing by...

    I just have to make a quick comment and say that she's absolutely adorable! :)

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  5. Soo happy for you Anna. I'm coming to see you this weekend! I'm so happy to see Angie's clothes on Lexi!! I sware she only wore them for a couple weeks...they grow so stinkin fast!

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  6. Congratulations!!! She is sooo gorgeous. I could just kiss those chubby cheeks all day long. Lets take some pics of her soon - Ill steal my moms magic camera and come over :)

    Hope your recovery is quick and painless - and IM SO GLAD you arent having to be miserable and pregnant anymore! You did it!

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  7. Congrats! I am so glad she is here and at your labor went quickly! She is so cute. Good luck with everything!

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  8. Anonymously I would like to say, congratulations! :) I'm so happy you decided to LET. IT. GO! I'm absolutely sure that you're baby was born on Friday because of it. I'm sure it had nothing to do with the fact you had your membranes stripped twice and did some stuff I'm not sure I've EVER heard of doing to put yourself into labor! It worked! Love ya...she's a sweetie!

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  9. Congratulations you guys! She's beautiful! I'm glad you were able to decide on a name, I love it! I'm so glad you're finally done with the pregnancy game!

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  10. aw - she's sweet! congrats to you and hope you recover swiftly!

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  11. Hi! I made this for you...
    http://i35.tinypic.com/ezhlzm.jpg
    Congratulations!!!

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  12. Anna! You and your baby are soo beautiful! Im glad I got to come see you in the hospital before we got sick! Hope all is well at home and that you are recovering ok! love ya

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