As you have probably guessed, she's here! Harper arrived on April 7th at 8:29 p.m. weighing 7 pounds, 15 ounces (5 more than her sister) and measuring 21.25" long (nearly an inch longer than her sister!). Here's her story...
I know I was whining in my last post. I was getting desperate as my scheduled c-section date drew nearer that I would never get to experience "normal" childbirth. As I'm sure most of you know, I did not make it to my scheduled c-section but that is still how things ended up. Thankfully I know that when it comes to childbirth, there is no planning and when it came down to it, I didn't get upset and just accepted it for what it was. But let me back up and tell you what all happened.
It started on Friday really. It was a full moon that night and I was determined to see if I could help things along. I read up on all those so-called labor inducing tricks and weeded out the ones that seemed a little medically risky and then tried out all the others (spicy food, walking, stuff like that). When I went to bed that night, I thought, "Well, we'll see what happens!" Every time I woke up, I wondered if it was because of a contraction. Then around 4:30 a.m., I awoke to a little gush. Now, you'd think that, especially in my present condition and frame of mind that I would immediately think that my water had broken and get Troy up. What did I do? Jumped up and went to the bathroom and thought, "Wow, this little incontinence thing is getting out of control." I went back to bed and slept just fine until it was time to get up.
When we all got up Saturday morning, we decided to run a few last-minute errands. I wanted to go to the Carter's outlet to look for a Big Sister shirt to match the Little Sister onesie I'd gotten for the baby (they didn't have it...apparently I bought last year's model). Then we went to BJs and bought a few things. The whole time, I was leaking a lot more than usual and was becoming increasingly uncomfortable. By the time we came home for lunch, I told Troy that things just didn't seem right. Just then, my friend Megan (a nurse) texted to see how I was holding up and I told her about the gush and asked her opinion. She wisely said, "You need to call the doctor. They can do a quick check to see if your water broke." So I finally called and ate some lunch while I waited to hear back from the on-call doctor. Of course, they told me to come in to the hospital to get checked.
Are you wondering where Lainey was during all of this? She was with us for all of the running around and was so tired by the time we got home, she ate a quick lunch and went down for a nap. So she was of course still sleeping when the doctor told us to come in. This was getting close to 2:00 at this point. Luckily, our nextdoor neighbors agreed to "watch" her, even though they were getting ready for their son's second birthday party later that afternoon (which we ended up missing but Lainey woke up and got to attend which was actually really good timing because it kept her occupied). So, off we went to Rex where they checked me all in and the nurse did a quick test. She wasn't able to make a positive determination so she called in the doctor on call. She officially checked me and did a swab to run some labs. No real shocker that it came back positive...I was leaking amniotic fluid. When I told her about my gush that morning, she looked at me like, "Well what did you think that was?" Seriously, when I think back on it now, that's what I always think too! So we were excited that labor had actually started! But my hopes were quickly dashed when Dr. Wind then said, "Well, we'll go ahead and schedule your c-section for around 8 p.m. since you ate lunch." What? C-section? But I was in labor! I had even started having contractions while we were sitting there for all of the testing. Unfortunately, she explained, my body still wasn't in active labor. My contractions were between 6 and 13 minutes apart and never got regular or closer together. Dr. Wind said that there was no way that my body was going to catch up in time and I couldn't get pitocin because of my previous c-section. So...after all that, I was still facing a c-section. In that moment, all hopes of ever getting to experience a vaginal childbirth were dashed. But I didn't dwell on that...instead it was time to get excited because we were having a baby today!
Once we found out all of this, we went ahead and called the family and told them to head to Rex. We had to wait in a triage room until they were ready to do the surgery. That was interesting. On one hand, it seemed like we were in that room for forever but on the other, it went by really quickly. It was probably close to 4 by the time we found all of this out and Troy and I were both busy making calls and filling the family in and making arrangements for Lainey. Since there was nothing to do but wait, we turned on the TV (mostly to keep us from going crazy just sitting there). Let me tell you...I love Rex but their cable sucks. Not to mention that there's not a ton of quality television on late Saturday afternoons. Mary Poppins was coming on ABC Family and that's what we settled on. And so we watched (sort of) and waited. A little more than an hour later, family started to show up. First Troy's Mom, then my Mom, Dad and sister. Thankfully, they had stopped by and picked Lainey up so I could see her before going into surgery. By this time, they moved me to the post-op area since it was totally empty and that's where they were going to prep me. I got to visit with all of the family briefly and spend some time with Lainey. Poor thing seemed confused as to why Mommy was in a hospital bed and gown but she did great. Then all of the family, including Troy, left. My family took Lainey home to eat dinner and get her in bed since it was nearly 7 p.m. at this point. Our neighbors kindly agreed to baby-sit Lainey again so my family could come back to the hospital.
As for me, I sat there by myself for a bit. It seemed like a really long time but it was less than 30 minutes. I talked to the nurses and checked Facebook on my phone. Then it was time for them to get me prepped for surgery which didn't take long. Troy came back and I was wheeled down the hall towards the OR. It's funny what you remember...as we moved down the hall, both Troy and I commented on remembering that so clearly from the last time. Once we got there though, it was a bit different. Troy went to the little room to get some scrubs on and I went into the OR. This time I was getting a spinal so I was positioned onto the surgery table in a sitting position and they came in and did that. It really wasn't bad. A sting and then a surge down my right leg. Another little surge and that was it and then they were getting me down on the table before I went numb. The nice thing about this time around was how everyone talked to me. I definitely remembered that the last time, it was as though everyone thought I was knocked out because no one talked to me or seemed to notice me and were just focused on the surgery. Not that I didn't want them paying attention to that but it helped to have some interaction! Troy couldn't come in until the drape was in place and they had already started the surgery (to make sure things were going smoothly). Then it was just a matter of minutes before we heard our little girl screaming as she was plucked from my uterus and brought up into this bright world.
As they carried her to the isolet, they held her up so we could see her. My first thought was that she looked so much like Lainey! She was louder though, and longer. Lainey cried some but then quieted down, as though she was taking it all in. Not this one...she cried out for all she was worth. :) Troy went with her while they cleaned her up and this was the part where I steeled myself for the rest of my surgery. With Lainey, this was when things went downhill for me. I could feel them stuffing my insides back into my torso and I was so uncomfortable and just wanted them to stop. Apparently, I was shaking and turning rather green so they pushed some high-powered sedatives into my IV and that was all I remember about that. This time, I was determined to be more present. Thankfully, there was no stuffing of insides. I don't know if that was the difference in having a female doctor this time but things at least seemed...gentler. I also had a female nurse anesthetist (the person who stays up by your head) and she actually talked to me which helped a lot. We talked about the baby and if I asked a question ("I smell burning flesh..."), she kindly answered me back to keep my informed ("Yup, they're cauterizing your blood vessels so you won't have a bunch of blood in your body cavity." Ah.). Then Troy and the baby were back and he held her close to my head so I could see her. Your arms are strapped down so I couldn't do much but it was nice to get to see her because I missed that with Lainey. Now that I got a better look at her, she didn't look as much like Lainey. I mean, she did, but she was definitely her own person. For one thing, she had wavy light brown hair! (I've gotten plenty of grief about that from Troy.) She also had a perfectly round face and head because she was a c-section (even Lainey had a bit of a conehead because I labored with her first). She doesn't look nearly as much like Troy the way Lainey did (and does). Maybe this one will look more like me? Then they were gone again...off to the nursery while I stayed behind. It took much longer for this part of the surgery than it did to get her out so that was interesting. Finally they finished and it was off to post-op. They checked me out and did the dreaded pushing on my abdomen (I definitely still remembered that from last time...that is pain like you can't imagine). Once I was all checked out and good to go, it was off to my room to be with family and finally, Miss Harper.
The rest of the time in the hospital was just like last time...perfectly pleasant with kind nurses and lots of care and attention. We were told that insurance would cover us to stay until Wednesday but we could be discharged Tuesday if we liked. Let me tell you, we seriously considered staying that extra day! If it hadn't been for Lainey, we totally would have. But we wanted to get home to be with her. She had come up to see us on Sunday and that was great but not enough. Thankfully, she loved her little sister right away and was only upset that I couldn't "get up" and she didn't like my IV. We had loads of family visit on Sunday and Lainey and Harper got all kinds of gifts. Then Monday was a quiet day for us and we went home Tuesday around lunch time. Troy's Mom was there to help until my Mom came the next day to take over. They switched off again for the weekend and then my Mom was back the next week. I can't tell you how nice it was to have help. I don't remember the recovery being as slow last time but I think that's mostly because I didn't have a toddler wanting me to pick her up. That was the hardest part for Lainey & me. It's been three weeks and I still am trying not to pick her up because it hurts and I have made the mistake of thinking that I'm fine and picking her up and then setting myself back so I'm trying to take it easy. But all in all, things are going very well. Harper is a sweet and calm baby. I think she is possibly even more easy-going than Lainey was. While Lainey runs around squealing, she snoozes peacefully. The first two nights at home were a little rough but by the third night, she was sleeping 5-6 hours at a time. I know...pretty amazing! So I can't complain too much about that. And breastfeeding! Wow, it is so much better when you know what you're doing. So far, there haven't been any issues and everything is going smoothly. My milk came in quickly and for a few days there, I was tempted to inquire if any neighborhood kids needed to eat because I had enough for everyone. But ice packs and hot showers helped and now my overflowing 38Ds have calmed down to about a 36C and we're all much happier about that. the rest of me is slowly going down as well but of course not as quickly as I would like. Time will take care of that though...and also if I can stop eating desserts.
I will post pictures soon. It is pretty amazing how slack you get about stuff like that the second time around unfortunately. All of our pictures are on our two phones and we haven't uploaded them to the computer yet. I keep asking Troy for his phone to do that and he's all, "But I don't have that many. Just some from the hospital when they were bathing her off and stuff." Um, yeah...all of the first pictures of her. I kind of want those! So, yes, I will upload and share them soon. In the meantime, you can check out the
amazing pictures my friend Elizabeth took of her when she was a week old. :)
