A few moments after Bridgette's birth
6:15am-- the girls find out they have a new sister!
Liesel's mom + dad date at the hospital with baby B
Hannah wanted to re-create a photo she had with baby Felicity and her doll, but this time with baby Bridgette
Hello Everyone,
Obviously the big news of the month for us is the arrival of our new baby girl, Bridgette. It has been the full range of emotions since she was born Tuesday January 16th at 1:15am.
It was MLK day and I had a dr apt in the afternoon. Brian has spent a lot of time this month looking for property to build a duplex on, so we went after the appointment to check out another piece of land. We dropped the girls off with Aunt Sarah and then headed to look at the dirt lot. We picked the kids up later that day and then we all headed to $1 tacos at a local mexican place. I ended up regretting this at about 12pm that night when I felt like I was going to throw it all up. We got home, put the kids to bed and watched a show on Netflix. I noticed that I was having contractions about every 10mins during the show, but I didn't mention it yet. This had happened two or three other times where I thought I was in labor, went to bed early and then woke up the next morning not having gone into labor. At about 9:30pm I told Brian I thought I might be in labor and to start timing. At 10 pm we decided to pack our hospital bags and I lied down in bed. We told Sarah who was planning to watch the girls while we were in the hospital, but in the course of the next hour the contractions were coming stronger and closer. When Sarah arrived a little before 11pm, we left for our 1 mile drive to the Moab hospital.
Every contraction was very intense and I could feel it working. TMI? When we arrived to the ER (where you have to check in if the hospital is closed), they said, "You already packed your bags! You're confident." To which I replied, "Well, I know I'm in labor." They were skeptical and the FOXnews broadcast was blaring while Brian signed paperwork and I breathed through the contractions. They told us that they were expecting 5 births in January and all of them were at the hospital right now. I waited in the small ER room through the next few contractions and thought I could walk to the delivery room once it was ready, but I collapsed on the floor halfway there because the contractions were so intense. I was 7cm when they checked me in the delivery room. Connie, my nurse through my other two births in Moab, was my nurse again! I really like her, so I was happy. She said she thought this was going to go really fast and she couldn't get ahold of Dr. Cole, so she would get the on-call Dr. Williams. I didn't care, especially at this point. The contractions were getting so intense all I could do was grip the side railing of the bed and shake it as I tried to breathe and stay calm through each contraction. As soon as the dr was there I was ready to start pushing. He told me to go for it and so I did. The first contraction I had he helped slip the babies head through and start descending. I was Amazon-woman screaming/shouting through the next contraction pushing and I thought I was going to die. I didn't remember pushing being so insane, but I'm sure it always is. I think I pushed through three more contractions. The cord was around her neck but they slipped it off easily. He told me to stop pushing, but I don't really know why. I think he thought I was going too fast, but I couldn't help it. The final push when she came out was an immediate relief and I reached for her slimy little body and saw her adorable face for the first time. I kept saying, "you're so beautiful!" while shaking and breathing and getting teary-eyed. I looked up at Brian who was also teary-eyed and we were both just so relieved to have that behind us and that she was ok.
The Dr. and nurse made several comments about how easy it all was. I can't complain because the whole thing was fast and not drawn-out, but it was easy for them because they weren't doing the work! I had a few friends in the hospital (one there for her delivery and the other for bleeding during pregnancy) and he told them not to ask me about my labor because it was "unrealistic" and "the easiest birth I'll have all year."
That night was a blur. By the time everything was done it was after 3am. I was so amped up on adrenaline, I didn't sleep but for maybe an hour that night and same with Brian. Sarah said that in the morning Felicity was calling, "Mom! where are you?!" from down in my room. She called to her and told her she had a new baby sister. The other girls woke up pretty much right after that and they were all excited. We didn't have a name picked out yet. Brian and I had narrowed our list down to three names: Elisabeth, Juliette and Bridgette. I felt in a fog and didn't want to be rushed into anything, but we felt we needed to decide soon.
Leslie arrived at the hospital that morning at about 8:45am to film us and the kids arrived about an hour later to meet her for the first time. I felt really good after the birth-- like oddly ok. No tears, no excessive bleeding etc. It was really neat to have all of our children in the same room with us. I am so glad that Leslie came and filmed this. I am rarely on the other side of the camera and she did an amazing job. Leslie finished the full 6 minute film and you can watch it here:
Since then, there has been a lot of highs and lows. Liesel was so upset about us naming the baby Bridgette that Brian called me and said she was in tears. I'm not sure if it was so much the name as it was the huge change. She came to the hospital alone that night and held Bridgette and ordered hospital dinner with us. She has been okay since then. Hannah has had two meltdowns about having a new sister during which tears stream down her face and she says, "Having a new sister is just so so hard! You're always taking care of her!" It's kind of a hear-breaker and I'm doing my best to give them all attention, but nursing takes up a lot of my time.
Which brings me to another low: baby weight gain. She looks so chubby in the photos from last Sunday and I fell like she's already lost weight. She has only pooped one time in 11 days. Nursing went from being tolerable to being insanely painful as one side has split and is an open sore. I go from feeling stressed and hopeless to feeling like it will all be fine. Usually corresponds to night time vs day time feedings. I'm debating taking her in and having her weighed again, but I hated that last time. She doesn't seem hungry in the sense that she sleeps well and isn't fussy, but I still feel so stressed about the lack of poop or spit up. It was so great to have Sarah's help and Allison's help the first four days after we got home. RS brought us meals this week and I'm still not totally on my own this week because Brian is taking one more week off to help me. Hopefully I can push through the pain of nursing before he heads back to work and hopefully she'll start pooping and gaining weight.
With that said, there are so many times holding her that I have felt overwhelmed with love for this little girl. I feel like I've enjoyed the newborn phase -- their peeling skin and sucker fish mouth, their little dragon noises and sweet smell. The way the skin on their head looks and feels so smooth and soft and their little newborn cry that sounds like a "waaaaa!" instead of a full-blown wail. While I'm anxious to get through the mental stress and physical pain, I feel like I've enjoyed having a newborn in the usually dreary month of January.
In other news, our girls seem so big now. Felicity walks around doing the cutest most hilarious things all day. She is so imaginative and I frequently hear her singing or pretending the cutest things. The other day she was full-on singing her heart out "I want to be a tomato helper!" Sarah and I were dying laughing listening to her lyrics. She doesn't like to hold or touch Bridgette but I'm sure that will change as she gets bigger. Hannah, despite her few meltdowns, has been a great helper and very sweet with her. Liesel loves to hold her and when she's home and she will help out (between swim, piano and reading for school it seems like she has quite a bit going on). Liesel has her 2nd swim meet this week. I'm anxious to see if it will go better than her last. Her first horse back riding lesson is on Saturday.
Brian has stayed busy looking for property, sending out letters to lot owners in town, fixing our van door with a new motor, staining the fence and doing our taxes.
Love you all so much. I'm looking forward to Catherine and Matt's visit next month! They'll be the first ones on our side to meet Bridgette!
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