Sunday, August 23, 2009

Photos and the rest of the story...

Wowzer!  Okay- in case you subscribe to the theory, "A picture is worth a thousand words", here is a link for all the photos I've taken from the time we left for the hospital, until now.  Warning, there are LOTS!!!  :)

www.kulesfamily.shutterfly.com

And, for documentation sake, here's the whole story:

On Wednesday, August 19th we had an OB appointment around 10am.  While we were there, I got an exam and found out we were 2cm dilated.  By 6:15pm that evening, I was having regular contractions and called the hospital to decide our course of action.  They told me if I was the same, (or worse!) by 9pm to head in to check things out.

Jillian was already in bed, so we called our friends Natalie and Rene to come baby/dog/house sit while we drove to Bethesda.

We leisurely got out the door (my contractions were every 4 min or so, but not that awful) so we made sure to pack everything (just in case this was the real deal!) and got on the road.

Upon arrival at the hospital, my contractions had lessened (wouldn't you know?!) so I was sure we were going to be sent home.  However, my exam showed I was 4cm, and progressing, so they checked us in!

Once we got in our room, I got my epidural, pitocen, water broken, and was told to get some rest. (Okay- I made that whole part sound pretty quick and painless, but I'm saving you the labor details!)

I could not fall asleep no matter how hard I tried, but Ryan crashed out for a little bit.  At about 4:30am I started having a weird pain in my side.  When the doc checked me out, it was determined this was probably because Liv had quickly transitioned to a +2 station, I was 100% thinned, and dilated 10cm.  In summary:  It was go time!

I called across the room to Ryan to wake him up:  "Babe!  Wake up... wanna have a baby?" (Groggy Ryan) "Hm?  Huh?  Oh.... now? Sure!"  Haha!

It took him a minute to get the pull out bed put away, and stand by me.  While he was doing this, the staff was setting up our room for delivery.  My nurse was talking to me about how she counts contractions and suggested we do a "practice push" to make sure we were on the same page.  Count 3 of the practice push she quickly said, "Okay... um... please stop!"  She suggested the doctor quickly finish the prep.  Guess we were ready!!!

The first contraction where I was told to push, I gave it my all and I guess it was enough!  By count 7 or so, her head was out, and after a quick deep breath and another push, Liv was born!

4:46am, cord around her neck, covered with white goo, and screaming, Liv had arrived.  The cord was quickly dealt with, and she was just fine.  They were able to deliver her onto my belly and Ryan and I were completely consumed by this magical moment we had been blessed with for a second time.  In minutes, seconds even, we had gone from a family of three to a family of four.  It is amazing.

Enjoy the photos!

3 comments:

Household6 said...

So cute! Can't wait to come see her. Maybe mid week?

Grandma said...

Suffering from the distance- thankful for photo's and stories.

Lisa said...

Congrats on a beautiful baby girl - i LOVE how much hair she has. She will be the perfect baby model for your hair clips. Great photos too! You two make some good looking kids!