...95 days later...

I'm baaaaaack!

I know you were thinking it wouldn't ever happen, but I'm determined to get back on the blogging train!

First thing's first: I'm a MOMMY!!

If you're just tuning in and missed the big news, the hubs and I brought a BEAUTIFUL baby girl into this world on November 30, 2011. 

Miss Camdin Elisabeth Freed weighed 6 lbs 13 ounces, and measured 20 inches long.

In my first post back, I'd love to share with you her birth story. For those of you who choose not to read this material, this is your exit cue and thanks for making an effort! I'm not afraid to share the details, so brace yourselves... HA!

Here goes:

Tuesday evening [November 29th] at 8:45pm, my contractions began. Considering I had only experienced Braxton Hicks contractions two days early, I was still new to the sensation. They seemed to be sporadic in length and intervals, so all I did was record them and watch them continue. Keep in mind this was the evening of the Victoria's Secret Fashion Show, which I was excited to watch. I spoke with my mom and good friend Kim on the phone during the first few hours of contractions, with no consistency or pattern in sight. I thought this may be it, but no signs of increasing intensity were appearing. By 10:30pm I decided that we should start watching the show to get my mind off of the contractions. I figured I'd know when things were changing drastically.

Then it hit me. At 11:00pm, I started noticing the contractions appearing more quickly. I checked my timing, and they were... TWO MINUTES APART?! Are you KIDDING me? How did I go from no pattern, to TWO minutes apart? Holy geez! I told Chris immediately. Of course, he wanted to shower quickly, so I gathered all of our things : packed bag, snacks for Chris, let the puppies out to potty, and a towel in case my water broke in the car. (Gotta protect those seats, ya know?!)

We pulled out of the driveway at 12:30am, Wednesday morning. I was finally settled in a birthing suite by 1:30am. My first check by the nurse showed that I was 3 cm dilated and 80-90% effaced. Within 15 minutes, my entire dinner came up in 3 separate incidences. Lovely. I kept getting hot flashes and nausea with each contraction. This kept Chris attached to the thermostat, turning it up and down, up and down. I was able to have Zofran in my IV for the nausea which helped immensely. 

At 3:30am I was still at 3 cm, but with much more intensity and pain. I had originally thought my labor would be on the shorter side based on my mom's experiences, therefore I wanted to try it without an epidural. But, by this time, it didn't look like things were going to progress quickly. I asked for the epidural, knowing that it might be a while before I received it. Thirty minutes later the nurse came back with unexpected news. My blood work shower elevated platelet levels, which "disqualified" me for an epidural. Guess I was going to get what I originally hoped for. The pain was so intense at that point, that I asked for a little help with medication. The nurse gave me a pain narcotic (Stadol) which would last 2 hours. As as she hooked it into my IV, I was out. I got to sleep for 90 minutes!! Yay for re-energizing myself!

By 5:00am the pain was coming back. The nurse checked me again, and I was 4-5 cm dilated, and 100% effaced. They gave me another round of Stadol, and I slept for an hour. By 6:00am, I could feel a lot more pain, which made me think I was much more dilated. Dr. Chang came in at 6:12 to check me. I was at 8 cm, and he broke my water. 

I kid you not, less than 10 minutes later, I felt this huge urge to push. It was like my body just went into pushing mode without me even knowing about it. Chris called up the nurse quick to have her check me again. She acted all nonchalant when she came in, like there was no way that I was fully dilated. Sure enough, I was right. 10 centimeters and ready to go... NOW! She called for Dr. Chang and the rest of the  team. Dr. Chang was in the room by 6:30am. This is the part where it gets fuzzy for me.

I remember being EXTREMELY parched and dry-mouthed. Chris started feeding me ice chips by spoon in between my contractions- which felt like they were 10 seconds apart. Craziness. The nurses prepped everything very quickly. I started pushing at 6:45am. Four contractions later, at 6:59am my baby girl made her debut! She was screaming so long that she could hardly catch her breath. I had to have an episiotomy to assist in her arrival, and honestly the stitching up of that was more painful since my adrenaline already had gone down a bit as soon as she was born. 

Chris cut the cord right away, and she was carried over to the table to be cleaned up right away while he snapped a ton of pictures. Her APGAR scores were 8 and 9. While her first diaper was being put on, she pooped. Then after getting clean from that, she peed while the second clean diaper was being put on. HAHA. That's my girl. Get it all out right away. So her plumbing worked wonders!

They then brought her over and laid her on my chest and I've never felt such immediate warmth and love in my heart. She was already holding her head up, listening to our voices, and making sweet growly sounds. 

... And three months later we are still SO in love, we can't even explain. 

Many more updates, stories and pictures to come. 

If you'd like to see the massive amount of pictures we've taken so far, head on over to Flickr.  Add me as a contact, and I will grant you access to her cuteness!

Time to feed her... again. Story of my life now!