And Baby Makes Trois! (that's three in French people)

So like, I had a baby.  It hurt.

Sorry about my blogging absence.  After Andrey came, I didn't have access to a computer.  Nate and I just bought a new iMac.  It's freakin' awesome!  Now I don't have an excuse.

There is no way that I can update everything that has happened in one post.  So I'll start with December and go from there.  I find it interesting to reread what I posted on Dec 16th.  I posted a lot about my fears, and many of them came true.  Turns out, I was afraid for nothing. I went into labor on the 17th and had her on the 18th.  She was due January 24th.

Preterm labor is no joke.  I woke up on Friday morning, started to get ready for work and suddenly started bleeding.  Fortunately Nate was still home, so we rushed to Littleton Hospital.  The nurses there gave me a shot of Terbutaline to try to stop my contractions.  My appointment was that day to have my care transferred to the high risk practice, so I wasn't a patient with them yet.  The doctor that I was seeing (Dr. A), who authorized the transfer, was called by my regular OB.  Dr. A decided Littleton Hospital was not prepared to handle my delivery (what?  did she think I was having the baby or something??) so she ordered me to go to Pres/St. Lukes (PSL).  Now, it would make too much sense financially for us to drive ourselves there so I had to ride in an ambulance with high risk L&D nurses.  These two women, (Flight Team!) were called from home to come transport me to PSL.  They were wearing skydiving suits.  I swear.  When they arrived at Littleton they saw my contractions were still going so they started me on magnesium sulfate.  That stuff sucks.  It made me feel like I was having menopausal hot flashes.  It's the strongest drug available to stop contractions.  They assured me it would work.  I bumped my way along the road to PSL, with Nate riding in front of the ambulance.  I just kept thinking "I'm not ready to have a baby.  My ceiling fans are dusty."

We arrived at PSL and the "Flight Team" told the PSL nurses everything they knew.  They were saying things like "the patient isn't responding to the mag" and blah blah blah.  Huh...I'm not responding to the mag?  Crap.  The new nurse in charge gave me another round of mag, put a catheter in (it hurt so bad I almost judo chopped her, plus she was sassy and deserved a judo chop) and informed me I would be at the hospital until I had my baby.  I thought; "seriously, what am I going to do here for weeks."

My new enemy (ahem...the mag!) didn't work the second time around.  Sassy nurse then informed me she was going to let me go into labor.  NO!  There was a man delivering babies that day.  I don't want a man! (Well I do want a man...but I already have one.  Duh!)  All my fears dissolved when this man came in to check my progress, and he was totally pleasant.  Who would have thought?

Meanwhile my mom was in Illinois because my sister had a baby four days earlier.  I needed my mom.  She caught a flight and made it in time to brush my hair, hold my hand (and eventually a leg), pray fervently, and just be there for Nate and I.

Early Saturday morning, maybe around 3am, I got an epidural.  I didn't like it.  It made me numb.  Okay, I know you're thinking that's what it's supposed to do.  But it freaked me out.  I couldn't feel my legs and I like to feel my legs.  They are vital to me.  I annoyed the anesthesiologist to the point where he said "you're only allowed to ask 20 questions".  He was great and had a good sense of humor.  I needed a lot of reassurance I was going to walk again.  Poor guy.

After pushing for about two hours, and telling/yelling at my husband to hold my leg stronger and my mom to stop texting my dad (seriously mom, you're holding a leg and texting?!), Andrey Grace was born. It was 8:18am.  She was 5lbs 1oz and 18inches long.  Just a little squirt.  She cried immediately.  What a relief.  I had been given a steroid shot to develop her lungs, and I guess she didn't need it.  She was strong enough for me to hold her for about a minute before the NICU team took her away.  I was so grateful for that minute.  The doc who delivered me (ended up being a WOMAN! score!) had warned me she would probably be taken away immediately.  It was intense to have a room full of people.  The NICU team was very impressive and thorough.  Nate went with Andrey and my mom stayed with me.

I'll wrap this up here, as I can see you're starting to lost interest.  I went into labor because of a placental abruption.  AKA - My placenta tore away from the uterine wall.  AKA - Not a good thing.  About 30 seconds after Andrey came, so did my placenta.  This is not normal people.  I got ANOTHER epidural, and had a curettage procedure preformed (it's the C when referring to a D&C) to remove remaining tissue.  Because of the second epi, I couldn't walk for 5 more hours.  So I had to wait that whole time to go see Andrey.  I wet the bed.

It was a traumatic and amazing experience.  Every bit of pain, fear and worry was worth it.  I'm so in love with my little girl.  The Lord chose me to be her mother and I would do it all again, every day to have her.

Due to the fact we were not ready to have a baby, we didn't have a camera with us.  So here are a few pictures from when she was about two days old.

Here she is under the bilirubin lights for her jaundice.

More to come friends.

Did anyone read this?  Mom?