Because I (perhaps strangely) love to read birth stories, I'm going to memorialize hers here so I don't forget (not that I'm sure I could). Because Nora was two weeks early, I was convinced that MR would be early. I had contractions for the majority of the 9th month, so I was pretty sure that she would arrive by Christmas. [So sure that I purchased Christmas pjs.] We even talked about inducing early (on the 18th), but then I got the flu and hadn't fully recovered by then, so we decided to wait. And wait. And wait. Her due date (Dec. 24th) came and went. Christmas Day came and went. Several more days came and went. So, finally - at 40 weeks and 5 days - we decided to induce.
We arrived at St. Vincents bright and early at 5 am on the 29th and were quickly ushered into Room 314. We got settled, and they started the IV and Pitocin. Things were rocking along, and they called for the epidural around 6:30. The actual epidural went smoothly, but since I had blood pressure issues with Nora's delivery, they were prepared for that to happen again. And it did. My blood pressure bottomed out, so they gave me something to get it back up. They actually gave me a LOT of something because then my blood pressure shot up to 190. While they were trying to get my blood pressure under control they realized that the epidural was working a little too well. I had lost all feeling and control in my arms, and the epidural was quickly climbing up my chest. Eventually the epidural reached my face/eyes. The anesthesiologist kept having to come back to try to adjust the pump, which they eventually turned off and then turned back on at a much lower level. I was pretty out of it and totally unable to move. I could still talk, but I felt like I couldn't swallow and they had to put on the oxygen mask. It slowly got better (I got some feeling back in my arms and hands), but I still couldn't really move much and was still pretty out of it. I kept losing feeling in my arms and hands and they would have to come back and try to adjust the pump.
Dr. Davis came back to check on me around noon. I was fully dilated and MR had descended, but the epidural was so strong that I had absolutely no feeling. They turned off the epidural pump completely in the hopes that I would get a little feeling back so that I could push. But then the baby's heart rate started decelerating with each contraction, and they were worried that the umbilical cord was wrapped around her. So Dr. Davis decided that we needed to try to go ahead and deliver the baby. So, I pushed - without knowing what I was doing - for about an hour (still totally out of it), and finally Mary Revel was born. She was actually face-up, which explained the heart rate issues, and the delays. She had APGAR scores of 8 and 9, and looked perfect to us! (The epidural eventually wore off around 5 pm).
We had a great hospital stay. Trish was our first visitor. She and Bill had stayed home to take care of Nora, but she snuck away on Monday afternoon to come see Mary Revel. (We sadly took very few pictures. I was very upset about this in hindsight.)
On Tuesday Marc brought Nora to come meet her baby sister. She wasn't a huge fan at first and was WAY more excited about the Lambie that Mary Revel gave her. (She dressed herself - only the finest Old Navy dress for her baby sister.)
We went home on Wednesday. Marc had run home to shower while I ate breakfast and got dressed. Nora was so excited to see him and completely melted down when he tried to leave to come back to the hospital. So... he loaded her up and brought her back with him. It was a little crazy trying to get Mary Revel dressed in her going-home-outfit (the same one that both Nora and I wore home from the hospital) and all of our stuff loaded up. Unlike with Nora, we could barely manage to get a picture.
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| Nora is obsessed with this pumpkin necklace that she and Marc made at a Halloween event at the library. We try to hide it and every time she finds it, she throws a fit to wear it. |
So we snapped one (minus big sister who was sleeping in the car) once we got home.
We are so happy to be a family of four!
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