The day before at my appointment I was dilated to a 5 and her head was right there. The dr was surprised she hadn't come but they scheduled for me to be induced that Thursday, 41 weeks in my pregnancy. I was pretty bummed she hadn't come by that point but I knew I'd have her soon! I went to work and filled out my maternity leave form, got a couple things done and left until July 10th!
I'd started having contractions throughout the night but they started being consistent around 6 that morning. They were about 9 minutes apart. Tony went to work and I told him I'd call him if they got any closer together. Around 9-9:30 I called Tony's mom to give her a heads up that I might need her to give me a ride to the hospital because they were about 6 minutes apart and I figured it would be easier to just meet tony there rather than him coming all the way home. I told tony that I still had to wait until they got to be about 5 minutes apart and didn't know how long that would take. About a half hour later they were 5 minutes apart so my mother in law took me to the hospital and we met up with tony.
Thy checked me and I hadn't dilated any more from my appointment the day before. They said if I didn't progress in an hour thy were going to send me home...it didn't sound too promising. Then about 20 minutes before they were going to send me home a nurse came in and told me I was being admitted....I was so relieved. A little while later my dr came in and broke my water and started me on pitocin to help my contractions be more effective in helping me dilate. I definitely started to hurt then. Tony was joking around trying to make me laugh and I was not in the mood ha. I got an epidural and that didn't hurt nearly as bad as them trying to start an iv(the blew one vein so my hand is all bruised, couldn't get it the second time and finally got it the third time). Once the epidural started working I could still feel the contractions on one side. I kept praying that it would spread because I was in a lot of pain. I was a whole new woman once that epidural started working on both sides! Much happier....which I'm sure tony appreciated! At about 5:30ish I was fully dilated but Riley's head hadn't fully descended so I couldn't start pushing. And the nursing staff was changing at 6. At about 6:15 the nurses came in and started setting things up. I had great nurses that told me exactly what I needed to do! I started pushing at about 6:25ish and Riley came at 6:41. I couldn't feel a thing! The dr kept commenting on how much hair she had as she was coming out. Once Riley came out they handed her to me and I couldn't help crying, I finally had my baby girl! She was funny colored but so beautiful to me! Tony had been standing by my head and after the first push he had to go sit on the couch so he didn't pass out haha. But I loved looking at his face after he saw her. Tony was so great through it all.
They took Riley to clean and measure her while the dr stitched me up. I had a second degree tear as well as a tear on my urethra...that's been fun to deal with, not. I'd been wanting skin to skin contact as soon as possible and to breastfeed, but things didn't quite work out the way I wanted it to. I was able to breastfeed within about 45 minutes though. After about an hour or so they moved me into another room for the night.
It was so great watching tony with her. He loves her so much! He's really good with her! I fall more in love with him evey day seeing him with Riley.
Recovering at the hospital was alright. I ended up passing out the first time I got up to go to the bathroom and I was a little weak for awhile. Overall things were pretty good. I had a hard time figuring out how to breastfeed. This little one had a very hard time latching at first. We're still struggling getting her to latch correctly on one side, but once we get it she eats like a champ! We were able to go home Thursday afternoon, so I wasn't in the hospital for 24 hours after delivery. The experience really wasn't as horrible as I thought....I'm just so grateful I had an epidural! Best thing ever!
Coming home has been really good. I've been a bit of a hormonal wreck a few times. I feel bad because tony wants so badly to make things better when I cry but there isn't anything to make it better sometimes. I know it's hard on him when he can't help. Riley had to get her bilirubin levels checked twice because the kept rising, but the dr said she's okay now. At her 3 day weight check she hadn't lost or gained any weight which is good.
Getting used to breasrfeeding has probably been the most draining for me. Even though she's doing really well I never realized how hard it would be to devote so much time to it, on top of trying to recover and rest. I know it will get easier, it's just hard right now.
I got sick this morning and I think it affected Riley too. She kept eating almost every hour and then she'd poop it all out. I think we both just had a rough day while dad was at work. Once tony got home Riley started to feed normally and then she slept for 2 hours or so, which meant that I could finally sleep! I really needed it. This evening has gone so so much better. We left Riley with Tony's mom for about an hour while we went to the store. It was so weird not having her with us.
We're going down to San Diego this weekend and I can't wait! I'm so excited to see my family and have them meet Riley! I'm not looking forward to the drive down, but it will be worth it!
She is so chunky, it's so cute!
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