Holy crap I have a baby.............It's been 3 weeks and I still can barely believe it. Meet our amazing daughter Clementine! She was born at 3:53 A.M. on 10.5.14 at 7lbs even! I can't even begin to describe how absolutely in love with her I am. After only 3 weeks I can hardly remember what it was like before she was here and I'm so grateful to have her. I'm sure this is what every parent feels, but she's absolute perfection.
When I finally went in to labor I was 40 weeks 5 days and SO DONE with being pregnant. I had an appointment to discuss induction options the upcoming Monday and am so glad I didn't have to go that route. That said, I'm not going to sugar coat it, labor was an absolute BITCH. I was in labor for over 24 hours, starting right around 3 A.M. Saturday morning and didn't have her until almost 4 A.M. the following Sunday.
My contractions basically came out of nowhere, as I'd been to the OB the Monday of that week and was 0cm dilated and still only 50% effaced, which was the same as my 39 week appt. I was NOT HAPPY to say the least. My mood about the state of things was brought on by several factors, primarily how I felt physically and the fact that my best friend was in town until the 8th before hitching a plane back to Texas and I very very badly wanted to give birth before that so she'd be able to meet the little monkey.
Thankfully, I woke up that Friday night/Saturday morning at 3AM with sudden contractions and they quickly went from every 6-7 minutes to every 5-6. After speaking to my nurseline, I went in to the hospital after drinking a large glass of milk and waiting an hour. when I was still having contractions every 5 minutes, it was time to go!
Long story short, as I said labor was a bitch and things did NOT progress quickly at all. Even though my contractions quickly escalated to being strong and regular, it still took me forever to dilate from 1-2 cm's. I was admitted anyways as my blood pressure was a little up and down, though I had no other signs of preeclampsia, they just wanted to keep an eye on it.
By about 1-2PM, contractions were HORRIBLE. They were still every 5 minutes but had gained in intensity and hurt something awful. By then I was still only 2-3 cms dilated so I was given pitocin to try to speed up the dilation and was still on 0 pain meds which I was NOT happy about...
By 7PM I was finally 5cm and 4min apart with contractions and FINALLY got my epidural. Then I was in heaven :) Epidurals are the shit y'all, just sayin... I couldn't feel anything below the belt and was having contractions and didn't even know it. HEAVEN. Even then, it took hours to get dilated to where it was safe to push. I think it was around 2AM when we finally started pushing and after 2 hours of that hell, she FINALLY made it out safe and sound.
It was the longest day of my life but so worth it.
I'm obviously posting this way after the fact as I've been getting the hang of being a mom and trying not to get overwhelmed by everything, but in the 3 weeks since she's been born, little Clem's become my best friend (even if she doesn't agree sometimes...little scream-o!). She definitely has had her good days and bad days but I couldn't ask for a more lovely little person to love to pieces and just wanted to share her birth and how happy she's made me and my husband. We're absolutely smitten! On that note, on to her photo bombs!!! She's a little ham in pictures :)
At 5 days old, mastering the "poop smile"
6 days old, more poop smiles!
2 weeks 5 days, a pro of the "...really...?" face, just like her mom!
And today, 2 weeks 6 days, screaming after being cursed with mittens after managing to still scratch herself after a nail trim.
And later after she zen'd out in her teddy ears hat.
Thanks all for reading, feel free to share your own stories or ask any questions about mine!
