Our little glow bug....

Friday morning we had our home health visit and discovered Isla's bilirubin was high. We started supplementing her feedings with formula but her level increased when we checked it again Saturday. Saturday afternoon a bili-blanket was delivered and we had to keep Isla on the blue light. The doctor said if her levels didn't get better with that, she'd have to go under the regular bili-beds in the hospital. We checked again Sunday and her level had dropped from 17.2 to 13-something. Yeah!! We kept her on the blanket until this afternoon and tomorrow we have to have more blood drawn. Meanwhile, the improvement in her jaundice had made a HUGE difference in her staying awake, her eating, and being alert. This kid has been CHOWING for the past 24 hours! Hopefully we'll be able to stop the supplemental formula after we find out her new levels tomorrow.

Grandma was here most of the day today with us and let me take a nice long nap this afternoon. I was also able to take the dogs for a walk. While we were gone, Isla had a really messy diaper and peed as Grandma was changing her. While my mom cleaned up the mess, she laid Isla in her big crib--her first time in her crib!! Mom said that Isla really liked the bright colors on the sheet on her bed.

So here's where things start getting to be TMI so you might want to stop reading, but I want to record some things before I forget.

It seems really bizarre---a week ago we were talking about how this Tuesday we'd be talking about inducing and how breaking my water would be challenging because of the pressure of the extra fluid. A little after 8:00 Monday evening, the possibility of induction was erased as my water broke on its own. Luckily I was at home. In the bathroom. On the toilet. What better place to be??? (Although I did flash to some of those episodes of I Didn't Even Know I Was Pregnant where the girl always has her baby in the bathroom.) The excess fluid levels had me gushing and gushing. I kept checking to make sure I couldn't feel anything--reading about the possibility of cord prolapse had me paranoid. When we left for the hospital I had to do so with a bath towel in my pants. P put trash bags and towels in the seat of the car and everything was soaked after the 5 minute drive to the hospital.

I was only 1 1/2 cm dilated and was firm at the doctor's office Monday. I wasn't having contractions so once I got the hospital they started Pitocin. The first time they checked me, I was at 2 cm. A few hours later, I hadn't made much progress and I'd started to feel the contractions. Since it was obvious that the process was going to take awhile, I decided to have the epidural. Luckily I asked for it before I really felt like I needed it. The first stick hit a vein so they couldn't use it. With the second stick they started medication but I still felt things. A lot. Basically my pain had gone from 6-7 to 5-6. After awhile we realized that it wasn't going to the right side of my body. They had me change positions, tried to adjust the epidural and finally decided it had to be redone. The anesthesiologist tried this time rather than the CRNA. Oh, magic drugs!!! My pain didn't get any higher than 2 for the rest of my hospital stay. And even with 3 sticks in the spine, no spinal headache! The CRNA who had done the first 2 sticks kept apologizing. I told P to tell him the next time he sees him that I'd rather things worked out this way than for him to have gotten it the first try but ended up with a spinal headache.

I wish we could have waited to start the Foley until the epidural kicked in rather than having it while I could still feel things. Oh well, at least with the Foley I was able to stop using the bed pan--they wouldn't let me walk to the bathroom since my water broke.

Anyway, with the epidural in place they cranked up the Pitocin but things were still moving pretty slowly. Finally, around 11 Tuesday morning the nurse was going to place an internal contractions monitor, checked me and exclaimed "hot damn!" Apparently she was surprised that I had progressed to 10 cm and was fully effaced. She couldn't place an internal monitor to monitor my contractions so it was going to be up to me to identify when I needed to push. I was surprised by how much I had to concentrate to know a contraction was coming. There was so much activity in the room and I was the only one who knew when I was contracting and I was only feeling the contractions at a 1-2 pain level. They asked if I wanted the mirror down to watch. At first I said no but then decided I wanted to be able to watch.

It was 11:50 when the nurse told someone to call Dr. S to come to the hospital--they said they called earlier than usual because of the possibility of lunchtime traffic. We did some practice pushing before the doctor got there and in the mirror I could see the top of Isla's head. Once Dr. S got there she got gowned up and I had more contractions. During the second round of pushing after the doctor got there, she told me to stop pushing. In the same second I realized what she was saying and what I was supposed to do, I looked up into the mirror and saw Isla squirming. P said as she slid out, Dr. S caught her but had some juggling to do to hang on to her. They showed her to me, then took her across the room to clean her up and check her Agpars. I could see lots of dark curls, skinny little feet and coloring that reminded me of a truly Puerto Rican baby! When they weighed her, I was shocked to hear that our baby who was expected to weigh over 8 pounds the week before was 7 pounds 4 ounces. And so beautiful. I loved her before she was born, but the moment I saw her, that love increased exponentially.

I watched P taking pictures of her, looking at her as the nurses cleaned her up. I know my mom squeezed my hand a few times. Most of what was going on was a blur. I looked up to see the doctor remove the placenta--reminded me of taking the innards out of a turkey. Then she started stitching me up. Every one moved around the room so fast. One by one people left the room and left me, P, and our baby. Our family. I didn't know my heart could feel so full.

I'll post more pictures in a bit.