Miss Leah

I have not posted in quite awhile. Fall was, as expected, very busy with the musical and preparing for Leah's arrival. From there we moved immediately into the holidays and then Leah was born right after that! Plus most of my updates about things are quick and on Facebook. I did want to post Leah's birth story, like I did with the boys.

It was looking like Leah might be my 'boring' story, that she might actually wait until my scheduled c section date of January 10th. Since Patrick came at 36 weeks, I had everything ready by 35 weeks and expected to go right around Christmas. Christmas came and went, as did New Year's, and I headed back to work on January 3rd at 38 weeks pregnant. I had never been that far along before.

Wednesday afternoon, January 5th, I started contracting right before lunch. I immediately got nervous because with Patrick, I went from no contractions to being 7cm very quickly. I definitely did NOT want to wait too long to get to the hospital, as I was afraid that baby #3 would come even more quickly. By dinnertime, I decided to call the OB. The contractions were really irregular but all under 7 minutes. The OB suggested that I come in to get checked. I thought we were jumping the gun a bit, but I did want to avoid doing this at 3 a.m. when it would be more complicated to find someone to take care of the boys.

Off we went to triage, but by that time, my contractions had all but stopped completely (of course). I was 1 lousy centimeter. 1 centimeter!!! I was further along with Daniel at like 36 weeks!! I felt dumb for going into triage at 1cm with basically no contractions. The nurse did say she didn't think I'd make it through the weekend and then sent me home.

I went to work the next day, Thursday January 6th. No contractions as long as I was sitting, so I hauled a chair to the front of my classroom to teach from there. Then I got up to warm up my 7th period choir. I have a hard time sitting for warm ups. Not even 5 minutes into the class period, and I felt a small gush of fluid. I sat down immediately, and felt my back start to cramp up. My WORST nightmare was my water breaking during THAT class. Oh tell me, that is not what was happening here????

I taught the class from the piano and didn't get up at ALL, fearing that my water would go everywhere. I had several strong contractions during the class period. I think some of the girls knew something was not quite right. I wasn't exactly sure what was going on myself, so I didn't call the office. I didn't want another false alarm.

When the bell rang, I waited until most of the class was gone and asked one of the nice girls who was in the musical if my pants were wet. Her eyes got really big. Haha - yikes! I headed down the hallway to the bathroom.....I made it as far as the next classroom down when I realized, uh, yes, this IS my water breaking and I need to leave! The teacher in that room has 8th period plan, so I asked her to take my class.

I texted Mike "come get me" and he just said "ok." I sat at my desk and emailed the office to let them know I was leaving....I still did not want to stand up and to have my water go everywhere!!! Within 2 minutes my principal was in my room offering to drive me to the hospital. He seemed pretty relieved when I told him my husband was on the way :) I finished up a few things, got my desk organized for the sub, had a student in that class pack up my purse for me, and Mike was there by 2:15. He even stopped by the house to pick up my bag.

I think in triage, they get so many false alarms that they doubt everyone. Hello, this is my 3rd baby, my water has broken before, I KNOW what happened. I never could get my triage nurse to say that my water had broken. The test came back inconclusive. But, the on call OB wanted to go ahead and do the c section that night. She said that with all of my other symptoms, I would deliver anyway in less than 24 hours, and that she did not want me to go into hard labor after 2 c sections. They scheduled me for 6:00 p.m.

I was prepped and ready to go, and at 5:55 I left the triage room and headed for the OR. They did the spinal and got started. Mike said the incision had already been made when he got in the room. Dr. Cave delivered our daughter at 6:16 p.m. - I had to ask Mike if it really was a girl. It seemed too good to be true that I was really having a daughter.....not that a boy would have been bad.....but I was very excited about this girl! He confirmed that she definitely was a girl - our Leah Paige - and she came out crying. They showed her to me and then took her to the scale - 6 pounds, 11 ounces. I stayed pregnant with her the longest, and she came out by far the smallest baby. I was surprised about that. The nurses pointed out her awesome stats - born 1/6/11 at 6:16, 6 pounds, 11 ounces. I think she was definitely meant to come out right then :)

They tied my tubes and finished me up while Mike and Leah went to our recovery room to wait for me. I was in recovery by 6:40, so the surgery went VERY fast. I guess that's what happens when you have a c section at the end of a shift! I felt AMAZING in recovery. No pain or discomfort whatsoever, and I was very awake. (I remember being super sleepy after Patrick was born). Mike put Leah in my arms, and she immediately made eye contact with me and started sucking her fist. This baby wanted to EAT! This was a first for me - both boys had to be coaxed into nursing after several days of failed attempts. Leah went right for it while I was in recovery.

At exactly 7:40 they moved me to my postpartum room, and that is when I started to feel sick. I think it was the morphine they put in my spinal. The anesthesiologist told me the morphine would kick in an hour or two after surgery, so that would make sense. Our family started arriving at around 8:15. I wanted to badly to enjoy Leah's big night, but I felt like crap. No pain, just dizzy and sick. By 9:15 I was REALLY sick and everyone was starting to leave so I could get some rest. The nurses put some anti nausea medication in my IV, and I was fine and eating within a couple of hours. That was the worst part of the whole ordeal this time.

The next morning I was unhooked from the leg compression thingys and my IV, and was allowed to take a shower! Yesssssssss! I was very comfortable in the hospital, so we ended up staying 3 nights. I wanted to make sure I had plenty of time to recover before going home to the boys.

We headed home Sunday morning, and the boys were waiting at the front window for us. They are in love with their new sister! She is an absolute dream baby. She sleeps and eats very well, and naps in the living room amidst the constant noise from her brothers playing. This has been by FAR the easiest c section recovery.

Very long...sorry about that! I just don't want to forget any details! I will probably be updating the blog more frequently, as I have used this in the past to keep track of each baby during their first year.