On October 18th, the hubs' and my lives changed forever. This little angel decided to grace us with her presence, three weeks early just like her mama before her did.
The hubs left for drill that morning (why do all these bug things happen over drill weekends??) He was training at a nearby base so he was actually able to come home that night around 11 for a few hours to catch some sleep. Around 2:30 in the morning, I got out of bed as per usual only this time when I stood up...my water broke.
I spent a good 10 minutes scurrying around the bathroom before I woke the hubs up. I will say, as soon as I yelled his name, he bolted out of bed though I don't know if that's because he still thought he was at drill or not. We hurriedly finished packing our bags (rather I finished packing mine, the hubs packed his) and left a bewildered Tino for the hospital. Another thing we left behind? Our birth plan, which I spent so long researching and putting together!
When we got there, I was put in a temporary room while they made sure my water did in fact break (maybe they thought I peed my pants?) We were then moved to a delivery room where they started me on pitocen, which they then stopped after an hour.
I'd love to say I was one of those women who didn't need drugs...but I was pretty much asking for them as soon as I could. How some women go through 24+ hours of labor with no drugs, I have no idea but my personal opinion is that it is not the 1800s so I will accept all the help I can get! The Harry Potter marathon that was on TV at the time could only distract me so much.
Around 1 pm, they finally let me start pushing and an hour and a half later, she was here!
CEH born at 2:55 pm
5 lbs, 13 oz
18 in
Despite her early arrival, she was healthy! Her sugars were a little low so we had to start her on donor milk at the hospital. She weighed JUST enough to not have to do the carseat check but did have to take the hearing test twice as she didn't pass the first time.
Other than being suuuper sore (best ab/back workout ever), my only health issue was my BP which had skyrocketed a couple of days before. In fact I was supposed to go back to the doctor the following day to be tested for pre-eclampsia. They currently have me on medicine right now which isn't fun so cross your fingers I can go off it soon!
Because she was early, we did have to stay in the hospital 48 hours rather than 24. In fact because of my BP, we almost had to stay an extra day but I oh so nicely informed the doctors that wasn't going to happen. So we made our way home on October 20th, the hubs' and my 2nd anniversary!
The nurses at our hospital were incredible. Our hospital also did not have a nursery (except for NICU) so this little girl got to stay in our room the whole time, which I loved. She also did skin-to-skin with me for an hour (probably longer as the nurse was so nice and didn't want to disturb us) right after she was born, which was another standard practice at our hospital. This was so valuable and I highly recommend requesting it if it is not SOP at your hospital. Other than the typical benefits, the baby is also a nice distraction while they're getting you...all fixed up shall we say?
We've been home for about two weeks now and our girl is doing incredible. She's eating like a champ now, sleeps like a log, and really only cries if we don't feed her on time. This, combined with all the drama of getting her here, makes us so incredibly grateful and appreciative to have her in our arms. It's a cliché for a reason-we truly cannot imagine what we ever did without her.
