Baby, oh baby!

I actually have a free minute, and two free hands to type this - a miracle!

Bambino (who needs a good internet nickname) was born Friday, September 19th, at 10:20 pm. She was 9 lbs, 1 oz and 21.5 inches long. 

Quick birth story - on Tuesday the 16th, I was sent for a sono by my doctor. Sono showed baby weighed around 9 lbs. I was a bit nervous, since they had earlier said that she'd be 7.5 lbs. Big difference.

Dr. visit on Wednesday - doctor walked into the exam room and said "How about tonight?" Yikes. So not prepared for that. We opted to wait until Friday morning (when I said "How much bigger could she get in two days? Haha" doctor didn't reply. Gulp). 

Spent most of (OK, all of) Wednesday night and Thursday freaking out. Put hubby in charge of telling/talking to everyone so I could freak out. 

Friday, 3 am - called hospital to see if a bed was free. No room in the inn. Back to bed.

Friday, 6:30 am - called again. C'mon down! 

Friday 7:30 am - arrive hospital. Sign forms, get IV.

Friday 9 am - Pitocin started. 1 cm dilated, 75% effaced. Can see contractions on the monitor, but wouldn't know I was having them if I wasn't watching the screen. They just feel like baby trying to force her way out butt first through my belly button.

Friday 2 pm - Dr. comes in  - still at 1 cm - and breaks water (bizarre feeling!) to "get things moving." Now I can feel contractions and they don't feel nice

Friday 4:30ish - ask for pain relief (to my dismay). We decide to do epidural as dr is going into a c-section and won't be able to do it later soon. Hurts like heck. Epidural does not stop pain. Dr. returns to up dosage. About 30 minutes later pain relief kicks in. I'm at 2 cm.

Friday 5:30ish - my doctor leaves, I meet on-call doctor. I'm at nearly 3 cm. I get told to take a nap. Haha.

Friday 8 ish - They put in an internal monitor to see if the pitocin is making me contract "effectively." Still at 3cm.

Friday 9:30 - I'm contracting "right", but my body does not want baby coming out the "right" way. Doctor says I can stay on the pitocin and keep waiting, but I've been on the drugs for 12 hours, and I've only advanced 2 cm. We discuss  c-section and decide that it is what is best for baby, to reduce the chance of an emergency c-section later. I cry a lot. I'm scared and upset that this hasn't gone the way I planned. 

Friday 10 pm - I'm whisked off to the OR. It is VERY cold in the OR. Hubby arrives about 10:15. 

Friday 10:20 - She's out! 10 fingers and toes. Beautiful.

In the end, we had a healthy baby, regardless of how I wanted things to go. The doctors and nurses were great, very sweet and patient with me. When the doctor opened me up she said "She is a big one!" We're pretty sure she was the biggest baby in the nursery. Everyone who came into our room said "So you're the one who had the 9 pounder!" It was a bit like being a celebrity, in a bizarre way. 

We stayed in the hospital until Sunday night. I was very sore and very frustrated that I needed so much help when we got home. Nursing was tough for several days, but we seem to have it down now. She's not sleeping unless she's being held, hence the lack of blog post. But we took her to bed with us, and we all slept last night, even if it wasn't through the night. Praise the lord. 

More pictures will trickle in, I'm sure, and I still have several unblogged FOs, and more projects started. No knitting for now though, until she'll let me put her down. 

Oh, and my momma won the contest, so mom, you need to think about what you want your prize to be. Thanks to all who entered. Must go relieve dad of holding duty and get ready for bed. Thank you for all your good wishes and thoughts. I'll try not to be a stranger around here!