The First Three Days

June 14 - We went to the doctor and had another NST. Everything looks fine, but the doctor recommends inducing tomorrow. I disappointedly agree to it. My mom flies into town (Nick's mom and sister came in yesterday).

June 15 - Induction day. We wake up way to early and stop and eat breakfast at McDonald's on our way to the hospital. We arrive at 6:00am and fill out paper work, answer lots of questions, and get set up in a room. They have a terrible time getting into a vein. My skin is apparently thick and my veins small and twisty. Finally, they get the IV in and start Pitocin about 7:30am. Our moms and Brittany arrive after 8:00. Labor is going smoothly, as they slowly turn up the pitocin things get tougher. With the help of Nick and eventually moms, I get to 5cm. But I can't take it any more and around 3:00pm I get an epidural. Not in my ideal plans, but definitely in my backup plan. After that I get a bit shaky, but things are now much better. Everyone is allowed back in the room, and I can rest and dose off a little bit. I could still feel the contractions, but they weren't that bad. Around 5:00pm the contractions start getting tough again and the doctor says, "I'm going to go have dinner, and when I come back will have this baby." She was right. At 6:15pm I'm fully dilated and start pushing. Not sure of the timeline from that point. I pushed a lot, it took a bit to figure out how to push since I had the epidural. I had originally thought I didn't want a mirror, but when they asked in the delivery room, I changed my mind. It was surreal, I don't think I watched the whole time, but it was neat to see all her hair as she was getting close. I had to have an episiotomy (also not in my plan). As she came out I do remember seeing that the cord was around her neck, but it wasn't a big deal. Nick cut the cord. And finally Abigail Courtney was born at 7:35pm. They placed her on my chest, but not for as long as I would have expected. She wasn't really crying, like I thought she was suppose to. I got a little worried, but they said everything was fine. Looking now at the pictures Nick took while she was getting cleaned up under the warming lights, I think she might have not been breathing as well as they would have liked and they needed to give her some oxygen. It was amazing that this little (or come to find out, not so little) baby was growing inside me for so long. It was such a relief that she was finally here, and labor was finally over. They cleaned her up and took all the measurements. She was 21 1/2" long and weighted 8lbs .02ozs (and had a big head). As they stitched me up Nick brought her to me and one of the nurses took a couple pictures for us. We bonded as a family for a few minutes, and then Nick took her to show her to grandmas and aunt Brittany. I was so hungry! They had crackers and cheese for me, but our family was also getting Chic-fil-a for us. I really wanted some waffle fries. Abigail stayed awake and was cuddled by everyone for a couple hours. Sometime I try and breastfeed, and she seems to be very ready to try and is good at sucking. At some point everyone leaves and they move us down to a different, quieter room. It was a very exciting evening.

June 16 - A full day at the hospital. I'm not really sure how well we slept that night. Nick changed several diapers and I feed her several times. Sometime the next morning our family came back to visit for the day. The lactation consultant came by and I learned I wasn't quite doing it right, but kind of learned how to do it correctly (a little to late, because I was already sore and damaged). A picture person, came and took pictures. She had a hearing test and passed. I'm not really sure what all happened this day, it was such blur.

June 17 - We get up and get ready. Nick went to the going home class while I feed her. My mom visits on her way to the airport. Finally around noon we get to go home. On the way home we stop by Wendy's for lunch. Shirley and Brittany go downtown for the day, so when we arrive home it's just us. Fluffly is unsure of this new thing we've brought home, but she is glad we are home. Again I don't remember much from this day, I know I was tired and sore. Our family is now 3!