My Favorite day in May

I can't believe its been two weeks since we headed to the hospital! The blog has taken a serious backseat to snuggling, feeding, sleeping. While she is sleeping, I thought I'd write out our story of getting Ruthie here. I've put in a lot of details that may be tmi for some people so read on if you like :-).

Joel and I were hanging out two Tuesday Night's ago (May 4), watching lost. I decided to go check my email and didn't feel like my water broke, but thought, 'hmm, that was weird.' I Went out and said to Joel, "I'm not sure whats going on, but something might be?". At least I was confident :-). That was my way of trying to not be dramatic. Joel reminded me in our childbirth class they said to lay down for a few minutes and stand back up and if your water has broken it will happen again, otherwise you just wet your pants (I was really hoping it was not that). He also told me after the fact he was thinking that there was only 15 minutes of lost left :-). I did that and it happened again, but I was still kind of in denial. I decided to go upstairs for a second and then there was no doubt, my water had definitely broken.

We ran around getting last minute things, letting Chloe outside, I tried to do the dishes because I wanted our house to be completely clean, but Joel wouldn't let me (at least one of us was logical), and then we finally got in the car and headed to the hospital about 10:15pm. We called our parents and my sisters to let them know we were on our way. I wasn't really having any significant contractions to start with. They started to pick up when we were about 15 minutes from the hospital but were still bearable. By the time we got to the hospital I was getting pretty uncomfortable. Joel and I just kept saying I can't believe this is it! I was really nervous and excited and Joel was very calm.

We got checked in and went to our delivery room. Side note, I can't believe they make you WALK from the triage room to your delivery room if your water has broken.. and on carpet! Always wear shoes at the hospital and thats all I'll say about that. At this point walking was very difficult and I was having serious contractions. By then it was about midnight and the contractions decided to go crazy. Over the next hour or two they picked up to where they were coming every minute to minute and a half and lasting about 50-60 seconds. There was really no break in between them.

It. was. pain.

I had no idea what that would feel like and now that I do, I will run backwards into the hospital shouting for an epidural with the next one :-). The nurse came in after seeing the contractions like that and put a rush on the epidural because she didn't think we were going to be waiting much longer to have this baby. The anesthesiologist finally got there and gave me the epidural. Sweet heaven. I could still feel the contractions, but nothing like they were. I was able to have a break for about 45 minutes.

Then it started to wear off.

This was about 4am, the nurse came in and told me she would call to see if they could top it off and I started really making some crazy noises so she decided to check me and she said Oh, its time for you to have your baby. That was a little scary! She also told me the epidural couldn't be topped off and that although I could feel everything now, the delivery phase would relieve the pain and pressure. I have to tell you I will take that any day over feeling those contractions again.

The doctor arrived about 4:15 or so and Ruthie was born at 4:42am. She was and is absolutely perfect and weighed 6lbs, 9oz, 19 1/2 inches long and a twin of her Daddy. It really was great having a short labor/delivery I can't imagine it lasting 24+ hours. From starting at our house to her being in the world we were about at 6 hours total. It was really intense, but I'm so thankful it was fast!

We stayed in our delivery room with Ruthie until about 7:45am and then went up to our postpartum room. Its a little hazy for me at this point. Ruthie stayed in the room with us almost the entire stay, only leaving if we took her to the nursery.

Our stay at the hospital was so nice. It is a new wing and very nice. The nurses were great. One of the frustrations and advantages at the same time of the experience was that they each have their own opinion on how you should do things regarding feeding schedules, etc. Its nice to have different points of view, but can be overwhelming when multiple people are telling you completely different things and you're needing sound guidance.

Unfortunately, Ruthie had lost a good amount of weight and was down to 6lbs 1 oz by day 3 so they decided to keep us another day to get her weight up. By the next day she had gained an ounce and a half and we were so thankful! We were able to come home on Saturday and were SO HAPPY to be home.
At our first doctors appointment she had gained another 2 ounces and hopefully at our next check up she'll be at or above her birth weight.

We came home to a GREAT welcome committee and it was so nice to have my Mom and sisters here to meet Ruthie when we arrived!

We have had so much help and Joel has been able to be off work for quite a while. It has been wonderful. We do not want him to go back to work! We're definitely sleep deprived and exhausted but happier and more in love with this sweet baby than we ever thought possible.

She has been a great baby and is so sweet I can't stand it! There are a few things we prayed for throughout this pregnancy that I want to document and not forget:

1. That I would go into labor when Joel was at home and not at work.
2. That my water would break and I wouldn't have to wonder if I was in real labor based on contractions.
3. That she would come after 37weeks but before her due date (May 8, 2010).
4. That we wouldn't get stuck on the bridge (they were doing maintenance during the day and could cause LONG delays).
5. That labor would be short and wouldn't result in a c-section.
6. That I could handle the labor and delivery.
7. That we would have good nurses.
8. A healthy baby

There are other things that I can't think of right now but God answered every single prayer. He's always amazing.

Hope you all enjoyed the pictures. I know there will be hundreds more and hopefully as we get on a better schedule I'll be able to update the blog more often. Heres one of my favorite pictures of the three of us.


**Please forgive any typos, etc. I'm just thankful my eyes are open :-)