Paisley Abigail Andrus

Yep this is the birth story and it will be detailed so just be prepared :)

We welcomed Paisley Abigail into this world today. She is beautiful and strong and amazing and sweet ...

Her story begins on Saturday morning.  David and I had to attend a class for this loan we are applying for.  During the class I began to have a headache but it was pretty mild.  After the class David and I wanted to run some errands and pick up some supplies for the baby since we still didn't have anything ready. We went to 4 stores including a long grocery trip.  All during this time I had a headache and my back and legs were really hurting (normal for a woman due in 3 weeks) 

Once we got home I felt so sick, my brain was very fuzzy, I felt dizzy even though I was just sitting on the sofa, my headache was worse, and I had some swelling in my legs. After a blessing from David which told me to listen to my gut feelings I went to the hospital. 

There they decided that I did need some monitoring. Baby was fine and she was still kicking and punching away. But I was really dehydrated.  While they gave me an IV drip and some medication for the nausea I was starting to have contractions that were coming every 1-2 minutes. But during the time I was there I made no progression, so like normal after the IV was done they sent us home.  When we got home I stopped contractions and we all went to bed.  

Sunday morning I woke up around 10am to go pee. We were all still asleep and no one was going to go to church because I needed to take it easy and James threw up in the middle of the night. 

When I climbed back into bed David and I were making a game plan as to how the next few weeks were going to go. Like what we still needed to set up and what we needed to still buy and also what we can do to pack so we can move in a month. I was starting to get hungry (I hadn't eaten since noon the day before) so I rolled over to get out of bed and I felt a little gush.  I said uh...I can't tell if I just peed?or if my water broke?... David said What?!? 

And sure enough when I continued to roll over it was for sure my water breaking!  I was 36 weeks and 6 days.  I called my brother and sister-in-law and asked if they could watch James.  I took a shower while David started to get things put together to go to the hospital. 

My brother and his wife showed up about an hour later and David and I headed to the hospital.

I was having contractions but nothing too strong at this point. 

Because this was going to be an attempted VBAC and I did want an epidural they said they wanted to put it in sooner rather than later.  Which was totally fine with me! At around 1:30 maybe I got the epidural in.  They also placed internal leads on her head and in my uterus to help determine the strength of my contraction and get a better more consistent heart rate on her.

This is the boring part of the whole birth story... I was stuck at a 3+ and 70% (what I was the night before too) till about 4 pm.  Then just slowly crept up to 4+ and 90% over the next 2 hours. Finally got to a 6+ around 10pm. This whole time I'm on Pitocin but they can't push it too high because they don't want my uterus working too hard and risk of uterine tearing.  

Also around 10 pm Paisley was starting to get a little angry and her heart rate started to go all over the place.  They started me on oxygen and kept flipping me from side to side to see which she liked better.  But she didn't like either so they started to pump water back in to see if they could float her off her cord. 

Finally at 11:30 I was at a 9!  At 12:42 I was 10 and 100%

At about this same time I started to develop a fever due to how long my water was broken and not having anything happen.  They started an antibiotic. 

It was time to start pushing! My doctor came in and explained that since this was my first time pushing and I had an epidural in that I could be pushing for 2-3 hours because I was a first time pusher and I had an epidural.  Well I was tired and hungry and they said I could eat and sleep after the baby came out so I was determined that I was not going to take 2 hours!!!

I officially started pushing at 12:55 and pushed just with the help of the nurse and David. I think it was around 1:15 or 1:20 that my doctor came back in for the final few pushes. And at 1:27 AM Paisley Abigail Andrus was born 7 pounds 8 ounces and 20 inches.  So I only pushed for about 35 minuets! Born at exactly 37 weeks.

She was perfect in every way. And I am really proud of myself for pushing her out myself and how fast I did for being a first time pusher!

I did not have an episiotomy but I tore on the side so it's called a slight labia tear and I have 2 stitches. 

Because of my fever Paisley was also born with a fever and was a little jittery. But they thought the best thing was to do skin to skin to see if it would come down on its own and if her "jitters" would stop.  It did help with the jitters which was great because it meant I got to keep her with me as we went down stairs. 

Also I was so gosh darn hungry that they brought me food and I enjoyed a nice turkey sandwich, cookies, and 2 large glasses of apple juice! And when you're that hungry everything tastes good! 

Once down stairs and Paisley and David were in the nursery together I was on my own getting checked in with the new nurses. I was actually in a butt load of pain from the cramping. To the point where I had tears sneaking down my face. The epidural had worn off right before the doctor came in to start pushing and honestly that wasn't that bad but these contractions/cramps afterwards were killing me! 

I just had to wait for all the medications to kick in.  

Paisley did still have a fever so they went ahead and started and IV drip of antibiotics and that was going to take about 40 minutes so I sent David home and I tried to get some sleep before I needed to feed her. 

Her first 24 hours were pretty normal besides having the IV. 

She loves to make faces and coo and squeak.  And she has the roundest chubbiest cheeks and face. And she already smirks especially when I hold her skin to skin or when daddy is holding her. 

She is Coombs positive which does cause her to be a little jaundice she is chilling under the lights getting a little tan.  But we are used to this because we did the same thing with James.  (It has something to do with me being O- and both kids being A-) 

I think that sums everything up for now... 

I will write up a separate post about when James met her.