MJ is here!

tclayton53 · June 2014

Sorry for the delay in posting - this first week has been challenging and I'm just now finding time.

Short version: MJ was born on June 6th at 3:31 pm weighing 7lbs 13 oz and 20.5 inches.

Long version:

I had been having contractions that weren't painful and about 8-12 minutes apart since our 38 week appointment. On Friday morning I woke up feeling the contractions which was unusual. It was a stronger cramping feeling in my back. I got up, showered and then started timing them and they were 5 minutes apart. At our previous appointment my doctor said to call her office and get checked if they were 5 minutes apart even if they weren't painful since I was 80% effaced and 2cm. I called the office and they said we could stop by before 10:30 am. I told DH that we should just throw the bag in the car in case - but after 2 long weeks of false labor we weren't hopeful.

We arrived at the office at 10 am and we're checked by the nurse - sure enough, I was 4 cm and 100% effaced. They told us to head over to the hospital and recommended we stop and grab a bite to eat first since I wouldn't be allowed to eat once we checked in.

We arrived at the hospital around 11:30 and they had a room waiting for us. We met our nurse and settled in and jumped on the monitors. Everything was looking good, contractions were staring to get uncomfortable and I was 5cm. She suggested we walk the halls while we waited for the anesthesiologist to get out of a c-section in the OR.

We started walking and after about 10 minutes the cobtractions hit HARD. I told DH we needed to head back. The contractions became unbearable in a matter of minutes and when the nurse came back I had dilated to 10cm and was almost ready to push. After lots or hyperventilating through contractions - they were able to track down an anesthesiologist that was just leaving the building. I had to sit still through 4 contractions while I received the epidural which was the hardest part. Then the relief started to settle in. They let me relax for about an hour with the epidural and the we stared to push. About 20 minutes later, at 3:31 pm, our beautiful baby girl arrived screaming and we spent the next two hours skin to skin and she latched after about 30 minutes.

She's the most precious thing I've seen.

Bringing her home and this first week has been hard. Our English bulldog didn't react well to their introduction and would react badly every time she cried. We had to send him to DH's parents for the time being until we have a trainer come and evaluate the situation on the 28th. This coupled with the hormones and Lack of sleep and I've been an emotional wreck - he was our "baby" for the past 3 years and the house is so quiet without him. I'm hoping for a positive result with the trainer but I also have a feeling that it's not going to work and we'll need to find him new home (que nonstop crying - damn hormones). The whole situation made the baby blues even worse and I lost my appetite - it's just now starting to come back.

And now for the photos of our little MJ