Abigail has Arrived!!!

Daddy holding Abigail, moments after she was born.

On December 5, 2008 at 10:17 a.m. we welcomed Abigail Grace into the world. She weighed 6 pounds and 2 ounces and was 19 inches in length.

Here is a brief version of the story (I say brief but it may be longer than expected):

On Thursday morning I woke up at 7:00 to Jeromy getting home from work and getting ready for bed. I decided to get up and go to the bathroom. Well, within moments we decided that either I was leaking water or Abigail was sitting on my bladder. We decided since we were going to the doctor at 11:15 we would wait until then to speak to her about it. When we arrived we first had a non-stress test and an ultrasound. Both tests were fine, but I was having noticeable contractions. Then, we met with the doctor. I told her my suspicians and she ran the test and excitedly told us that she was sending us to the hospital. The test revealed that I was leaking amniotic fluid. We were SO EXCITED!!! As we entered the elevator Jeromy said that he was scared. When I asked him why, he said he was nervous for me because he had seen women in labor and "it is scary." I thought it was funny that he was mentioning this now.

So, Jeromy and I headed home to pack our bag and eat lunch. We loaded the car with our stuff and stuff for Abigail. Then, we opened the box the carseat was in and installed it in the van. We finally arrived at the hosptial around 3:00 (pretty impressive, since we didn't arrive home from the doctors until after 1:00. By 5:00, they had begun to give me Petocin (I'm not sure if that is how it is spelled) to induce labor. By 9:00, I had received my epidural.

In regards to the labor, it was not too bad. I was having back contractions so the pain was getting pretty bad before they gave me my epidural. But, I have decided epidurals are wonderful!!!! Before I received my epidural I was in a lot of pain, but after I got it the pain was gone! I even was able to sleep throughout the night (at least part of the night). I was very happy when I saw the readout for my contractions. The nurse said that they are happy when people have contractions that are over 50. My contractions were off the chart (the chart topped off at 100).

There are negative effects of having an epidural (not horrible). I couldn't move, I had nausea whenever I was laying flat, and I had a headache (of course, that could have been because I was dehydrated). I'm sure that not everyone has these complications, this is just my experience. I also could not feed myself. This was only because I had to lay on my side and could not use both hands because of this. So, Jeromy fed me jello (this was the only thing I could eat and I had to eat something because everyone could hear my stomach growling on the heart monitor).


Anyways, around 9:25 Friday morning they had me begin pushing. Almost a hour later at 10:15 a.m. Abigail finally arrived! I have to say that she is adorable!!!!

There is probably more I can share, but I'm tired and we have visitors so I have to go!