Wednesday, September 10, 2014

Happy Birthday Margaret!

Despite trying EVERY trick in the book, we could not coax Margaret to come out voluntarily. So, at 6am Thursday September 4, 2014 we checked into the hospital for an induction.

I was very a little anxious about inducing. Mary Claire came all on her own and it was very, very "easy." I was nervous that coaxing her out before she was ready would make for a long, painful delivery, but boy was I wrong. 

After getting checked in and settled in our room, the nurse came in and started my IV fluids and hooked me and Margaret up on all kinds of monitors. She said Doc should be up around 8 to break my water and start the pitocin. She said I was already having contractions on my own and had dilated another cm- but nothing consistent/productive yet. 

8am comes and goes... 8:30 comes and goes.... 9:00 comes and goes and still no doctor. 

About 9:15 he comes in and says he got hung up in the OR with a 5'1 255lb total hysterectomy. Apparently took longer than expected. 

First things first- break my water. It was AWEFUL no fun. Breaking my water was the second most painful parts of Margaret's delivery. Having your water break naturally is by far the way to go. And it has a little less traumatic visual than "the hook" as Chase keeps calling it. Then he turned up my pitocin to start the contractions. As he was walking out of the room he told the nurse to call the anesthesiologist because I was about to be very uncomfortable. Yes- he was correct! Took about 20 minutes for him to come to my room, another 10 to get set up, then another 10 for him to get the meds in and working. That 40 minutes was the absolute worst part of Margaret's delivery. Those "controlled contractions" were way worse than I remember the "natural contractions" I had with Mary Claire.


Once the epidural kicked in around 10:15 it was smooth sailing. Now it was just a waiting game. 

Around 11 he came back and checked, and I was "ready to push". Now that's what I 'm talking about. 45 minutes of active labor beats the heck out of 4+ hours. They got the room set up and we were ready to go!

The doctor and nurses were all taking bets on how big Margaret would be. 7lb 2oz? 7lb 8oz? 7lbs 12 oz? But as she started coming out he word vomits says, "WOAH!!! this is the head of a 10 pound baby!"

Really doc? Don't say that mid push... wait at least until the baby the is out before saying curse words like that.

After 9 pushes, 9 1/2 months of waiting came to an end...

Margaret Rhea Peeler was born at 11:50am on September 4, 2014.


Weighing in at a whopping 8 pounds and 1 ounce and 21 inches long!


After hearing those stats Dr. Johnson looked at me and asked, "Where in the world were you hiding that baby?" I can tell you- she was in my lungs, ribs, bladder... etc. No wonder I was so much more uncomfortable with her the last few weeks then I was with Mary Claire. She is 3 inches longer and 2 pounds heavier. Guess she knew what she was up against out here!

She had a scratch on her head... apparently from my pelivic bone... Sorry baby girl!


Her temperature was a little low so she had to hang out under the warmers for a bit before we could really get our hands on her. But Daddy never left her side and held her hand the whole time. 





Finally got to hold our sweet girl!




 And then welcomed in the grandparents



And finally the BIG SISTER!




And first on the Big Sister agenda... watching Elmo.


And I am fairly certain I am only the incubator for these girls. They both look like their daddy spit them out! That's ok though- I think he is pretty cute too!



Bath time!






After a her first bath we settled in for a long 2 days in the hospital. 



As anxious as I was about an induction it went dare I say better than going into labor naturally. We are so grateful to finally have our stubborn baby girl in our arms!

Tuesday, September 2, 2014

Tummy Tuesday

40 Weeks

Yup... she is still in there. Believe it or not.

One day we will all be sitting around, and someone will say, "Hey! Remember that time you were pregnant with Margaret and the doctor didn't think there was anyway you would make it to 39 weeks BUT she hung out in there 41 weeks?!?!?" Then we will all laugh and talk about how funny that is and how doctors can't really tell. 

One day we will all laugh... one day... 

But right now this about sums up how I feel about being 40 weeks and 5 days pregnant.


All kidding aside though I really am great for being almost 1 week past due. If I didn't have the false expectations that she would have been here almost 2 weeks ago I really don't think I would be nearly as miserable as I am. My back does hurt... and so do my feet, but it's probably from all the walking I've been doing. I can't get comfortable so I am not sleeping well at all- which makes me very tired- and irritable. Everyone say a little prayer for Chase and Mary Claire. I don't think I am very fun to live with.

My doctors appointment went great last week. He walked in my room and the first thing out of his mouth was, "Wow! I sure didn't expect to see you here this week!" Me neither doc... me neither...
And again all was well with Mommy and Baby, so he then told me he could induce me tomorrow (last Thursday) if I wanted. Chase and I have talked and prayed a lot about it and had decided we did not want to induce unless it was medically needed and here are a few reasons why... 

1- and the one that holds the most weight... I had a VERY smooth, uncomplicated, and quick labor and delivery with Mary Claire and I went into labor on my own. I would hate to rush nature and have a long, hard delivery just so I will be more comfortable and it's more convenient for us.
2- I am a weirdo when it comes to taking medicine. Not that I think pitocin is unsafe by any stretch of the imagination, but I just don't like to take medicine in general unless I absolutely HAVE to. I'll walk around and complain about a head ache for hours instead of taking tylenol. I'm just weird like that. And to answer your next question- yes I am getting an epidural. For some reason a spinal tap infused with nectar of the gods is appealing to me. To me that is a necessity.
3- We are not TOTALLY sure of her due date. Since it was calculated from a miscarriage they can not be 100% sure when she is actually due so I hate to rush it. She wouldn't be a premie because she was measuring due August 30th on my first ultrasound, but still.... we don't know 100% for sure, so why rush it?

After I explained all this to my doctor and he looked at me like I was crazy for a minute he told me that was fine. "Inducing you before 41 weeks would be solely out of convenience and not medically necessary, but I don't let my patients go past 41 weeks. So I will see you next Wednesday for another appointment and if she is not here we will induce Thursday morning. But I will be SHOCKED if I see you here next week." 

BUT still here I sit. Big belly and all. Hoping this means Margaret is laid back and chill, not stubborn and hardheaded. Guess we will see. 

Margaret, consider this your eviction notice. We have waited long enough. You have until Thursday to come on out, or we are coming in after you! Your mommy, daddy, and sister can't wait to meet you!