Baby Vivian - Birth Story and PIPs

[aprilsails]

Vivian is coming up on 1 week old today and I'm sorry I have been so slow to post.  I have been blessed by an extraordinary number of visitors and helpers since coming home and quite frankly went an entire week without touching my laptop.

So here we go...

I finished work on the 21st with a due date in the 22nd. DH and I decided to host a pool party that day and had about 12 or so friends over for the afternoon and dinner.  At 9:30 pm I lost my mucous plug and had the bloody show, told DH to stop drinking, and was settling in to wait for labour to start.

I started having contractions on the 23rd at 5:30pm. They were pretty consistent (not like Braxton Hicks) however not painful and tapered off when I went to sleep.  They continued on and off throughout the 24th.

I was woken up on the 25th by slightly stronger contractions at 4:30am. I went and took a shower, ate breakfast and did some final packing. I woke up DH at 6 to take me into the hospital. Unfortunately on the way there he stopped for McDonalds and the contractions completely stopped! Oy.  I called the hospital and they told me not to come in.

DH decided to stay home for the day and we decided to encourage things along.  Um... it worked.  At 11:30 I was having very painful productive contractions. We went into the hospital after they had been consistent for 2 hours. Unfortunately, I was only at 3cm dilated, so the birthing unit asked me to go for a walk and come back at 3:30.

I was then far enough along to be admitted (5cm) and was admitted to a room. My hospital offers birthing balls, bathtubs, etc. but my contractions were causing sciatic pain and numbness to shoot down my legs. Since I couldn't walk or stand reliably through a contraction, I opted to go ahead with the epidural and was hooked up within 20 minutes or so. My OB then broke my water to keep things moving. That was around 5pm and I was still at 5cm.

The nurses were all calm and saying things like it would take hours for me to dilate and that I might need pitocin to get there. DH and I were settling in for a nap when the baby's heartrate tanked at 7pm. The nurse called in a full c-section crew since they assumed I was still not dilated.  Turns out I was at 9cm! Turning me helped get baby's heartrate sorted and everyone cleared out. My Mom came in for a quick visit and then the heartrate dipped again. My OB decided since my contractions were so strong, the baby was in the ideal position, and I could still move my legs and feel to push that we would try and get baby out right away. During the next contraction I did 2 practice pushes to finish dilating to 10cm (weee) and then the next contraction did two big pushed with the handheld vacuum assist to pop out Vivian!

So 5 minutes total of pushing is crazy fast and we weren't expecting that.  Unfortunately it also results in 3rd degree tears. Definitely not recommended without an epidural. It looks as though her umbilical cord was just pinched against her shoulder on the inside and that was why she was not tolerating the contractions.

Vivian is perfect and has been awesome all week! I've been healing ok and just staying on top of my medication but otherwise it hasn't been as bad as I expected.  DH is back at work now and today was our first day on our own.

She looks exactly like DH (or more accurately my MIL). We'll see how she changes as she grows!

Pictures!  Sorry about the size.

[G22]

So much hair! She's beautiful, congrats!

[Koala]

She is so pretty! I love her hair!

[Deleted]

awww love the pics! congrats!

[cactuscookie]

Oh, she's a cutie! Congratulations!

[MrsMB]

OMG! How cute! Congrats!!

[Deleted]

She's beautiful!

[Deleted]

Beautiful! Congratulations!

[Kit]

So cute! congrats

[Muddled]

Cheeks!

[adlove]

what a beauty! congratulations!!

[boiler717]

Congrats!! Rockstar job mama!

[bananapancakes]

I was hoping to see an update from you. Congrats! She's a beauty!

[melmel48]

So squishy and lovable! Congrats!

[jd15]

She's beautiful! Congratulations!

[D2M]

Love her hair! Congratulations! Thanks for sharing all the details. Hope you're recovering ok (third degree tear -- ouch!).

[tiptoetulips]

Thanks for sharing she's lovely!

[brandienee]

Congratulations!!! She is gorgeous!

I am so sorry about the tear, OMG. I hope that you're recovering well.

[mannah]

Oh my gosh congratulations!! Great job! That second picture is the cutest thing ever, they do look totally alike!

[cheeseandcrackers]

Congrats! She is a stunning baby. I'm sorry about your 3rd degree.. I hope you have a speedy recovery.

[amaranth]

What a cutie. Congrats

[mskitkat]

She's so beautiful.

[Cicero]

Congrats! She is beautiful and I love her name.

[slcjess]

I love her name! I am choosing to ignore the part about the tear, lol. She is gorgeous! Congrats mama!

[liverandonions]

Wow that's fast pushing for a first timer! She is adorable! Congrats!

[Deleted]

So cute! Congrats!!

[tinybride]

Congrats! Love her name. Sorry about the tears. I hope you have a swift recovery.

[dearprudence]

She's darling. Your tears sound no fun, but congratulations on the quick delivery!

[ivy]

What a beauty! That button nose!! Thanks for sharing

[swiftlyirun]

Congrats! Beautiful!