We got to the hospital at around noon & they hooked me up to the monitors (baby heart rate & contraction). The nurse checked and said I was dialated at 2-3 & was contracting approx every 2 minutes. She checked to see if my water had broken and it didn't appear like it had. The dr. came in and said the same. They wanted me to walk around for about 45 min. & then they would check me again.
We did laps - the distance is probaby only a couple hundred yards and we did lap after lap after lap. When the nurse checked me again it was 1:45pm and she did another check for amniotic fluid. She said I may have dialated another 1/2 cm or so. At around 2:45 she came back and said that our decision to wait it out here or to go home had been made for us. It appears that I have a slow leak.
She said she was going to call our dr's office and let them know. I asked if I could have a snack. I had not eaten since 7:30am. She said she would ask him. Travis & I then went and did more laps. So much for going to watch the pros and the Hy-Vee Triathlon this afternoon. Anyway, the dr. wouldn't let me have any real food so right now I'm eating cherry jello (it's not too bad). I am hooked up to an IV. It is 4:45pm. Travis just went and grabbed some McDonald's burgers & fries. Once he is done we'll hit the halls again. My contractions appear to be coming less frequently and if they continue to do that I'll have to have some Pitocin. I'd prefer doing laps.
The rest of this blog was completed 1 week & 2 days after baby girl Hinrichs made her entry into this big world.
At shortly after 5pm the dr. decided Pitocin was on tap. They hooked me up to the IV and almost instantaneously the contractions started becoming more painful. I got a birthing ball and tried to distract myself from the pain by bouncing around on it and eating a popcicle. I started having some serious back pain. Travis tried massaging it out but nothing was working. I've never been in as much pain before. The contactions were about one to two minutes apart and every one was excruciating. At approximately 8pm I said to Travis "I need something now". He went and got the nurse. She came in and checked me and said I was probably at about a 3. She contacted the anestesiologist but said he wa busy with an emergency so it may take him a while. Thank goodness that translated to about 20 minutes. He showed up and by 8:30pm the epidural was in and I was beginning to feel it's effects. Getting the epidural really wasn't painful. I don't do very well with medication and the initial effects of the medicine made me nervous. I started shaking pretty badly (which I understand is normal) and Travis had to calm me down.
By 10pm, I was beginning to totally lose feeling in my right leg but no one was concerned. I was able to relax a bit and catch a few ZZZZZ's while watching part of the Bear Grylls marathon. Travis headed to the not so comfy pull out couch and tried to sleep a bit as well.
At about 1:30am the nurse came in and checked me. By then I was dialated to 9cm. I guess the epidural helped relax me enough to let the Pitocin work. I was excited but instantly nervous and started shaking badly again. Travis once again had to calm me down and he did an excellent job.
At 2am the nurse called the dr. and he was just getting ready to start a c-section so they asked me to just hang out a bit. I didn't have a problem with that. The nurse came back in at 2:40am and decided it was time to start pushing with my contractions. I'm talking serious pushing.....deep breath......push with all of your might until you have to take another breath.....quick breath.....push again with all your might....quick breath....you get the jest of this. Needless to say after each one my heart rate was through the roof and I felt like I was going to pass out. At about 2:50am the doctor came in and was all business. He told me to push and then stop, push and then stop (evidentally he was trying to keep me from tearing) and at 2:57am Samantha Mae was taking her first breath in our big world and screaming!
They handed her to me and Travis and I just stared at her. She was (and still is) beautiful. I thought I would cry but didn't. We were so happy she was here. After a few minutes they took her to the warming table in the room and checked her out and cleaned her up more.
She weighed in at 6lbs. 6oz. and was 20.5 inches long (that expains all of those swift kicks to the ribs I'd been getting). Her initial APGAR was an 8 and the subsequent one was a 9.
After they had her cleaned up and checked over they brought her back and it was time to take our first stab at breastfeeding. It went pretty well. Hopefully that will continue.
Approximately 2 hours after birth it was time to leave the birthing room and head to the room we would be in for the rest of our stay. We dropped Sam off at the nursery where the pediatrician would give her a thorough check up. They would then bring her in to us when they were done.
The rest of the hospital stay went well. All of the nurses were awesome. We were able to utilize the nursery to get some rest as well. On Tuesday, June 30th we ate lunch and then headed home.
As far as excercise goes from birth day until now I've done a lot of walking. Travis and I started cruising around the floor with Sam the day after she was born. We continued this a couple of times a day until we went home. On Tuesday night we hit the trails for about a mile walk. It was our first adventure in the BOB Revolution. We love that stroller! Wednesday morning was a 2 mile walk, Thursday morning was a 2.25 mile walk, Friday morning was a 2.5 mile walk. On Saturday we took it easy - Papa and Grandma were in town and it was rainy all day. I managed to work out a bit on the elliptical for about 25 minutes. Sunday I did the elliptical again for 25 minutes then jogged (very slowly) on the treadmill for a 1/2 mile. I had been kind of scared to start but it wasn't too bad. Monday (7/6) was a run walk with Travis. We did .25 walk, .25 jog for a total of 3 miles. Monday night we walked to McDonald's to get an ice cream cone. When we got there (a mile away) they had no power so we got no ice cream - how sad.
Weight wise I am baffeled. During the last month of my pregnancy I gained 13 - 14 lbs. I was retaining a bunch of fluid in my legs and really hadn't been eating much. When I got home from the hospital I weighed in at 136. Yesterday morning it was at 129 and this morning it was 124. Back to my prepregnancy weight in slightly over one week. As if all of this wasn't wierd enough, right now I actually like my legs. I can see muscle definition there for the first time ever and I'm enjoying wearing shorts. I'm sure this won't last but right now I'm loving it.
Here are some more pictures of Sam.
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