SETTLING IN!

We are home and trying to settle in with our newest addition. Right now Mother, Connie, Rhonda, Elleigh, and Sallie are out doing some shopping and Lizzie, Aaron, and Millie are asleep so I am taking a moment to update and reflect. Millie is WONDERFUL! With each child it is amazing to me how you fall in love all over again in a whole new way! We are so blessed! I have heard lots of request for "the birth story" so here it goes. We arrive at the hospital at 7:30 on Thursday morning and I climb in to bed to wait and wait and wait some more. Those of you who know me well know that my veins are horrible. So after many attempts they finally get an IV in me and the pitocin going about 9:30. Dr. Alexis checks me and says I have not dilated an more than I had on Tuesday but that I was about 75% effaced which was music to my ears. However, as I suspected we were still in for a long day. Around lunch she came in and checked me again and still no progress. She broke my water and said that should speed things right along and it did somewhat and at 4:00 they check me again and I am at a 3. We know from experience that I am very slow getting to a 5 and then I usually take off from there. By 5:30 they have me on the highest dose of pitocin and I am hurting pretty bad. I kept trying to wait on my epidural because I did not want it to slow down the contractions. So, the nurse comes in and asks am I ready for it and said she had another patient wanting hers and was trying to decide who to do first and told me that the other lady was crying so I said go give her hers and then come back to me. At 5:45 I told her I had to have it ASAP. About 15 min later a nurse comes in and says we are not sure you can have an epidural because your platelets are low and we are afraid you will not clot so we are sending someone in to do a bleed out to see how quickly you clot and if you clot within 7 min you can have it and if not you can't. They come in and do the bleedout and I clot in 6 min which was a relief but at the same time I knew the risks of not clotting and Aaron and I both were unsure but I was hurting so bad I was willing to take the risks of dying, afterall I thought I was going to die from labor. I will spare you all the details Aaron has of the things I did and said while "dying" as I thought. Maybe it will be fun to allow him to blog on that! So, I wait and I wait some more and I hurt much worse with each contraction. Usually I will take something through my IV to take the edge of the pain before getting an epidural but I was adimant that I was not doing that this time because it makes me groggy so I had had NOTHING! At 7:20 the nurse and anasthesiologist walk in to give me my epidural. I sat up and I asked the nurse if she could check me real quick to see where I was and she did and she said you are at a 5. I was so disappointed. I thought surely I am not hurting this bad at a 5. Little did I know Millie was making her way! I bend over for the Dr to put the needle in and he gets it in but does not hit correctly and I begin to have a contraction and he pulls it out and then re-sticks still not hitting and I have another contraction and then another immediately following. He still has the needle in trying to get it in the right place and all of a sudden I have the most incredible urge to push and the nurse recognized that this contraction was different and she says are you trying to push and I said yes, this baby is here and she said please get back on the bed because I do not want her in the floor so I climb to the side of the bed and am curled up and she checks real quick and says you are crowning, try to hold her in, I am calling Dr. Alexis. I roll over to where I am flat on my back and Aaron said he looked and the head and shoulders were out. The nurse screams I need help I am having a baby in here and about that time I push again and she catches! Incredible! Rochelle was the nurses name and she is the one in the first pic that Aaron posted with the blue smock with dragonflies on it. She is yelling get the nursery, it was like something on ER. The picture that Aaron posted with Dr. Alexis in it holding scissors in her hand and me in stirrups with the spotlight on is very misleading. She had then made it in to do repairs. There was no time for equipment for Miss Millie!!! Dr. Alexis walks in and says I waited on you all day and you couldn't wait on me to get here! God is so good! I truly believe he spared me from getting that epidural in order to protect me from something. I know it! I had told Aaron that I told God I knew he didn't design me to labor quickly but that I would be great with 10 hours which was 2 less than Lizzie and just how long I thought it would take-my labor was 10 hours! Praise Him Millie is healthy. No issues with her glucose levels. She is great! She nurses great. However, we are having to supplement with a dropper until I get enough to feed her. She is a natural though. The biggest issue with that is she definatly has her days and nights mixed up. She is awake and wanting to eat all night and wants to sleep all day. Not stressing over that-we will get that all straight eventually. Elleigh loves her and is helping take care of her. Sallie is just the more the merrier. She was so excited when we brought her home. In TX they don't mess around. You have a baby and get out of there. So, we were headed home Fri afternoon less than 24 hours after delivery. Sallie woke up Sat morning and could not breathe. Scared us to death. She was wheezing, etc. A took her on to the Dr and she has some type of upper respiratory thing called sliders and he said her lungs were swollen and not allowing congestion to come through. So, she is on prednisone which has wired her to say the least (like she needed that!) but thankfully she is much better. Lizzie, what can I say about Lizzie. She is not exactly thrilled with her new sister. It is a big adjustment for her and with 4 teeth coming in and being all off schedule it is a full time job to see about Lizzie. Everyone leaves on Tues and I am not sure how I am going to make all this happen. I am thinking we may never get bathed or fresh clothes on! It has been such a help for my family to be here. We are very thankful for a family who is willing to come and not only share in this special time with us but HELP and we need it! Thanks so much to all our friends who have been so great to call and come by and bringing us goodies, etc. It is times like this when I am overwhelmed by the wonderful people God has placed in our path, both at home and here and everywhere! We love you all! Now more pics!!!