Abby's Story

Wow - it might be a little harder to post than I thought it was going to be. I am so in love with this little girl - I don't want to put her down!!

So on Tuesday after I posted, my contractions started getting a little stronger, but nothing I couldn't talk through. We left to go to the doctor with our bags packed - I knew that even if it wasn't right then, it was coming soon. On the way to the doctor's office, I was timing the contractions about every 5 minutes, and they were starting to hurt. Right before we got there, I thought that I should have called to see if they wanted me at my appointment, or if I should just go to L&D since I knew I was close. Since I didn't call first, we went up to the office (which is just across the street from the hospital) and asked them. The receptionist went to find the nurse to ask, and came back and told us just to go to the hospital, since the doctor I was going to see that day was actually over at the hospital. So over to the hospital we went.

We went up to labor and delivery, where they showed me to a room and got me hooked up to all of the equipment. They told us that it was really busy that day and that they were having a hard time finding rooms for everyone - which made me worried that they would send me home. The nurse checked me, and I was a bit disappointed when I was still at 3 1/2 cm - same as the Friday before. But the good news was that my contractions were every 2 -3 minutes apart, and getting stronger. I was ecstatic when they came and and told me they were moving me to a delivery room!!

From here, it all went pretty smoothly. The doctor - Andrea Smith (who was on call for my doctor who was out of town) came in and checked me again - up to a 4 at this point. She broke my water to speed things along a bit. When she broke my water, she noticed that there was meconium in the water, so I had to have a tube put in me that flushed water through to try to clear it out. It wasn't bad, so they weren't too worried - just a precaution. I have to say, it was quite weird, laying there in a bed with fluids running in and out of me!

Shortly after that, I got my epidural, which was pretty painless. It took a little while for it to kick in, so I got to experience some good contractions. Once the epidural took over, my contractions did slow down just a bit, so they supplemented me with pitocin to keep things going. From this point forward, I progressed fairly quickly.

At about 10 to 8, I started pushing. I had Josh there on one leg, my mom on the other leg, and my mother in law holding my head. I have to say, I had the best team there. It was really a different experience, because I couldn't feel a thing because of the epidural. I didn't really know where or how to push because I couldn't feel anything, but they were the best coaches, cheering me on when things were good. The nurse told me I would probably end up pushing for 1 1/2 to 2 hours since it was my first, but just under an hour later, at 8:43pm, Abby came into this world.

It was all such an amazing experience. Josh and I both bawled like babies, and I haven't been able to keep my eyes off of her since. I am so in love!!

Things are going fairly well right now. Josh has been great - taking such good care of both of us and the dog. My feet are really swollen, so I've been trying to stay off of them, and I ended up needing an episiotomy (sp?) so I'm trying to heal from that. If it wasn't for those 2 things, I would feel great right now!! She's a good eater, although my milk hasn't come in yet, but she's still been a trooper. I actually had 2 periods of 3 hours of sleep in a row last night, so hopefully that will continue! The only trouble we have had so far is that she doesn't like to get put down, so one of us is basically holding her all of the time. I'm sure once she gets used to this new place that will get better.

I'm sure I'll have all kinds of photos coming up. I told Josh we will need a new hard drive to store them all becasue I've already gone crazy! And I'm planning on using this as my way to keep a journal of everything.

I love my little girl!

Abigail (middle name still tbd) Harroun arrived Tuesday, January 27th at 8:43pm. She weighed 8 pounds 1 ounce and is 20 inches long. She has a ton of dark hair and is perfect in every way!

More to come later!

Maybe Today??

Well, no baby yet, but I really think that today might be the day. I woke up (again) at 2am with pretty bad contractions. I started timing them at 3am, thinking that if they were 5 min or less apart we would head to the hospital. Unfortunately, they stayed at between 7 and 10 minutes. I was finally able to fall back asleep around 4:30, with the occasional contraction waking me up.

I've been having contractions all morning, about 5 minutes apart, but of course, now they aren't as painful as they were last night. But they are progressively getting stronger. And my lower back has been KILLING me since last night - so bad that I can't even really bend over. I have a doctor's appointment at 11:20, and I'm pretty sure I'll be ok until then. If the doctor doesn't think I'm in labor, then I'm at least hoping we've progressed enough to get sent over to the hospital and we get a jump start.

I'm keeping my fingers crossed!! We don't have a laptop, but I think I should be able to update on Josh's phone, so hopefully I'll have some good news here in a few hours!

D-Day

I wish that stood for delivery day - not due date!!

If you would have asked me 6 months ago, I would have bet $100 - even $1000! - that I would have this baby early. Even if you would have asked me a month ago, I probably would have made that same bet.

But here I am, my official due date, and she's still not here.

I've had 3 times now where I thought for sure I was in the beginning stages of labor, only for the contractions to completely go away. On Friday, I had some really painful contractions, but once I started timing them, they got further and further apart. I figure they were from my membranes being stripped. Then yesterday, nothing. Just the Braxton-Hicks contractions I've been having for weeks now.

Most statistics say that only 5% of women actually deliver on their due date. I can only wish, because it looks like this little girl has plans of her own. I am feeling really crampy today, so I guess you never know.

Josh has been sick the last few days. We're now thinking it might be strep, so he stayed home from church this morning, and I skipped out early so I can take him to InstaCare. If it is strep, we need him on antibiotics asap so that when this little girl does come, he's not sick and contagious. I wish we would have gone days ago, but I have a stubborn husband. So maybe it's a good thing that this little girl isn't here yet!!

I'll keep updating - hopefully this doesn't go another whole week!

Learning Patience

39 weeks, 5 days

So we really thought Wednesday night was going to be the night. I started having regular contractions around 3pm. They weren't exactly painful, but more uncomfortable than all the other contractions I've been having. I started timing them, and timed them up until about 9:30 that night. They stayed mostly between 10 and 13 minutes, but every once in awhile, I'd have one every 7 minutes. I really thought that was the beginning. I even called my mom to make sure she had her phone with her at all times. I went to bed about 10:30, thinking that they would wake me up if they got any worse. I woke up a couple of times with strong ones, but by the morning, they were back to my "normal" not painful contractions.

I was really disappointed yesterday morning. Especially since they weren't still coming like they were that night. But I figured that I had a doctor's appointment coming up, and surely all these contractions were really pushing me along.

Early this morning, about 2am, I woke up feeling crampy. If I wasn't pregnant, I would have thought that I was about to start my period. My back was killing me, and I just generally didn't feel very well. I tried to sleep, but was quite restless the rest of the night, not getting very much sleep. This morning, the crampiness continued, and contractions started in. I didn't time any of them, but they were more painful than the ones the night before. My doctor's appointment was at 10:10, and I really thought he'd be sending me to the hospital from my appointmet. I seriously even took my packed bag. We headed off to the doctor, only to be disappointed again. Well, I shouldn't say disappointed because there was some progress. I am now dialated to a 3 1/2, and 80% effaced. Bad news, though, is that if I don't have this baby by 5pm tonight, chances of me getting my doctor to do the delivery are bad. He's not the on call doctor this weekend, and I found out today that he will be out of town next week. In fact, I had to make my next appointment with another doctor. He also let us know that they typically won't induce (since it's my first) until after 41 weeks. He stripped my membranes again, which didn't hurt as much as the first time, but probably because I knew what to expect this time. He said that he would be suprised if I didn't have her this weekend. But really, there is no way to know.

I know I just need to be patient and that she will come when she is ready. But it's hard when I just don't feel good. I feel queasy and crampy, the contractions are not comfortable, and my back is killing me. All signs that she might be here soon, though. I guess she is teaching me patience before she even gets here!!

Not Yet

Still waiting. Impatiently waiting. It looks like she might overstay her welcome. My next appointment is on Friday, and I'm sure we'll talk induction at that time. Josh has been begging me everyday this week to call the doctor to see if we can get induced this week, but since I really don't want to be induced until after 40 weeks, I'm being patient. I think I'm just worried about having a 9 pound baby. (And Ryley - I totally admire you for having a 9 pound baby completely natural - I just don't want that to be me!!!)

I'm still hoping for any day now - but so far I'm still just having Braxton Hicks contractions. For probably the first time in my life I'm looking forward to feeling some pain - because that will mean she will actually be coming!

Another Appointment

Now I'm 38 weeks, 4 days. Officially 10 days days from my due date. And no baby still.

I had my 38 week appointment today, and unfortunately, he didn't tell me to get over to the hospital like I was hoping he would. I kept hoping I'd start having contractions this morning, so I could go straight from the doctor to the hospital, but no such luck. Still no contractions. I think she's just getting really comfortable in there.

I'm now dilated to a 3, but that's about the only progress I've made. My doctor did strip my membranes, but he said with a first child, it doesn't usually throw you into labor. He said that he is on call at the hospital this weekend, so it would be a good weekend for me to have her - I hope she's listening!!

I did make an appointment for next week, but let's hope we don't go that long. I think that they will probably schedule an induction if I do make it to my appointment next week, and I really don't want a medical induction. I'm still really optimistic about this weekend - I really do feel like she'll be here any time now!

Everyone send good thoughts my way!!