Just In Time

As many of you know, our newest little blessing arrived last Wednesday night at 10:39pm. Life has been a bit chaotic this last week as we're all adjusting to being a family of four so I haven't had a chance to tell her story...I barely posted her "announcement"! Things have started to calm down a bit around here though so I'll write what I can while I have a quiet moment!

SAMARA: 

of Hebrew and Arabic origin meaning, "guardian" or "protected by God"

So from early on we had planned on having an induction because of the distance that we live from the hospital. This momma was very concerned that we wouldn't make it in time especially if she happened to come during rush hour traffic or something like that. My dr. was ok with it as long as everything was healthy and normal, but wouldn't schedule anything until I was 39 weeks. I got a call Monday afternoon to schedule my induction for the following day. What?! I wasn't quite ready for that so I pushed it to Wednesday (yes I know, huge difference a day makes...whatever). The plan was to come in at 4am Wednesday morning unless we heard differently. I hung up the phone and immediately started crying. Why? I have no idea. I think it became really real at that point. No, the bulging belly wasn't evidence enough that I was about to have another child. I was anxious, nervous, scared, excited, worried, happy...all at the same time. It was actually happening.

Tuesday afternoon we took A down to San Diego to stay with my parents for a few days then got back around 9 to pack the car and try to get some sleep. Around 11pm I got a call from the hospital saying that all their beds were full so instead of coming it at 4am to call back at 8am to see if anything has opened up. On one hand I was a bit relieved that we didn't have to wake up at 2am to drive there but on the other hand it was just prolonging the process which made me even more anxious. At 8am I called back and they said they were still full but that they had several women who were about to deliver so beds should be opening up in the afternoon and to call back at 11am. At this point it was just comical to me and I couldn't do anything but laugh. Brian on the other hand was just annoyed and wanted to go and camp out in the lobby and make them admit me. Instead, we just decided that we would take our time and head out to OC and if they had room for me at 11 great, if not, I had a dr appt scheduled anyway and maybe he would do something to jump start labor then the hospital would be forced to take me. So we headed out, stopped at Ikea did some last minute shopping, had some lunch, did a few errands, and by this point they had said to come in around 1pm. Finally at 1pm, we made our way up to labor & delivery only to be told that the room wasn't quite ready and we could wait in the lobby or walk around to kill time. We opted to walk. As we were playing tourists wandering the hospital taking pictures we came across a man in scrubs who offered to take our picture. I'm not sure if we looked totally lost and pathetic or maybe it was the Filipino kinship but he took us under his wing and decided we shouldn't have to wait anymore and marched us in there to "get us a good room." Not quite sure who he was or what his role at the hospital was but sure enough we were signing papers and being escorted (by him!) to our delivery room within minutes. Sweet!

By this point it was after 2pm and my anxiety level was through the roof. I was just ready to meet this little girl and it seemed like it wasn't going to happen that day. By the time the nurse came in, did all the routine stuff, and started my IV it was after 3.30. They started the pitocin around 4pm so we weren't expecting her to arrive until early the next morning. About an hour into my pitocin somehow I banged my hand and dislodged my IV so the fluid was flowing into somewhere other than my vein...and it hurt. So they stopped my IV/pitocin until the nurse could come back and re-do it. She was in the middle of a delivery though so an hour or so later they got it all hooked up again only to be started back at the beginning with the pitocin.

Around 7:30 Brian left to get dinner and my contractions were slowly getting stronger. My night shift nurse came in and checked me around 9:30pm and I was still around 3cm dilated and we were chatting about when they baby would arrive, how big she'd be etc. when my water broke on its own. "Oh good" she said "you'll really start progressing now." She also began to tell me how the contractions would become much sharper and stronger. "Let me know when they get too strong and we can give you some pain medication if you're not ready for the epidural." Those were the last words I really remember her saying. Within the next 15 minutes or so my contractions were so strong I honestly thought I was going to break Brian's hand while squeezing. He calmly said, you should probably let them know you want some pain meds. Yeah, thanks babe. So I called for my nurse to bring me some meds. Once she saw how much pain I was in though she decided to check me again to see how far I'd progressed. Umm yeah, I was at 7cm and my contractions were almost back to back. In an instant she started moving at lightning speed, prepping me for my epidural while she's calling for the anesthesiologist. Who, by the way, was JUST about to step into a c-section. I literally had minutes to him walking in there. It was kind of a whirlwind in there as people were rushing around to make sure I got that epidural and that they were ready for this baby to arrive. As he's finishing my epidural she checks me again and I'm at 10cm. And I start to feel the need to push. Things start moving even faster. They call my dr., bring in all the tools, get me in position..."You're going to have a baby!" is what my nurse said. My response to her was "noooooo!" I think she was baffled because she laughed and said, umm isn't that why you're here?! What I meant to say to her was "nooooo, not until my epidural kicks in completely!" Honestly if we had waited even a few more minutes to get that epidural he would have been in surgery and I would have had that baby au natural.

I think I pushed twice and Samara Jade Spottsville was born at 10:39pm. I literally had an hour from the time my water broke to the time she was born. It's a good thing we weren't at home when it happened. I would have had her in the car!

Since she arrived late Wednesday. she didn't get to meet big sister until the next afternoon. I was anxious about how A would react to actually seeing baby sister as opposed to just talking to my belly but she was so excited!

 

She just wanted to hold her and kiss her which made me teary eyed of course! I cannot wait to see their relationship grow.

Sorry for such a long post! I'll try to be back soon with updates and more pictures but don't be mad if I take a little hiatus to enjoy my new addition. Until then...