Eden's Big Debut

Puanani · #1 December 27th, 2005, 09:58 PM

<span style="color:#993399">Our long overdue birth story is finally here..let's hope I still don't have a case of prego brain and I can remember all the details!

This will be the quick version as 15 hours of details might get a little boring..lol.

I'd been contracting all week long, and even went in to L&D one night only to be sent home because I was only 3 cm and 70% effaced. On Saturday, the 10th, I'd ran some errands in the morning and got some things squared away, then DF and I went and had lunch. I was so uncomfortable so we went home and got our things together and headed to the hospital around 2:00 pm. I checked in at Triage and was still the same dilation and still only 70% effaced, but because I was in pain, they admitted me at 3:00 and I was moved to a birthing suite. My mom came to the hospital and the big wait began. I was hooked up to an IV and my antibiotics started for the GBS.

At 8:30, I had progressed so little, they decided to break my water. They did by about 9:30 and from then on, my contractions were unbearable. After telling my fiance and mom that I just COULD NOT do this, I BEGGED for an epidural and got to sleep for a little while after they put it in. That definitely calmed me down a lot. Unfortunately though, my epidural wore off at around 3 in the morning (December 11) and the anesthesiologist came back to inject more medication, to no avail. By 5:30, they checked me and said I was 100% effaced and at 9 cm, but I had an uncontrollable urge to push - even with the epidural. After 4 contractions that I had to breathe my way through, I finally told my nurse that I HAD to push. She checked me again and told me to go ahead. I did 2 good ones and she saw the head, so she called the doctor.

After 15 hours of labor and about 30 minutes of pushing, my baby girl finally came! When I saw her face, every second of labor was worth it!

Eden Sivailima Catherine Ka'iulani Tagoai was born at 6:17 am on December 11, 2005. She'd swallowed some amniotic fluid so she didn't cry very loud when she came out, and they had to put her on a machine for a little while. When they finally cleaned her up and weighed her, she weighed in at 9 lbs. 6.3 oz. and measured 20.5" long! When the placenta came, the nurse decided to weigh that too just out of curiosity and that was 3 lbs. 11 oz..LOL! Good to know where all the weight was that I'd gained! Because she was a big baby they thought her blood sugar levels might be high, but they were normal (76).

Eden and I stayed in the hospital for 24 hours and they watched her for sepsis since I had the +GBS. Everything was fine, so they sent us home the following day.

What an amazing thing it is to be a mommy! I thank the Lord every day for my special blessing; there isn't anything better than mommyhood! Eden is such a joy in our family and I couldn't imagine a greater Christmas gift.

Here is my beautiful baby at 2 days old and 12 days old.</span>