[Cheryl_W]

Our cyster Bam is now at the hospital, hooked up to monitors and IV, got her Cytotek & antibiotics!

I promised her I'd keep you all updated, so here are her twitter updates so far - I'll edit when there's more!

7AM Pacific - Cramps have started. Nausea has kicked in hardcore. Still no phenergan. IV has me FREEZING!

7:30 Pacific - Cramps getting pretty rough. Contractions starting. So are the tears of pain. >.< Labour sucks.

8AM Pacific - Still only dilated to 2cm, 75% effaced, -2 station. Water has been broken and internal monitors put on. Shouldn't be much longer now. And by "much longer" I mean much longer until I hit active labour and can have an epidural.

9AM Pacific - Still only 2.5cm dilated. I've been given stadol. hooooooly *cow* that's crazy stuff!

Bam's husband Will had this to say about the Stadol : "Bam got Stadol. "It's like morphine on crack!" Everyone was most amused. It's certainly helping "

10AM Pacific - She's in active labour! "contractions much more painful now and becoming regular. I'd say this active labour."

11:45 AM Pacific - From Will - Belated tweet - Epidural in place, still not much on the dilation front. More waiting and watching

12:15 PM Pacific - From Will - Distinct lack of progress, still no further dilation. Chance of c-section is rising rapidly, but so long as everyone is fine we're OK w/ it.

2 PM Pacific - Message she sent to me : Thanks so much for doing the updates. And thank everyone for the well wishes.

3:20 PM Pacific - from Will - We've reached 3cm. Doc is happy we're progressing and there's no c-section plan. It's gonna be a slow night & possibly a thanksgiving baby.

5:30 PM Pacific - from Will - And now they emptied Bam's bladder, we're at 8cm and zero station.Baby should be making an entrance pretty soon.

6:00 PM Pacific - from Will - 9.5cm and zero station. Labor is way faster past that 4cm hurdle! Doc is in the department so he can come running if (when!) needed

7:30 PM Pacific - from both - 6 pounds 8 ounces, perfect baby Girl born at 8.58pm. She's *way* more alert than expected, and she came out with just a few pushes. Woot!

**I told her I would censor on her behalf, so when you see a word with ** around it, that isn't HER words - its my censoring of her words for the sake of forum filters . LOL

Oh, and if you want to send her any well wishes or T&Ps, post them here because I'm sending her the link to this thread so she can read it! Or so Will can read it to her, depending on how well the Stadol is working LOL

[babyjen]

Oh YAY!!! I wish Bam the very best and pray things speed up for her

[Kari_B]

You can do it Bam!!!!

[Carrie429]

Keeping you in my thoughts!!! Hope to hear news of your little one's safe arrival soon

[Oreobaby]

how exciting!!

[Nyzira]

And we have a little one! Annabelle Mae was born at 8:58pm weighing in at 6 lbs 8 oz and 18.5 in long. Things were slow going at first but once they emptied my bladder, things moved right along and I went from 3cm dilated to ready to push in about an hour and 1/2. She's absolutely beautiful and SO curious! She started looking around and taking everything in as soon as she came out and just hasn't stopped. And she's so quiet! Barely a whimper out of her so far. Reiki does a baby good.

I'm sure I'll be posting a full birth story somewhere at some point for those interested. Thank you all for the positive thoughts. It's been an eventful night! We have pics but I haven't the energy to upload them just now. We'll get them up tomorrow, more than likely. (If I can get them up through the hospital firewall.)

[Tammyms]

Congrats Bam! Can't wait to see pics

[mandyt]

YAYYYYYY!!!!!!!!!!! CONGRATS!!!!! Welcome to this world, Bella!! What a WONDERFUL gift to receive the day before Thanksgiving! Hope you two get nice and cozy settling in and getting to know each other- and enjoy some turkey and naps tomorrow!!! Congrats again Bam, I am soooo happy for you!!

[Cheryl_W]

Yes congrats hunnie! Sorry I wasn't able to keep updating all night, I was so sad that I hadn't been right there when you made the announcement! I had to run out for family stuff

Glad to hear everything went well, and hope to see some beautiful pics soon! I really enjoyed reading your updates as well, it was exciting

Have a good rest, you've earned it!

[Oreobaby]

Yippee can't wait to see pictures.

[scubagirl80]

Awwwww...I was getting teary eyed reading your updates-must be the hormones. Congratulations on your beautiful baby girl!!!!

[Nyzira]

Thank you, ladies! I'm glad I could share this with you all!

Cheryl, you did a wonderful job! Thank you so much!

Annabelle is doing wonderful this morning. She's been slow-going on feeding but she's getting the hang of it. We're formula feeding so I'm sure the weird nipple shapes of the bottles have something to do with it. (I can't breastfeed with my bipolar medication.) Also, I've never fed a newborn so it's a learning experience for all of us! If anyone has any tips, I'll take 'em!

She's still just as quiet as ever. Nary a whimper through the night. A nurse came in a few minutes ago and checked her hearing and she passed with flying colours! She passed a little meconium a couple hours before birth so they're keeping an extra eye on her. So far, so good. Her blood sugar has been perfect and all other vitals are checking out ok.

As for me, I'm exhausted and sore! I ended up with a tiny 1st degree tear and needed a couple stitches but other than that, no complications. Even with the epidural, I was able to feel when to push (which is something I was afraid of not being able to do) so that made for less pushing time. I was in labour a total of about 12 hours and it took 13 pushes to get her into position and then one push to get her completely out. You know how on the shows and such they push out the head, then stop to clear the airway then push out the body? That didn't happen. She came flying out in one push. Surprised my doctor!

We'll be going home tomorrow morning-ish. I'm going to have lunch right now and then upload some pics.

[babyjen]

YAY!!!!! CONGRATS MOMMA!!!! I'm so happy for you and SUPER excited to see pics Rest up

[Nyzira]

I'm so mad at my computer. I have to log onto the hospital network in Linux bacause, for some reason, none of my 4 different browsers will redirect to the hospital's use policy acceptance page so I can gain access to the internet in Windows. Well, I can't log onto my picture gallery nor can I upload to photobucket on Linux. We have the pics on the computer, just can't get them online until I get home tomorrow. So, that is my first order of business as soon as I get home! Which will likely be early afternoon, central time.

In the meantime, Hubby is uploading a few pics to his photobucket. (I was just informed. >.>)
Bella pictures by Willone - Photobucket

[mandyt]

Wow, Bam... I admit, I usually think newborns are kinda squashed and swollen and usually a heck of a lot cuter after a few days recovery time, but that is one heck of beautiful baby!!! She is totally flawless, and so alert!!! It's almost eerie! Congratulations again!!

[Nyzira]

Heehee! Thanks. I keep saying it's Hubby's good genes. The alertness surprises us all. As soon as she popped out she immediately turned and looked at the doctor, before he even cut her cord. My mom keeps going on about how she'd never ever seen a baby that alert as soon as that. We've definitely been blessed.

[BeckyM]

She's beautiful Bam!! Congrats on your precious little girl!!!

[Nyzira]

Thanks, Becky.

The hospital photographer came in a few minutes ago and took her newborn pics. I should have the digital version pretty quick and they'll be sending us prints in like a week and 1/2. She did so well for the pictures! Every one of them she had her eyes open and looking at the camera.

[Tammyms]

Awww, she's beautiful! And yes, her eyes are wide open! Keep posting those pics, I love seeing them

[scubagirl80]

Awww....what a beauty! Congrats on your blessing!!!