To Sum it Up...

So, here is the baby story in a nutshell. It's just too long to tell the whole story....I was originally due Feb.5th, but because of my blood pressure history, we had planned an induction for January 30th. I was supposed to call the hospital in the early morning hours to see if they had room for me in the inn. I called...no room. They told me to call my doctor and go in to see him and have a non-stress test and get my bp checked since it was not likely that I would be having a baby until the following Monday. I was so bummed, but what could I do?

I went in to the doctors office that morning. Baby looked great and my bp was pretty good. I had a bit of a headache though, which is a warning sign of PIH (pregnancy induced hypertension) and toxemia. The doc gave me a scrip for Hydrocodone and told me to go home, take one, and wait a while. If the headache persisted, call the office. My mom and Travis kept telling me to "get a headache", but I actually really did have one and it really wasn't going away. Plus, the drugs were actually making me feel worse. I called the doctor and they told me to go to the hospital for observation.

Just after 4 pm, we went to the hospital. They put me in a lovely backless gown and started up the non-stress test. The funny nurse talked to me and asked me questions and we filled out paperwork, all the while a machine was taking my bp. The nurse kept shaking her head and finally said, "Your bp is yucky!" Then she left. Pretty soon my super fabulous doctor, Dr. Lawrence (have I mentioned he is wonderful?) came in. He took one look at my bp, gasped and then grabbed my foot and said, "You are having this baby tonight!" (I looked over and my bp was 194/110) He then explained I would be getting a 24 hour dose of Magnesium Sulfate. It's awful stuff that makes you feel hot, exhausted and just plain horrible, but it also helps keep the bp down and prevents me from having a stroke. (like my mom had when she was pregnant)

I got wheeled into a room, administered lots of drugs that did make me feel yucky and then told I would be getting my epidural soon. It was awesome! I had these cute little contractions all day and I was going to get an epidural. I must say I would rather have contractions than that magnesium, but hindsight...I got the epidural, my bp went down nice and low and I laid in my bed watching National Treasure 2 with Travis, waiting for our angel to arrive.

Needless to say, the "mag" slowed down the labor process, but since I was in no pain, I was cool with it. I was pretty thirsty and hungry, but the awesome nurses brought me icechips, so I was good. (o: At about 12:25am I said it felt like I should push. The nurse said, "Let's do a couple of practice pushes." So I did. Couple of minutes later the doctor, not my wonderful Dr. Lawrence (cause he had to take his wife on a date for her birthday), but equally nice and almost as wonderful, Dr. Naomi Olson, came in. I pushed for a bit longer and out she popped, easy as pie at 12:41am. A NICU nurse was standing by because the mag was in my system plus it was also in Elizabeths. Baby came out, Travis cut the cord, and she got whisked off to the bed to be taken care of by NICU lady. She responded really quickly. Yelled her little Nelson head off, so they gave her to me. She was perfect in every way.

I ended up staying in the hospital until Sunday afternoon. I was on a liquid restriction while I was in the hospital because I had toxemia. The nurses all kept telling me how I really had Dr. Lawrence riled up and how I had scared everyone with my bp the night before. One nurse told me that I had a pretty scary night. I had no idea it was a scary night. I'm really grateful for doctors, nurses and modern technology that took such good care of me and made the birth of my baby girl seem not scary, even though they were all very worried.

The toxemia persisted for almost 2 weeks after she was born, but I am feeling better now. I'm just plain tired, but that's okay. This is my last baby and I am savoring every sleepy moment that I am having because I won't be experiencing it ever again.

That's my story. It's late and Spencer is standing here telling me I am taking way too long on the computer, so I will stop for now. I'm sure there are details I missed, but it's a good summary I believe. I'll end with a couple of pictures. This was not long after we got to the room and had just started the mag.

After they figured out that she was just fine, they finally gave her to me to hold.

Here she is just a few minutes old. She was so perfect.