Denise started to have contractions a few weeks ago but mostly these were 'practice' contractions that don't signify labor. They got progressively stronger, and on Monday at 3pm she started to have more intense and regular 'true labor' contractions. At 4pm she called David at work and said "better come home!".
The contractions kept getting closer together, and at about 8pm, our doula Shannon came over to help Denise get through the pain. Shannon had all sorts of devices to help ease the pain. The one that seemed to work best was called a TENS unit, which is pretty much a muscle stimulant that zaps Denise with a current.
The pain kept getting worse and at 9:45 her contractions had been 3-5 minutes apart for a while, so we decided it was time to go to the hospital. That was a tough car ride! 4 contractions later, we arrived at the hospital and checked in. The nurse put Denise and the baby on a monitor to measure its heart rate and the contractions. (The top line is the baby's heart rate, the bottom line measures contractions - the big hill is a contraction)
Then, she did a cervical exam and it turned out Denise was only 1.5 cm dilated (you need to get to 10 before the baby can come out!) Normally the hospital wants you to be at least 3cm's before they check you in. But, because Denise's contractions were so close together, they gave us the option to check in right away and get an epidural to ease the pain.
Once we got settled in the delivery room, the anesthesiologist came in and gave Denise the epidural. The first anesthesiologist was a resident and she had trouble finding the right spot. They had to call in another one and luckily he was able to find it. Once that was in, all of Denise's pain was gone and she couldn't feel the contractions any more. What a relief! She was finally able to crack a smile and so we snapped a few photos. Sophia and Sue had come to visit so they were there as well.
Once the epidural was in and Denise was able to relax, labor started to progress really fast. Within 6 hours Denise had gone from 1.5 to 10cm and was finally ready to push! The downside of the epidural is that it slows down the contractions, so that meant the pushing stage took longer than it normally does. It was tough going - millimeters of progress each time. But, finally, nearly 4 hours after she started pushing, Taylor came out. Mommy and Daddy were very emotional and exhausted so what happened next was a bit of a blur. Since Denise had gotten a fever during labor, the doctor was worried that the baby had an infection so she had to go into the NICU to receive antibiotics. Once the baby came out, the nurses did the post partum testing (Taylor received a 9 out of 10 APGAR score - whoohoo!) Daddy was able to snap a few pictures and Mommy was able to hold Taylor before they took her off to the NICU.
Daddy followed Taylor to the NICU to watch her as she got all sorts of tests done. They put in an IV, attached some monitors, and let her rest for a while. The first 2 hours after delivery babies are generally very awake and Taylor was no different. We got some really great photos of her during this time.
Taylor was by far the biggest baby in the NICU. In fact, she may have been bigger than all the other babies in there, combined! There were a set of quadruplets that had come 3 months early - they each weighed about 1 lb 8 oz. - it was crazy how small they were!
Since Taylor had to stay in the NICU, the hospital felt bad and so they got us a private room. It was pretty nice - there was a bed for David and a sink and bathroom. It would have been much more painful having to share a room with other people! They also fed us very well - Denise got 4 meals a day and the food was usually almost enough to feed both Denise and David. Here we are in our post partum room.
Every 3 hours we put Denise in a wheelchair and wheeled her up to the NICU, about 10 mins away, to breastfeed. Taylor got the hang of breastfeeding pretty early on, which was a blessing. The lactation consultant told us exactly how to get the perfect latch - "Just dump it in!" was her favorite expression.
The first few days of life are very sleepy for newborns. They pretty much sleep the entire time and just wake up to feed. We thought this would continue but that turned out not to be the case once we brought her home! More to come on that. Because Taylor was in the NICU and was looked after 24/7 by the nurses, we didn't feel too much anxiety about being the sole responsible parents looking after her. Bringing her home finally was quite an adjustment.
Luckily, Taylor's blood tests came back negative for the infection so it turned out to be a false alarm. The good news was that they could stop the antibiotics and she was able to be discharged after 2 days and got to come home with us. Here are a few pictures of us putting on her going home outfit, and putting her in her car seat. Denise was very nervous about this!
We were ready to go! After a nerve-racking car ride home, we finally made it. Stay tuned to hear about how we (barely!) survived the first few nights at home.
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