Saturday, May 2, 2015

Penelope has arrived!

I feel like such a slacker for not getting this out sooner for my blog readers, but I promise you I have a good reason.

Penelope is here and she is adorable. And amazing. I seriously can't even.

It all started Wednesday. When I woke up on Wednesday morning I very clearly had the "bloody show", though it wasn't as much as I thought I was going to have. But I felt alright, so I continued on with my day. I went for a very short walk with Twinky and when I came home, had even more blood, so I figured I had better double check my bags and be ready.

Around 2 p.m., I started having contractions though they weren't bad at all. They were similar to what I was having the night before so I didn't think much of it. I text Matt and told him to come home at 4 because the kids had a birthday party at 4:30 to go to and I didn't think I'd be up for driving them. I picked the kids up from school at 3:15 and had two contractions on the drive home that were painful enough that I white knuckled it the rest of the way home. Once home, I got the kids ready for the party and started timing them.

Matt came home at 4, got the kids to the party by 4:30, and was home by 5. Once he got home at 5, I told him that he needed to call his parents and have them drive into town because this was it and that he needed to get himself ready, I wasn't sure how much longer I was going to wait it out at home. So he proceeds to take the longest shower in history while I'm downstairs trying every relaxation technique I've been practicing. He comes down, totally nonchalant and I'm hugging my exercise ball for my life and he starts dicking around on his mom's laptop that he's working on. I had him call my mom and let her know we were leaving for the hospital and that she could meet us there, and then we called his parents and said we were leaving NOW.

Then I embarked on the longest car ride of my life, all the while doing my breathing and visualization and literally none of it is working because this really hurts and he's not driving as fast as I would have been, and I felt like I was going to have her in the car.

Thankfully, I did not.

We got to the hospital at 6 and after what I'm sure was a comical view of me trying to cross the busy street mid-contraction and stopping cars in their tracks, I got settled into our lovely room with a view of the lake. Turns out, I was dilated to 4 cm and 60% effaced at that point.

This is obviously between contractions. 

It was quickly after this that I decided hypnobirthing is a bunch of shit and I am not cut out for that. Not one of my relaxation playlists were doing anything, breathing through them wasn't helping, and I figured I am not a hero, there is absolutely no reason to be in that kind of pain and hate the experience. So I called for an epidural and that was able to happen at 8. Which by then, I was 100% effaced and dilated to 6cm so thank god because I didn't think I could make it another minute. 

The really great thing? Is that I got a GREAT epidural because I still had full use of my feet and legs, something I hadn't had with my other two epidurals, so I was so happy about that. I definitely didn't feel like I couldn't do much, it essentially took the edge off though I could still feel abdominal tightening, I could feel the waves of the contractions, it just wasn't painful at all. Easily the best labor experience I have ever had. 
By 9:30, I was dilated to 9.5 and I felt glorious. They started wheeling things into the room and getting everything set up. My doctor wasn't on call that night so I was going to get whoever and I'm always totally fine with that. So that doctor comes in and asks me to do a practice push just to get the hang of it and I ended up moving her quite a bit. He announces that I am a pro and tells me that not only am I at 10cm, but she made pretty decent progress down so this won't take long. I did say I wanted to just wait until I felt more of an urge to push, and that came at 10:30. As it turns out, I am a pushing champion. Between my mad pushing skills and my uterus being a rock star, after 6 sets of pushing and 20 minutes, Miss Penelope Rose Mary Strand was born at 10:52 p.m. on Wednesday, April 29.
The best part of all of it was that not only did I feel her come out (unlike my other two), but I was angled just right that I got to see her come out. And immediately, this girl was so alert. She hardly cried. They put her right on my chest and I was in love.
She just stared at me intently like she just totally knew I was her mama.

The strange thing? This was the first time I ever wanted to hold a totally goopy baby on my chest. Usually I'm fully grossed out by it but I wanted her immediately. 

After a little while I had them weigh her. 
 Turns out, Penelope is a god damn MOOSE. She was 8 pounds, 15.5 ounces and 20 inches long. To give you perspective? Olivia was 7#, 10oz, 21 inches and Jackson was 7#, 7oz, 19 inches long. I absolutely KNEW she was bigger. Did I not say this repeatedly? Poor kid literally had no room left in me.
The great thing is that I think she looks like Olivia, but has Jackson's personality. So far, she's really very mellow and hardly cries. She's very alert and watchful, she enjoys warm bottles and constant snuggles. She nuzzles herself on your neck or chest and seriously, your heart melts.
Matt did amazing as well. He didn't get woozy, he didn't pass out, he didn't even feel faint (unlike with Jackson) and he did a great job counting to 10 for me while I pushed. So that was great.
We got to come home yesterday (Friday) and it was weird. I had a lot of mixed emotions. I felt so great Wednesday and most of Thursday. By Thursday evening I found myself randomly crying, to the point where I literally couldn't stop. I cried on the way home on Friday. I cried a good portion of Friday evening, to be honest. I was doing really good today but then early evening I started crying again. I don't really feel sad or anything, it's just that I can't stop. I think Matt's worried, so I am going to call the doctor on Monday. I thought once I got home I'd be better but no, it's just more of the same. Matt will take this entire next week off so that will help me a lot. I'm scared for when he goes back to work and I have to just hold it together. I can't fall apart because I've got the other two kids that need me too. So I'm going to do my best.

I have tons more pictures for you, including from when Olivia and Jackson came to visit and meet Penelope. Seriously, they are so damn sweet. More soon!

3 comments:

The Flynnigans said...

This post totally warms my heart :) So happy for you and your family.
Take care of yourself in terms of your emotions and hormones. Don't be a hero and try to hold it together when you can't. You'll get past this but do reach out to your doctor.

Hope you have a wonderful day darling xox

thotlady said...

Congratulations. She is beautiful. I am so happy for all of you.

mypixieblog said...

Have been thinking about you and so glad that the delivery went fairly well. And though I have never had kids myself, I'm not sure I'd want to be the hero and go sans epidural either. Of course in theory it sounds great though :)

Awww, she's beautiful :) Can't wait to see pics of all the little ones together. Also? You look amazing for having JUST given birth!