Introducing Charlotte Grace Stiers

It's taken me a week to get back to the blog, but that's because Charlotte's here!! 

Let me start at the beginning...

Last Saturday (Aug 6) I woke up to fairly regular cramps (I thought they might be contractions). I hung out at home all day, waiting for something to get exciting. But then, around noon, the cramping went away. I did what someone with any medical condition should never do, and turned to Google for answers. In a "better-safe-than-sorry" move, I called the 24 hour nurse hotline through my insurance company (since I couldn't get ahold of my doctor). They advised me to go to Labor & Delivery to be checked out. So Ben and I drove to the hospital, only to sit around for 4 hours or so and then be sent home in "early labor." We got home around midnight and I insisted on finishing the project I had been working on (because, as you'll remember from my last post, the baby wouldn't come if it wasn't finished). 

Letter blocks to match her hanging name letters

 I fell asleep around 1:30 and woke up just a couple hours later to roll over in bed. Yes, when you're 9 months pregnant, you must be fully conscious before rolling over in bed. Well, my water broke when I rolled over. At 3:45. I woke up Ben, called the nurse from L&D that had seen us just a few hours earlier to tell her we'd be on our way. We both showered, put our bags back into the car, made sure the cats had plenty of food & water, and made our way to the hospital. It was very quiet and dark when we left, but the sun was just starting to come up on our baby's birthday.

Your water breaking in the wee hours of the morning means you'll get a wheelchair escort from the ER to L&D. The nurse, Susan, who I'd seen the night before was ready and waiting for us with a smile. She took us to the delivery room we'd have for the day and made sure we had everything we needed. At 7:00, Susan wished us luck and said she couldn't wait to meet our little girl when she came back for her next shift. Our daytime nurse, Lori came in and was just as helpful and caring as Susan. Lori was with us almost constantly all day, doing everything she could to make both of us comfortable. 

In a nutshell... I labored in all sorts of ways (in bed, on a ball, walking the halls, in a rocking chair...) for several hours - all morning. Early in the afternoon, Lori reminded me of my option for an epidural and I decided to take her up on that offer. I was in a lot of pain, exhausted from 2 nights of just a couple hours of sleep, and thought I may be able to enjoy the birth of my daughter if I had a little pain management. Except it was Sunday and the anesthesiologist had to come from home to do the epidural - so I continued to wait. When he finally arrived, Ben and the nurses helped keep me calm and as still as possible while he did the procedure. It was not easy handling contractions every 3 minutes with a huge needle in my back! Right afterward, they administered Pitocin through my IV to help regulate the contractions. They also checked my progress - 6 cm & 100% effaced. I felt better for a little while, and my mom even came briefly to check on me. But shortly after she got there, the pain came back in huge waves. She left to wait for the baby with my dad and the nurse checked me again - fully dilated!! In about an hour???

The bad news is that my doctor was at another hospital across town delivering another patient's baby. I had to wait - ready to push - for over an hour. The good news is they gave me some medication to help make the wait more bearable. The wait was probably the most pain-free part of the whole day. When the doc was on her way, she gave the OK for me to do a few practice pushes, which Ben and Lori (the nurse) helped with. But then I was told to hold off (again) and wait. The epidural was wearing off rather rapidly and I had lots of feeling when it was time to push. I don't know if I felt everything, but I felt enough!!! After just 10 or 15 minutes of pushing, baby Charlotte was here!!!! 

She was alert and pink and healthy!! She scored 9/9 on the Apgar scale. The nurses cleaned her up and measured her. 7 pounds, 8 ounces and 20 inches long - just perfect!! 

The next 24 hours were a whirlwind of complications and very little sleep. Luckily, Charlotte was perfect and really did not need any medical attention. And although I suffered some minor complications, nothing was severe or life-threatening and eventually the doctors and nurses were able to get everything under control. Monday afternoon I felt soooo much better and welcomed lots of visitors. 

By Tuesday afternoon, we were ready to go home! Charlotte looks so tiny in her car seat, but I'm sure she'll fill it up before I know it! 

It seems like our entire small town was awaiting the arrival of our precious baby girl! We can't express how grateful we are to have such thoughtful and caring friends and family around while we welcome Charlotte into our lives.

A huge THANK YOU to everyone who has called, texted, sent cards & gifts, brought over food, and even just came to cuddle her! We're so happy that you all love her just as much as we do!  Please feel free to stop by - we can't promise we'll look pretty, but Charlotte always does!! :o)