Two days late (and one LONG pre-labor) but worth the wait...

Well, I didn't get that last pregnancy post in before Little Miss Scarlett decided to arrive, so I'll start by sharing my last belly/chalkboard pic, which we took at 39 weeks:

**Disclaimer - This is the long, unedited version of the time leading up to labor, my actual labor, delivery, and our time in the hospital. I don't expect everyone to be interested in every detail, but this is more for me to have than it is for anyone else. I had to get it all down before some of the details started to fade!**

Now, where to begin? Let's see, my mom arrived here in Seattle on March 24th - a full two weeks before our due date - because we had a feeling Scarlett might come early and were afraid Mom would miss the birth.
Having her here for what ended up being a full two weeks before Scarlett even showed up was SO helpful and SO just what I needed at the very end of my pregnancy. For those of you reading this who don't know my mother, she is truly the most selfless, helpful, nurturing, and loving mom anyone could ask for. She helped us grocery shop, shop for baby stuff, plan and cook meals, do housework, take care of Marley, and best of all she just kept me company during the weekdays when Steve had to work. She was completely invaluable, and I don't know how we could've done this part of the journey without her! Love you, Mom. XoXo

My very last OB appointment was on April 2nd, where my doctor informed me if I didn't go into labor on my own then she would schedule an induction for the week of April 15th. This seemed very far away to us, as we were getting more anxious by the day to meet our girl ... plus, I was getting all sorts of giant and uncomfortable and had finally reached that point in my pregnancy where I was just ready to be DONE.

Two days before my due date - on April 5th - my contractions were getting noticeably more intense. We thought for sure this was it, so Steve came home early from work and we started timing my contractions. They were irregular and still pretty far apart, but we kept at it all through that night and into the morning of the 6th. Contractions continued to get more intense and slightly closer together, but were still not regular enough to go to the hospital. Steve, my mom, and I decided to go to a mall to take our minds off the contractions and hopefully "walk the baby out." We did that for a few hours, and still no major progress. We drove around and took Mom to Snoqualmie Falls - still nothin'. I was frustrated, but didn't feel like just going back home so we decided we would head to my hospital (which was nearby anyway) and get checked out to see where I was at. When they examined me I was only about 2 or 3 cm dilated and not fully effaced yet. Frustration. They sent me home as they sort of joked about me not being in enough pain to get admitted yet - "You still look happy. Come back when you don't look happy anymore." So, home we went. These irregular contractions continued all day Sunday, but then Sunday night came.

That night I remember being absolutely horrible. I barely slept because the contractions got so intense and painful that I just moaned and writhed around my bed in pain. My mom came in our room and slept on the floor because she felt so bad for me and wanted to be supportive ... it was awful, though. Then I started to cry from the pain. I made it through the night because I wanted to stay home as long as possible (I was afraid of getting sent home again) but Monday - the morning of the 8th - we headed back to the hospital with me in tears. The same nurse examined me and said, "NOW you're in labor! Congratulations! Let's get you admitted." We were in business!

Once I got in my labor room, the first thing they did was hook me up to an IV to start giving me antibiotics since I had tested Strep B positive at one of my last doctor appointments. The first thing I wanted to do was get in that big tub with jets. My birth plan was to go as long as I could possibly stand without an epidural, but I was open to getting one if the pain got unbearable enough. They said that even though I had the IV, they could wrap it and I could still get in the tub. (Sweet!) I took an amazing warm bath, and both the heat and jets helped take the edge off the contractions. I can definitely see why some women do water births! It felt very luxurious at a time when I didn't think it was possible to feel pampered. I got out when I couldn't take the sweating and the heat anymore and started to feel a little dizzy.

Once I was out of the tub, I just remember lying in bed - and also standing/hovering over the bed with Steve or my mom rubbing my lower back - telling myself the pain wasn't that bad and that I could do this. Steve and my mom were amazing, getting me water (apparently you don't have to have ice chips until you've had the epidural) and talking me through my breathing.

I made it about 7 or 8 hours laboring at the hospital before I begged for the epidural. I have to be honest ... I felt like a failure. I remember apologizing to Steve, asking him if he thought less of me because I couldn't do it naturally like we had originally wanted and talked about. He was so sweet and supportive, and told me I was amazing. He reassured me that I needed to do whatever I had to in order to give birth to our healthy little girl, and did I mention I had back labor? I'm not sure how many of you mommies have experienced this kind of labor when you gave birth, but it was NOT what I expected! I prepared for intense menstrual-like cramps that got more and more painful throughout the process. I did not prepare for the sensation of someone taking a butcher knife and slicing my lower back open. At this point, every time I had a contraction this is what it was like. I didn't know what the epidural would feel like ... all I knew was that I couldn't take the butcher knife sensation any longer. Whatever came with the epidural had to be better than that, right??

The epidural went in smoothly, and I remember it taking about 20 minutes to really take effect. Once it did, it was the most intense relief I have ever felt in my life. It was odd, too - I can't say the contractions really went away, but the pain did. I could still feel every single one, but instead of the slicing pain it just felt like pressure. I expected to be more completely numb, but I was grateful that I could still feel something since I had hoped for a natural birth and wanted to feel my daughter being born.


Labor was much much easier for the next few hours, but once the contractions started to get really close together and really intense, the pressure I felt became so intense that I got VERY uncomfortable again. All I remember thinking at that point was how badly I wanted to push her out so I could feel that relief again, but they kept telling me it wasn't time yet. When they weren't holding my hand or helping me breathe, Steve was reading his "Walking Dead" graphic novel and Mom was watching The Voice. I cared about neither. I just wanted to push, for crying out loud!

I'm not sure how to measure how many hours I was technically in labor, since my "prelabor" lasted SO long ... but if you just count the time I labored in the hospital, it was about 13-14 hours before they told me I was allowed to push at about ten minutes till midnight. Unless I pushed REALLY hard, our girl was going to be born early on April 9th.

I had overheard one of the nurses make a comment about first-time moms and how sometimes it takes them up to three hours to push their babies out. I was horrified. Between the days of prelabor, the knife in my back pain and the "Please GOD let me push" pressure I had experienced, I was just about done with all of it. I didn't say it out loud, but I swore to myself that it was not going to take me HOURS to push this baby out. They waited for a contraction to come (which I didn't need the monitor for because I could still feel them all) and had me do three 10-second pushes per contraction. Oh, so THIS is why they call it labor! My mom held my hand and Steve, my amazing labor coach, held one of my legs and got me through the most difficult half hour of my life. That's right - 27 minutes and 7 contractions/pushing sessions later, at 12:22 a.m., Scarlett Kathryn Nielson came into the world - 7 lbs. even and 20 inches long.


When the doctor pulled her the rest of the way out and put her on my chest, it was the most surreal thing. I felt relief, joy, disbelief, pride, and most of all, the most intense and instantaneous love I've ever experienced. Before actually giving birth (even during my pregnancy) I had heard women describe this powerful motherly love that kicks in so fast, but had been skeptical of it. I assumed it would take at least a few hours, maybe a few days to truly become attached and get to know this new little person. I also feared that I would not be one of those biased moms who thinks their babies are gorgeous no matter what, and that I would think she looked less cute and more like an alien. But when they set her on my chest all purplish red in color and puffy and a little slimy, it was instant and all at once. I remember looking at her for the first time and thinking over and over again: She's perfect. Perfection. Steve and I made a perfect tiny human. I wanted to hold her, snuggle her, stare at her, kiss her, feed her, take care of her immediately. I'm sure it does take some women a little while to get attached, but my motherly instincts kicked in right away, and I am no longer a skeptic. I was hooked.

Apart from being beautiful, Scarlett was the most amazingly mellow baby from the get-go. She didn't even cry when she came out. She was so quiet, yet so alert - she just looked around the room, curious about her new surroundings. The tears didn't come until they had to start poking her to give her antibiotics. I had spiked a mild fever during delivery, and they weren't sure why (especially because I was on antibiotics) so they had to follow protocol and start administering rounds of precautionary antibiotics to Scarlett right away to make sure she didn't get any type of infection. This was the worst part of our first few days together. Nurses constantly coming in to flush her IV, pump her full of more drugs, etc. And that's not even counting the routine shots, bloodwork, and exams that all babies need to get. It wasn't long before our mellow baby was screaming and crying every few hours because of all the poking and prodding. It wasn't a pleasant experience, and we became increasingly frustrated at the hospital staff who seemed to be in and out of our room CONSTANTLY. Just when Scarlett and I would drift off to sleep, they had to wake us up for more tests or medication. The discomfort continued at home for the first couple of weeks of her life, because the antibiotics they gave her ended up killing off all the good bacteria in her stomach. She was very fussy to the point of being colicky those first weeks until the pediatrician told us to give her probiotic drops every day. Thank God they helped and we have our mellow baby back. The whole experience broke my heart, but I guess in hindsight it ended up being the best thing because we have a healthy baby girl now.


On a more positive note, we did have some good experiences during our hospital stay:

1) Steve, Mom, and I all got plenty of brand new baby snuggles.
 


2) A photographer came by and snapped photos of Scarlett when she was less than a day old, and they turned out amazing!


3) My first real meal after giving birth (not counting the roast beef sandwich and salad they gave me immediately after at 2 in the morning) was sushi. Sweet, delicious, forbidden for 9 months sushi. Spicy tuna and soy sauce never tasted so good! (Thanks to my amazing husband for tracking that down for me!)
4) Speaking of food, room service with hospital food that was actually delicious!
5) A nice big flat screen TV with lots of channels and movies to choose from ... helped the time go by faster.
6) The staff in our hall decided that our sweet baby was so perfect and beautiful that they started calling her the Ivory Snow baby. Apparently Ivory Snow is laundry detergent. We had to Google it to find out what they meant - and I'm not entirely sure I agree about the resemblance - but we loved that everyone thought our baby was that pretty.


Here are some photos of our time at Swedish Medical Center in Issaquah, WA:






Because of the need to monitor her and administer the antibiotics, they had to keep us an extra day than they would have otherwise ... so we ended up being at the hospital from Monday morning until Thursday morning, when they finally cleared her of any infections or complications and gave us the OK to bring our little bundle home. She didn't have any jaundice at all - in fact, they said her risk factor test for jaundice came back one of the lowest they'd ever seen - and she had lost a minimal percentage of her birth weight. All in all, we were two lucky parents (and one lucky Nana, too :) - we had a gorgeous, perfectly healthy baby girl - and she was finally home, where she belonged. Every parent I've talked to about childbirth says how difficult it is, but how as soon as you meet that baby you forget about the hard stuff and you just fall in love. I don't know if that's true for everyone, but it was certainly true for us. <3

(Also, I would like to give a little shout-out to Sweet Baby Scarlett, who still has a bit of a hard time snoozing by herself without being held at only 6 weeks old - she just napped for over two hours in her swing and gave Mama time to eat AND finally get this blog finished! Thanks, Sweetie. Xoxoxo.)