Campbell's birth

I've been meaning to blog about Campbell's birth, partly because people have been asking and partly because it is the most convenient way for me to write everything down before I forget the details.

We went to the hospital on Tuesday, May 13 at 8:30 pm. After going to the doctor's office that morning and making the decision to induce, we spent the day having one last lunch date as non-parents, picking up some miscellaneous items to take to the hospital, and re-packing our bags. At about 5:00 that afternoon we were just sitting at home staring at each other, attempting not to be totally anxious about the fact that we were going to start the process of having a baby in a few hours. We went next door to hopefully kill some time with our neighbors, who ended up feeding us dinner (gotta love living next door to Betty Crocker Barfuss!), praying with us, and just generally helping us pass the time.

When we got to the hospital, the nurse put us in a room and started the paperwork process. After the paperwork was done, they started an IV and the Cervadil. They also gave me an Ambien, because the nurse said the Cervadil might make me uncomfortable. Through that night I started having some contractions and when the nurse came in to remove it (the Cervadil) at 6:00 am, she gave me something for pain and phenegrin, so the pain medicine would not make me nauseous. She also started Pitocin. A little after 7:00 the doctor came in to check me and break my water. How not comfortable was that! I was dialated to about a 2 at that point. At that point, the contractions started becoming more intense. At 9:00 or so when the nurse checked again, I was dialated to a 2.5 or 3. I started whining for an epidural somewhere around 10:00 am...let's be honest here, as soon as it started to really hurt I wanted the epi!

My parents, Russ, and my sister were there all morning, and a lot of it is a blur to me. Apparently I slept through a good bit of it. At 1:00 pm, I was feeling good from the epidural. At that point Russ's mom and dad and stepmom were there, along with my aunt and grandmother. When the nurse checked at 1:00, I was already at 9 cm. We were shocked that I progressed so quickly. I was at a 10 within a few minutes and started pushing.

Thinking back to the actual pushing, it amazes me that I actually accomplished that. I pushed for about two and a half hours. I'll spare the graphic details, but thanks to the epidural it was more uncomfortable and exhausting than painful. I had asked Russ a few days before if he was going to watch her come out and he was adamant that he would not. When it came down to it, however, he was all up in there looking at her head each time I pushed. She was (finally!) born at 3:53 pm and was absolutely perfect.

Our stay at the hospital was quite eventful, with a room full of visitors at most times. We are so grateful for all of the love poured out on us and Campbell, the food, flowers, visits, and gifts. We were scheduled to go home late in the day on Friday, however when Campbell got her 36-hour check on Friday morning her Billirubin levels were high. After rechecking a few hours later, the doctor determined that she needed to go under the phototherapy lights. My poor little yellow baby. I know jaundice is quite common, but it was HARD to be without her all day. The nurses would bring her to me to eat, but then she immediately went back under the lights. Partway through the day they told us she was going to have to stay another night and stay under the lights, and the worst part..insurance would not pay for us to stay with her another night. Needless to say, I was crushed. I would have to say that was one of the most emotional days of my life. Leaving my sweet girl, even for a few hours, was by far one of the most difficult things I have ever done. We stayed late that night (spent the night at my parent's because we did not want to come home without her!) and got back to the hospital at 6:00 am the next morning. At that point her billirubin level had gone down and the sweet doctor made a special trip over to examine and discharge her. By 8:00 am we were on our way home! While that Friday I felt like everything was horrible, it so quickly faded away when we were back with Campbell.

Getting some "phototherapy" with dad.

I'll blog more soon with updated pictures. Campbell is two weeks old today!