Gabbie Update

It has been almost three weeks since Gabbie joined our family. The first week was a breeze. She was super easy-going. The second week, however, was a much different story! She has had four nights in the last week and a half that have included three to five hours of crying in the late afternoon and evening. We have been concerned that she may be affected by the dreaded colic! Thankfully, though, the last few days have shown positive change. She is starting to have sleep/wake/feeding patterns and routines and I'm starting to find the positions that console her when she's tired and needing to go to sleep. I'm hopeful that things are starting to turn around.

Gabbie is also starting to be more alert and aware of her surroundings. She will try to focus on us and the things around her and even will let out the occasional coo or two. Between the newly found techniques for soothing her and her new desire to study our faces I am starting to feel more and more bonded to her. My love for her is growing each day. I am so thankful for the experience of bringing home a new baby and watching her grow. It is truly a miraculous process.

Gabriella Mae Neighbors

As I type this I have a prefect, sweet, adorable baby laying on my chest. So, bare with me if there are a few mistakes! :)

Gabriella Mae joined our family and the world at 10:49pm on Tuesday June 8, 2010. She weighed 9lbs, 11oz and was 21.5 inches long.

In my last post I mentioned that my doctor didn't think I'd make it make to my next appointment, scheduled for Tuesday, the 8th. She was wrong and I was disappointed! But I had hopes that something would happen that day, because it was the ideal day for everyone else in our families- Jeremie's mom was off work to watch Mollie, one of his sister's was home from California and the other was scheduled to fly out the next day, my sister and mom were off work, and Jeremie needed to get through the work day to prepare his relief driver for running the route while he was on paternity leave.

I walked into the appointment, did the usual weight check (yes, I hit 50 lbs, as I expected!) and blood pressure check. My blood pressure was WAY up. It was 154/88 and I started pregnancy at a low 110/60. I also was so swollen I could barely move and had a few other toxemia symptoms. Without even checking me or the baby out, the doctor walked in and said, "well, you're inducable today." My little Gabbie was cooperating for everyone, just like I thought she would! (And I was sick, just like I suspected...)

After checking me out, the doctor said that I was already dilated to 3.5 cm so she wanted to start by having me and the baby monitored on the non-stress test on the hospital for a few hours before breaking my water. She said that she wouldn't make me go by ambulance, but I had to get a ride home from the office and get over to the hospital within 45 minutes. It was a bit scary!

I got to the hospital at 11:30, Jeremie got there from work at 1:30, and the doctor broke my water at 3:30. I thought I would be getting pitocin at some point, so I told the nurse that I wanted the epidural right away. There is no use suffering through the pain when you have pitocin- it's awful!!! The epidural was really scary this time, because I wasn't in much pain yet. My drip was never very heavy, as I could always lift my legs and wiggle my toes. I was actually happy about it, though. After all the trouble I had with nerve damage in my legs from Mollie's delivery I wanted to have a little control left in my legs.

From 3:30 to 5:00 I progressed from 3.5 to 5 cm and was a little disappointed about it. But in the next hour I started to progress the typical 1 cm an hour. We had family members from both sides of the family come up to hang out with us while I was in labor. Everyone went down to the cafeteria for dinner and got back to the room around 7:30. Around 8:00, though, I looked at Jeremie and told him that they HAD to leave. I hit transition and was starting to feel a lot of pain. When the nurses checked me at that time I was just about 10 cm and close to pushing!

When the doctor came in I told her I was in a lot of pain and said that I didn't think the epidural was doing much. She said that the anesthesiologist could come in to readjust things, but I would get the baby out a lot faster if I left it alone. She also said that she didn't think I'd be pushing for more than an hour, because she was sure this baby was smaller than Mollie (who was 8 pounds). I REALLY wanted the baby out, so I went without the stronger epidural.

Unfortunately, the doctor was wrong about both the size of the baby and the length of pushing. This led to a TON of pain for me. I'm not sure how much worse it would have been without an epidural at all, but I don't think there was much room for more pain- I think I pretty much went naturally through the pushing stage! And I am very proud of myself for that! :)

After about 2 hours of pushing the doctor asked if we could vacuum her out and I was all for it. I was exhausted! Gabbie was very stuck, not because of size, but because her shoulders were positioned straight across, rather than having one up and one down. To get her out the doctor had to reposition her shoulders, which took about 40 seconds, and then she could be pulled out. That 40 seconds put her in distress and she came out purple and limp. She wasn't put on my chest and Jeremie didn't get to cut the cord. I kept asking how much she weighed, but they weren't weighing her and she wasn't crying. Finally, though, we got to here that sweet sound and they handed her to Jeremie. Later Jeremie told me that he thought we had lost her, because things weren't looking good. But, thank the LORD, all the nurses had to do was blow oxygen in her face to get her to take her first breath! She didn't need any time in the NICU! We are so grateful for that.

Our little sweet pea ended up not being very little- she was a healthy 9 lbs and 11oz! We were all shocked! The doctor said it was a huge blessing that I got sick and we induced when we did, because we don't think I could have gotten her out if she were any bigger. She also said that if we choose to have another baby (not that we're planning!!!) she will not let me go as long, so I don't have an even bigger one. Given my natural size I am shocked that I had a huge baby, but am SO, SO proud of myself for getting her out. Such an accomplishment!

We are all adjusting to our new family of four, but all in all things are going well. Mollie adores her new sister and Gabbie is an amazingly sweet little girl. She is so peaceful, exactly what I was hoping for! We are very much in love with both our girls and feel like that "missing piece" in our family is now found. We feel so complete!

Nine Days and Counting...

So I thought I looked huge in the pictures I posted at nine months, but boy was I wrong! My belly is so gigantic at this point. I keep getting comments like, "I can't imagine that being a small baby." Being that I'm not naturally a large person, I am pretty shocked that I get so big when I'm pregnant. I thought I wouldn't gain as much weight as I did with Mollie either, but again I was wrong! If I go a full 40 weeks I will definitely hit the 50 pound mark again. I am so swollen I can barely bend my ankles or walk for that matter. Jeremie isn't home at the moment to take a picture of me, otherwise I'd post a picture to prove it. I'll have to have him take one tomorrow and I'll post it then.

I was supposed to continue working through tomorrow afternoon, but I got to work today and realized that I'd hit my breaking point. The decision to leave today came after spending all evening with contractions and then not being able to sleep through them for the first hour and a half after I went to bed. After they finally died down I was able to get to sleep, but woke up every hour on the hour after that until I got up in the morning. I am totally worthless at work at this point, so I decided to just be done! I am so happy about it, too!

I had a doctor's appointment on Tuesday. She told me to make another appointment for next Tuesday, but she didn't think I'd make it until then. I sincerely hope she is right. I can't imagine making it all the way until my due date. However, babies have their own agenda and don't cooperate with what we want all the time. Praying that I can mentally handle it as long as God intends for her to be in here!