So as most of you know, little Baby Bailey is finally here and two weeks old already! Time has flown by already, I wake up and the hours are gone before I know it. It's so crazy to see her little personality already, I could hold her all day long and just stare. I'm still amazed that I carried her for 9 months, (that she fit in me) and now she is finally here.
We went in for a scheduled induction on Tuesday, January 29th, we went in about 4pm and the first night was pretty uneventful. They basically used some medication that was supposed to help me dilate, since I was 0 cm dilated going into the whole delivery. The next morning, January 30th, they took the medicine out, I was still not dilated, Pitocin was started. After a few hours pain started but after being checked I was still not dilated. My particular doctor was not on the labor and delivery floor that day, but Dr. Hirata was, she happens to be Hollis and Bambi's doctor. The odds of that happening were pretty crazy since she is a top rated doctor in the Richmond area. Anyway, back to the story, so Dr. Hirata comes in and suggests this balloon apparatus that is supposed to force you to dilate, so we agreed. This is when the fun starts. I immediately began to have contractions, they finally gave me a temporary epidural until the real stuff could be given to me. Finally got the real epidural and after 4 hours of this balloon pumping, Dr. Hirata checked me, I was 3cm. Four hours and 3cm, I felt a little defeated and then thought, "wow we are going to be here for a long time".
The nurses, who we loved, Nancy and Cameron, tried to put me in several positions to help Bailey move further down the birth canal and get her into the proper postions. At one point, I was up on all fours, even though I couldn't feel my legs, I also had a giant exercise ball in between my legs, craziness. I was the only person on the labor and delivery floor that day, so there would be points were 7 people would be in my room just hanging out watching the monitors. Long story short, Dr. Hirata was concerned that Bailey's heartrate was not in sync with my contractions, and there was a concern that there was a cord issue. After she spoke with my doctor, Dr. Tate, they suggested a c-section....
They broke the news to me, and at that point I kinda freaked out, I was scared and I just wanted Bailey to be ok. In a matter of 20 minutes they were wheeling me into the operating room. I just remember laying there, I was very cold, obviously I couldn't see anything with the sheet in front of me, I couldn't feel anything from my boobs down but my body was being rocked back and forth and all over the place. Ashby finally came in and held my hand, and then we heard her cry. I thought "ok great, let me see her" and that's when things turned....
We just heard all these bells and whistles going off, people rushing across the room, then we heard our nurse Molly get on the phone with NICU telling them to come down stat. Tears were rolling down my face, they called Ashby over to where Bailey was, so he could see her. I was just laying there, freezing, wondering what the heck was going on. Nobody was talking to me. Finally Ashby came back over, and the NICU nurse came over to explain Bailey had inhaled fluid and meconium and she was having trouble breathing, so they were taking her down to NICU. Then all the sudden they brought her over to me, and I thought 3 things 1. Holy conehead, 2. She looks like an Asian baby and 3. She had Ashby's hairline. I gave her a kiss and they took her away. I never even got to hold her.
They stitched me all up and brought me back to my room, I was shivering cold, crying and just wondering if our baby was going to be ok. I made Ashby go down to see her. He came back and told me she was beautiful and that she grabbed on to his finger. They had her hooked up to all sorts of machines, waivers and paperwork were signed and then they moved me into the mother and infant wing. Once I got there the shivers went away and I felt like I was in Africa. I was sweating up a storm and then started to get sick, I was so disappointed because I wanted to go to the NICU to see Bailey so bad but I couldn't because I kept getting sick. The nurses finally gave me some medication that knocked me out.
We woke up the next morning and immediately went down to the NICU so I could see her. We were told she had screamed and cried the entire night, which was actually a good sign because her lungs were working pretty well! She had all sorts of cords and what not hanging off of her but I just remember touching her and being amazed by her. She really was so precious.
After two days of hanging in the NICU jail, she got out just in time to make it on the front page of the newspaper. The hospital was celebrating wear red day, in honor of women's cardiac health awareness, and all the babies had on red hats and blankets. The Richmond Times Dispatch was there as well as channel 8 news. Bailey was photographed with all the other babies but she had an up close shot on the front page.
After 4 nights in the hospital, we were finally discharged on Saturday. Ashby and I went through a range of emotions in those days. We felt like we had been put through the ringer. We went in thinking "yes, we are going to finally meet our baby" to "is our baby ok?" back to "she is healthy and doing well". We are just so happy to finally be home with her. You would never know looking at her, that she had "trouble transitioning". We are so blessed...
* all photos from Baby Bella Photography
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