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Birth Story (aka longest.post.ever) :)
Hi ladies! Wow, it's been the craziest of weeks. So last Saturday, Darren headed to Philly for the night b/c it was his sister's 40th birthday. I wasn't thrilled that he was going, but neither of us could see a way out of it. Plus, I was only 37 weeks, everything would be fine. Hah. So I started having fairly regular contractions Saturday night around 10ish. I called Darren and my mom, and my mom ended up coming over and staying the night with me. I got like 3 hours sleep that night b/c the contractions kept waking me up every couple hours.
On Sunday, the contractions continued, but they would vary in intensity and time. Darren got home, and I started feeling like these weren't actually going to stop. I hadn't packed my hospital bags yet, so we spent the day doing that off and on (I was still kind of in denial). After dinner, they really ramped up and started coming regularly no matter what I did (walk around/lay down/sit). We started timing them, and by the time we had times them for an hour, I couldn't talk through them, and they were 5 min or less apart and lasted ~ 1 minute. I called my doctor's answering service, and the doc on call said I sounded 'too comfortable' (WTF lady) and to wait an hour before going to the hospital. We did that, but by the time we got in the car, the contractions had gotten pretty powerful.
When I got to triage I was 3 cm with a 'bulging bag of waters'. I said, "that's great, can I have an epidural now?" It was probably an hour or so before I actually got my epidural. I have to say... it didn't hurt me at all. Shortly after getting it, I could tell I was having a contraction, but it didn't hurt. I told the anesthesiologist that I loved him, haha. My doc then checked me, and I was 6 cm, so she broke my water.
At that point my mom, Darren, and I got some sleep. I progressed at 1 cm/hour. At 9 cm I started to feel the pressure through the epidural as she descended down. Once at 10 cm, I pushed through ~5 contractions, and she was here!! Seeing her come out was completely surreal. She was born Monday morning at 5:18, 5 lbs 12 oz, 18.5 inches of wonderful 
A couple things in her initial bloodwork came up high, so she had follow-up bloodwork. When that came up high, they made the call to admit her to the NICU for a minimum 48 hr observation to rule out infection. I can't explain in words what it was like to have her there. We could be there any time we wanted, but we couldn't sleep there. I was a mess. I couldn't handle the idea that she would wake up without me there. Plus, the hospital was discharging me, so I would have to leave for a night while she was still there. The night we had to leave, I can only describe myself as an inconsolable puddle. Darren was amazing, and the NICU staff did everything they could to reassure me that she would be OK.
The next day we thankfully got the OK to take her home. But her last bloodwork didn't come back until ~4p, so we didn't get home until Thursday night at like 9p.
Since we've been home, it's been 'so far so good'. She's a dream baby, and we're now officially exclusively breastfeeding without formula supplementation!
I can't take how much I love her
Re: Birth Story (aka longest.post.ever) :)
Mrs. Little Drew 10/25/08
Blog
TTC since 1/2010 - Dx with Stage IV Endo
11/10 - 100mg Clomid + trigger + IUI + Estradiol + Progesterone = BFN
12/10 - Unmedicated cycle due to RE not doing treatments in December = BFN
1/11 - 100mg Clomid + trigger + IUI + Estradiol + Progesterone = BFN
2/11 - Same sh!t, different month = IUI cancelled due to no response = BFN
IVF #1 - Start stims (Follistim) 5/10, add in Ganirelix 5/14
ER 5/21 - 13 retrieved, 7 mature, 5 fertilized; ET 5/26 - transferred one perfect 1AA blast. 3 snowbabies.
Beta 6/3 - 15.8; Beta 6/7 - 21.8; Beta 6/10 - 7
FET - Transferred 1 AA blast 7/11. Beta 7/20 - 311! Beta 7/22 - 784!! First u/s 8/10
*~PAIFW/SAIFW~*
I know! Good thing we fit that in, haha!
I overheard Darren telling his parents that even though he liked the other name, the name Amelia had grown on him. So after seeing what I went through, he felt like he should give me the name I wanted
He now loves it. One more instance where he should have just listened to me from the beginning
Mel-
She is beautiful!! And I am glad you are all home and enjoying each other!
My Knot Bio My Blog
Zoey Emma 08.18.10
Thank you for sharing your story.
Congratulations to the both of you on a beautiful baby! She's adorable!
Thanks for sharing your story Mel.
Amelia is beautiful, and her name suites her well. Congratulations to you and Darren again.
Alexander David
11.25.09
my blog
LOL. I hope you said that to her.
She's adorable. Congrats.
Welcome to the dark side
October 11, 2008
Trusty Gal blog|Trusty Tales
I'm a breastfeeding, baby wearing, cloth diapering, co-sleeping, anti-CIO Mommy
Raising Bean
Wives Unscripted
Married my hero on 10-11-08
Our bean was born on 05-19-11
Brie's Blog 10.11.08 The Top Shelf Bookshelf
my read shelf:
Congrats! She's beautiful! We miss you around here!
Wives Unscripted
BFP#1: 01/10, M/C 6w -- BFP#2: 06/10, M/C 5w -- BFP#3: 09/10, DS born June 1, 2011
BFP#4: 07/12, M/C 5w3d -- BFP#5: 12/12, EDD 08/18/13
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