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Finally, an update on Ellie/birth story!!
Hi ladies!
Boy have I missed checking in with you guys! As Mel mentioned and most of you have seen on FB, little Ms. Ellie arrived a week ago today. I woke up at 5am with a contraction and got up around 6:30 to see if they were going to stop. They slowed down a little but didn't stop so Terry stayed home from work and by lunch the contractions were getting quite intense I was on the phone with the doctor. They asked me to wait an hour or two more before going to the hospital so I did (BIG MISTAKE!). When I checked in at the hospital they checked me and said I was at 3cm (was at 1.5 the day before) and that they had to let me labor for an hour and recheck me to make sure I was really in labor. Well then with shift changes, etc. It was 2 and a half hours before I was checked again and by then I was on my 3rd nurse, who happened to be the first 'good' one! I was at 5cm and getting very uncomfortable and asking for meds. Since I was planning an epidural they had to start an IV and draw blood before I could get anything so they started that and blew out two veins and had a call into IV therapy before they were able to get an IV in. Once they had that in they moved me to a 'real' L&D room (about 5pm) and called the anastesiologist for the epidural. That Dr. was great and had the epi in quickly. It 'took' on one side immediately but the left side wouldn't take, so she had to makes some adjustments and give me some extra doses. Fortunately it finally took on the last attempt before she was going to have to take it out and do another one. They checked me immediately and said we were ready to start pushing! It was such a whirlwind!! At that point my Dad and MIL were stuck in Boston traffic from the airport trying to get to the hospital. My OB doc was AWESOME and the L&D nurses were GREAT and made up for the idiots in the 'evaluation' area. I pushed for about an hour or so and they were amazed that my contractions were really long and hard. By 8pm my Dad and MIL arrived at the hospital (SO HAPPY they made it in time!). I was still pushing but the long contractions were stressing Ellie and her heartrate would drop by the end of it. Fortunately it was recovering each time but there was finally one contraction that she was having problems bringing her heartrate back up. The L&D nurse hit the 'help' button and a team of people swarmed in. The doc did a small episiotomy and Ellie was born just a minute or so later. The cord was wrapped around her neck and then under one arm so he said it wasn't really holding her in too much but that the contractions were pinching it and that's probably what was making her heartrate drop. She got a perfect bill of health! Both APGAR scores were 9. The doc worked on me about an hour more because I was still bleeding but fortunately I didn't need any transfusions.
We came home from the hospital Friday night. Having my parents and MIL here have been greatj while I try to recover. I'm on a high iron/protein diet to rebuild the blood I lost. I finally got some rest last night so feeling a little better today. MIL went home yesterday and my Dad is about to head to the airport. My Mom is staying another week or two to help me out. Ellie is doing great except for she hasn't had a bowel movement since Friday night, just really bad gas. I was on the phone with the pediatrician on and off all day Monday and we've been having to do 'rectal stimulation' to try to help her but nothing 'productive' yet. I'm calling them back today but her urine output has increased in the last day so that is good. I've been BFing and supplementing with one formula bottle at night since I'm fairly well 'drained' by 10pm. I just got a breastpump yesterday to start trying to pump so we can measure what she is eating to make sure she is getting enough since that seems to be the most common cause for low output.
OK, looks like Ellie is ready for breakfast, part deaux, so I have to run! I hope everyone has been doing good! I miss you ladies but hopefully I'll be around more and more as I get to feeling better 
Re: Finally, an update on Ellie/birth story!!
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