The Baby Blog

This Blog has taken me 3 days to finish. Why is that? I don't know!! I think I just keep getting interrupted and the other 18 hours of the day I have a baby in my arms. Anyway, I finally finished. Here it is:

So I have a baby. Here is her picture on the day she came home from the hospital. (I know, I know. The hat is waaaay to big).
And here is another picture of her taken on Saturday. She is resting in the AWESOME swing Reagan is letting me borrow. Seriously, she loves that thing, and she usually prefers it if it's not moving.

And here is a picture of her from Sunday:I need to take more pictures, She's freaking changing every day!! I love how this picture emphasizes her side burns and even the funny shadowing makes her look like she has the beard of an 45 year old Amish man. Go ahead and laugh and agree with me. I laughed as I typed it!

But that's not why you all came here. You want to know the birthing details. To get all the really JUICY stuff, you should ask Reagan or Lisa. They got prime viewing spots of my pelvic region as I was pushing her out. But this is about my take on the whole experience. This is a long post. Don't say I didn't warn you.

Well, last I wrote, I was going to the hospital and they were going to start the Cervadil and then I would be getting Pitocin in the morning. Well, I was planning on taking myself to the hospital, but Marcelo actually came home early and offered to take me to the hospital! I wasn't expecting that, but I really appreciated it. (If you don't already know this about me, you should know that I'm VERY independent. I would rather inconvenience myself HORRIBLY then cause problems for anyone else. It's strange, I know)

So anyway, we go to get in the car and raise the garage door but something snaps!! The door was like off it's hinges only one side is raising and we were freaking out. We try to fix it, and we are somewhat successful. We hit the button again and it starts to raise up, and then it stops. We don't know what's going on but we do know that both are cars are trapped in our garage. I use my MacGyver skills and am able to get the door open so we can at least get out.

So we are on our way!! I get to the hospital, and I'm shown my room. Holy CRAP!! This place has a jet tub and a bigger bathroom than my house! And the room is huge. I'm very excited. Oh, I forgot to mention that Marcelo got an attitude with me on the way to the hospital about the garage door. He was trying to somehow blame me for it breaking. I wasn't having any of it and I told him he should just go home. I checked into the hospital all alone. See? It's that independent streak in me.

So I'm naked under a gown and I get those two monitors on me that show the baby's heart beat and show my contractions. I also get the BP cuff on me, and I'm good to go. Let's get this Cervadil inside me. Not so fast Alicia. First you must be tortured by something that *SOUNDS* innocent, but is in fact a horrible horrible procedure. It's called an "IV".

Apparantly I have fantastically deceptive veins. They *look* like they will be good, but they are not great because they have valves very close to the place they insert the needle. So they have to slide it back and forth and try to get it to advance. And when it doesn't work, they try the other hand. And then when that doesn't work, they pull in another person to put one on the top of my wrist. Which hurts up until the time they took it out 36 hours later and actually still hurts today as I type this. That's right, my wrist is still horribly sore from that stupid IV.

The day I delivered, they told me that I couldn't get it out until I could make it to the bathroom on my own. You'd better be DAMN sure that I tried to go to the bathroom on my own within an hour of having that baby. I WANTED IT OUT. Oh, and did I mention the needle is the size of a #2 pencil eraser? Yeah, it was so much worse than I thought it would be.

So after they start pumping fluid into me, my nurse puts the Cervadil up inside me. I actually thought it was a cream they would be SPREADING on me. But it's more like a white rectangle of medicine with a string attached. She put it up inside of me and left me alone.

Marcelo brought me food at 8 pm. (After he apologized for being a dill hole, of course) It was a salad from Rumbi Grill (that will be talked about later) and it was nice. And then he left because he had a soccer game at 10:30. DON'T get mad at him for leaving. I wanted him to go because he's always happier when he's played soccer. And what is he going to do? Sit around and watch Law & Order with me? BORING.

But then Reagan came to visit!! It was SO nice of her, especially becuase I knew she would be driving down the next day too. She left about midnight and I felt badly because I was worried she would be falling asleep in the car on the way home. She said something funny to me when I got up and walked to the bathroom. When I stood up, I tried to not moon her with my open backed gown. The nurse was helping me, and I was reaching behind myself and Reagan says, "You know, I'm going to see a lot more than just your butt tomorrow." Ha!! And how right she was.

Anyway, after all that naked talk she leaves. Well, then 15 min later, Marcelo comes. His game is over, and he wants to see how I'm doing. He says he's going to stay the night. I tell him not to. I tell him that I'll just be sleeping and that he can come in the morning at 6 when they were going to start the pitocin. He said that was a good idea, because he needed his rest. I said, "Oh you need your rest? Really? Because you will be having a baby tomorrow? Yeah, you are probably right, you go home and rest. You definitely NEED it!!" What a turd. But I can't say too much against him because I DID tell him he should go home.

So he leaves at 12:45 am. And almost immediately I start feeling really strange. I have something very embarrassing to admit: I relate all my stomach feelings to my bowels. Like everything I have ever felt I think is caused by gas, or diarrhea or indigestion. So when I started feeling some intense pressure in my belly, I immediately thought I had some gas accompanied by diarrhea. I know I should've been suspicious becuase I was feeling this gas in my lower back (which is a very strange place to fell gas, right?) but still I was SURE it was diarrhea accompanied with gas.

So I got up and went to the bathroom. Several times. And then I would get back in bed, and the cramping would return. And so I would get up and go again. And at the risk of TMI, you should know that everytime I went to the bathroom, I DID go diarrhea. So my feelings weren't completely off the mark, were they? So the last time I go to the bathroom, I decide I don't want to get back in bed. I start moving around, shuffling my feet by my bed. And I come to some realizations.

1. This is not diarrhea. These are contractions. And they are painful. The nurse later confirms this and tells me that they are coming about every 1 and a half minutes. ARE YOU KIDDING?!?! That fast!! No wonder I wanted to die!

2. It is only 1:45 in the morning. I haven't gone to bed yet, and I know that I have a full day of Pitocin, labor and delivery in front of me. I'm already terribly exhuasted and I know that Pitocin contractions are AWFUL. So I'm going to be to tired by the time that eventually happens.

3. I will NOT be able to sleep with these contractions happening at the speed they are going. And finally,

4. I know I wanted to TRY this thing naturally, but I know now that I will not be able to sleep and prepare myself for the hard day ahead without some help. I finally accept the fact that I am not going to make it without an epidural.

I finally get a hold of the nurse around 2 am and tell her about my revelation. She thinks I am very wise and she'll call the anesthesiologist. He shows up and makes things nice for me. the epidural finally kicks in around 3 am and I give myself permission to sleep. Oh, you should also know that when I give myself permission to sleep, I can be asleep in less than 15 seconds. Sometimes it even happens int he middle of a sentence or while I'm telling a story.

I lay down and the nurse says something about being right back with my catheter. I respond to her, but I don't *actually* know what I said. I later asked her about that, and she laughed and said that she thought it was funny how I fell asleep in the middle of talking. I actually have no recollection of the catheter going in at all. I think we all would agree it's better that way, right?

So I tried to go to sleep but it didn't happen easily. My body kept waking up every hour and telling me that I needed to pee. But I couldn't get up, so I would just sit there till I could sleep again. Finally at 6 am, I decided it was time to stop fighting it and just stay awake. So after 3 hours of sleep, I decide to face my day. They check me at this time, and tell me I'm at a 3+ dilated. I'm not worried, I've heard of people getting to a 3 and then getting stuck. But maybe I should start notifying people just in case.

I start by sending a text to Reagan and Lisa. It says something like "Some stuff happened last night. Give me a call when you wake up." And then I decide that I should tell Marcelo about it. So I call him. No answer. I call and call and call. No answer. I know that he's there and he should be getting up soon because he needed to meet his employer at 7:45 in the morning in Saratoga Springs. So he should be up getting ready by this point. 6:15, 6:23, 6:40 WHERE IS HE!?!? After that many calls, I come to realize that he's probably asleep and he's not by his phone. But I need him here!

At like 7:00 am ON THE DOT something happens. A big hot water balloon of liquid bubbles up and bursts between my legs. It was NOT unpleasant. It was very warm and actually reminded me of wetting the bed. (Why do I know what wetting the bed feels like? That's another story for another day) I actually thought that I HAD wet the bed, but then I remembered the catheter and thought that there was NO WAY.

But now we had a problem: I was all alone in my room and the call button is attached to the remote controller which is on the floor BEHIND my bed. I cannot get out of the bed (remember the epidural and the puddle of water I'm now sitting in?) and I can't reach it. I'm in serious trouble. So I try to call out to my nurse. It's pathetic. I'm trying to shout quietly, if that makes sense, and no one hears me.

Right then Reagan calls. She's asks how my morning is going, and I say that it's not going well. I tell her about the water and the dilation and how I can't get a hold of Marcelo. She tries to look up the phone number for the hospital so she can call them and tell them that they have a woman in room 112 who needs a nurse to come and help her. I actually thought about doing the same thing. I try to call out a few more times while on the phone with Reagan (have Reagan do an impression of this for you. It's pretty accurate) but no luck.

I tell her that I really am scared and I think that I need some help to get Marcelo here. She said, "well do you want me to come down NOW?" See, she (and everyone else) thought that they had all day to wait for the pitocin to do its job. She didn't have a babysitter for her kids, and I don't even think she was bathed at that time. I ask her if she can come down, and on her way, stop by my house and pound on the door to wake up Marcelo. She said she would do her best, but she wouldn't be down here for a while. I then thought I would have to call my mom and ask her to do the same thing. And then she would be hanging around my room all day. And I didn't really want that.

I eventually said to Reagan that I would keep trying to call Marcelo myself, and that she should call me when she was close and I would let her know if she needed to go get him. I hung up and 20 seconds later I hear someone walk by my room. I am NOT missing this chance so I call out "HELLO!!" and 2 nurses step in and say, "Hello?" like I was just trying to start a conversation. I explain my situation, and the call button being across the room, and my nurse being AWOL and they rush into action. They clean up the bed and help me out and they find my nurse. I am very relieved, but only temporarily.

Reagan calls and asks if I found someone to help with the water situation. I tell her I did, but that Marcelo still isn't answering his phone. And then a very nice distinct wave of nausea hits me. And I say to my nurse, "I have to throw up" and I hang up on Reagan (sorry about that Reggs. I don't think I ever apologized for that) She rushes a bucket into my hands. I am SOO thankful it's an actual bucket and not one of those kidney shaped candy dishes they CALL buckets. Seriously, have you seen a person vomit before? Usually there is quite a bit of force behind the expulsion and those dishes are NOT very deep. My worst fear was that I would get one and while vomiting, it would be so forceful that it would ricochet out of the kidney bean and back into my face. NOT A GOOD TIME.

But like I said, it was a real bucket she gave me. And sure enough, it is no sooner in my hands then I start puking. I do catch a glimpse of green and that is the last thing I remember. The next moment, I wake up from what I think is a deep sleep. I actually feel quite rested. I feel liquid rolling down my left cheek from the corner of my mouth and I feel embarrassed that I was drooling while asleep at the hospital. AND THEN I REMEMBER!!! I WAS JUST PUKING!! It's right then that there is a flurry of activity around me. There is a nurse is in front of me, holding my hand and asking me if I'm ok and there are 4 others in the room bustling around and just generally fussing over me.

I open my eyes and am VERY surprised to see the bucket on the table next to me. It's not overturned on my bed or on the floor? How did I keep that from happening? Because I've just come to the realization that I've passed out while throwing up. I tell this to the nurse who is holding my hand, and I also mention to her that this frequently happens. A general "AHHHHH" of understanding goes through the room. Apparently, news had spread about my water breaking, and so when 2 nurses came in to help change my bedding, they saw me passing out and they thought I was having a seizure!!

That WOULD be upsetting if it were true, so I'm glad they were taking such concern with me. So my normal nurse (The one that later helped me deliver) looks at the bucket and goes, "What did you eat?!?!" and I said salad, and then she says, "WHEN DID YOU HAVE SALAD?" She was freaking out thinking I had sneaked in food, but I told her that I ate it at 8:00 pm the night before. She was like "Ohhhh!! Yep, that's definitely salad in there! Isn't it interesting how long it stays in your system?" Uhh, yeah, that IS interesting Delores. Can we get back to me and the contractions and the baby coming out of my private area?

So that kept me occupied and kept my mind off Marcelo for a while. When I started calling again, it was close to 7:30 am. I keep calling and calling and then FINALLY at like 7:56 am I call again and I can hear that little beep on the other end that tells me that Marcelo is on the other line. I was like "WHAT THE HELL!?!? WHO WOULD HE BE TALKING TO BEFORE HE CALLS BACK HIS WIFE WHO IS IN LABOR AND WHO HAS BEEN CALLING HIM FOR THE PAST 2 HOURS?" I was pissed off, but I just called him back.

Me: Marcelo, you need to come to the hospital
Him: Now?
Me: RIGHT NOW. I'm having this baby RIGHT NOW.
Him: Oh man. . . I slept in . . . I missed my meeting with my boss. . . I'm all confused. . .I just woke up. . .
Me: GREAT! THAT'S AWESOME!! COME RIGHT NOW!!!!
Him: Oh, ok

Good times. I call back Reagan and tell her that I finally got a hold of him and that she should come down soon. She said that she would have to bring the kids because she can't find a babysitter at such short notice. I say GREAT!!! The schools are doing a crappy job teaching Sex Ed anyway, let's have her little girls learn where babies REALLY come from, right? I really didn't care at that point. I just wanted them to get here.

Right after Marcelo came, around 8:15 am they checked me and I was just arriving to a 10. I wasn't quite there, but I knew that it would be within the hour. I thought it might be time to call my mom. She was actually at the hospital because she thought the pitocin had been started at 6 am. Before, when we had talked about this, I told her to come like at 8 or 10 (she of course came at 8 am) and she would be there for the end of the birth. But it turns out that the birth was happening RIGHT then. And honestly, I didn't know if Reagan and Lisa would make it, and I definitely wanted someone else besides Marcelo in the room.

The next hour is kind of a blur. I know that the following things happened: I went all the way to a 10, my Epidural stopped working and I started to REALLY feel those contractions. I discovered that when I go through intense pain accompanied by sheer terror my whole body will shake and my teeth will chatter like I'm suffering from hypothermia. That was really bad. They couldn't figure it out for a while and they thought that they should put a blanket on me, but then they realized I wasn't cold and I was just transitioning. During this time the anesthesiologist came and did something to kick up my medicine level. However, it took nearly 40 minutes to set in. In the meantime I just lay there, shaking and waiting for the next contraction to happen.

Marcelo was kinda useless at this time. He was holding my hand as the contractions went up and down, and then he fanned me later on. But I don't care about that, at least he was there trying to make me more comfortable. My mom was telling me when the contraction was about to start or was almost over. That really helped making it through the time. Wanna know what also helped making it through? Sleep. No joke. I was SOOO tired that I would fall asleep in 2 seconds and sleep the 30 seconds between contractions. Like a deep snoring sleep. Marcelo later told me this and it made me laugh because THAT'S exhaustion.

Eventually the nurse checked me and said that I was there, and I would start pushing in a few minutes. That was at 9:15. I told Marcelo to text Reagan and Lisa and tell them the news and find out how far away they were. Apparently they were driving into the parking lot as I said that. I was very VERY thankful. 2 Minutes later Lisa walks in and grabs my right leg and says, "ok, lets do this." I really think that Lisa should market her delivery services. She's the BEST. Honestly, the beeeeeest. She tells you what part of your pushing was the best, the most productive. And then she tells you when you are getting lazy and pushing with your face and not your butt. I would recommend her to ANYONE.

So I do some preliminary pushes and then the nurse says, "ok, we are going to do one more push here on your back, and then we will flip you to your side for you to push and then flip you to the other side to push again." I REALLY didn't want to roll around anymore on that bed. So the next push, I pushed the crap out of it! And it did the trick! I didn't have to go to my side. I think that Reagan came in during this time. But she was with her kids so she stayed more to the side. I would've loved for her to be holding my left leg instead of my mom, but it just couldn't happen. That's ok, I was just blessed to have her there.

So then at some time I realize that my oonie is on FIRE. Lisa asked me if it was burning, and I said yes, and she said that's because 2 inches of the baby's head was poking out. I was a little nervous that my doctor wasn't there yet, but everything else was in place. All of a sudden the doctor is there, and they tell me that they need me to push. Well, the doctor says something about it being a little tight and he would recommend an episiotomy. I literally said, "YEAH GREAT, DO IT! LETS GET THIS THING GOING!"

And he did. And on the next push I could feel the head come out. He told me to hold on a second and then push again and I could feel the rest of the body come out. OHHHHHHH THE ZILLS!!!!!! That was the freaking greatest feeling ever.

And then I hear someone (apparently it was Lisa. I didn't know it at the time, and I don't care who said it first) say, "IT'S A GIRL!!!" I was SOOOOO confused!! I was so sure I would be having a boy and I think I said, "It's a girl?" And then Marcelo looks at me with big eyes and says, "A girl? A girl!!" It was a freaking AWESOME moment. If anyone is considering not finding out the sex of their baby, I would totally recommend it. The excitement is so high. It's so much fun.

And this is what she looked like right out of the womb:














It's right at this moment when I say: "Oh!! My little girl has sideburns!!" I was quite upset about the amount of SUPER dark hair she had all over her body. Including her ears and back. I thought I would have a little baby!! Not a mini Chewbaca. But I felt so badly for her!! She just looked so SQUISHED!! See what I mean?Anyway, this final picture is my favorite. For some reason I just love seeing Marcelo push the cart down the hallway, guarding it ferociously. It's just a great picture, I think.

Well. That is it!! The full baby story. It took long enough for me to post it, right? Well, anything worth doing is worth doing right.

Since having the baby I've learned about naps, and milk let-down and the true meaning of nipple pain. The good news is that it's basically over!! I know!! Again, I have like NOTHING to complain about. My left nipple got a few sucking blisters which turned into scabs, but they are basically gone now. And she's a feeding champ!

As for the night time, again, I really can't complain. Last night was the worst because she just wouldn't get a good FULL feeding in, so she wouldn't ever stay in her crib. At about 1 am, after fighting with her for like 2 and a half hours, I finally brought her downstairs and put her in her swing. And guess what? SHE SLEEP FOR THE NEXT 6 HOURS STRAIGHT!!! I'm sure things will change as she gets older, and maybe her sleep habits won't be so great, but for right now, I'm not complaining at all.

I AM complaining about my feet that are still suffering from pitting edema. I'm planning on calling my doctor today and tell him that in my professional opinion, it's been way too long for them to still be swollen like this. I'll see what he says. Let's just hope he doesn't tell me I have to cut out salt. What will I do then?

As for Raya, she's taking it really well. She recognizes that there is another entity here, and she knows that she can't get too close to it. But for the most part, her life is still the same. We still take her to the park and let her run around and throw the ball for her at night. The baby is nothing to her right now. We'll see how she feels when that baby can pull her ears! Ha!

And finally, the question you have all be wanting to know: her name. We named her Evelyn Loor. No middle name, we want her to keep her maiden name as her middle name when she gets married. That way she will ALWAYS be a Loor. We call her Evi or Evita for short. And Marcelo calls her preciosita.

Today I'm determined to get a photo of her hairy ears and back before they go away. Why do I know they will go away? Because I will shave her myself if I have to!! I'll post those pictures as soon as I have them.

I HAVE A BABY, PEOPLE!!