♥The Reyes Family 3+1♥: Little Miss Independent

This will be long, there is just no other way around it! I had my 39 week appointment on July 3rd. I honestly had felt changes, and was expecting some news when I went to my appointment. When I got there, the nurse practitioner informed me that I was still only 1 cm dilated and 50% effaced. I was a little bummed to say the least. We went home, and went about the day like normal. We had joked that Carlos needed a haircut before the baby came, so I would cut his hair in the morning. Well, at about 8:30 p.m., I started to get what felt like "cramps". They were coming anywhere between 16-25 minutes. Everyone knows you wait until they are 5 minutes apart, so I tried to go to sleep. At about midnight, they were pretty bad. I called my mom to let her know that they may need to be ready to come down. An hour later, I called her again and said that they definitely would be needing to come down, but that I was going to wait until they were closer. I got in the shower, thinking that might help, and it only made them WORSE! At that point, I started to get ready, and called the hospital. I woke up Addison and Carlos, and we left the house around 3 a.m. or so. Addison was surprisingly in a great mood, even though she didn't have her hair done. Lol!

We got to the hospital and I literally thought I was about to die. I have never felt anything like that in my life! Once I got into the bed, the nurse checked and I was 7.5 cm dilated. Everyone thought she would be born soon, which meant no epidural. I literally FREAKED out, since that was my worst nightmare ever. I was literally like those ridiculous people that you see on tv that look and sound like they are possessed by the devil. Horrible does not even describe it. Of course, little Miss Stubborn made matters worse because she was "sunny side up". Apparently this makes labor slower, and more painful, since it is usually the back of their head that has to pass under the pubic bone.

During this time, Addison sat and waited for my parents. She ended up being awake from 3 a.m. until noon, and was awesome the entire time!

By about 7:30 I was 9.5 cm, and yes, the pain had gotten worse and the contractions were LONG! The nurse finally said that I could get an epidural, if I could control myself while he was putting it in. Knowing that the end was in sight, I did my best. I literally felt like he had saved my life. I know that is a little ridiculous, but it was bad.

At about 8:00 I started to push. And of course, she would come down, but then go back up. They had turned the epidural down so that it would wear off, even though I had just gotten it, so I literally felt everything. I cannot even believe how opposite this was from when I had Addison. All I felt then was pressure, and out she came. After enduring all of the long contractions, I had no energy left, and pushing was quite a nightmare. My body is now showing me just how bad the pushing was, because even my shoulders are sore.

The nurse earlier had already seen some light meconium, but it didn't seem like anything to worry about. As I was pushing, it got worse, and everyone was on alert.

Finally at 9:52 on the 4th of July, Miranda Claire was born. They had told me that she felt big, and even the nurse was really worried that she wouldn't come out and I would have to have a c-section. They all said that if she had been my first, she would have been a c-section baby. She was 8 lbs 12 oz and 20 inches long! She had a ton of hair, but had also swallowed a lot of meconium, which we discovered was a lot thicker than what the nurse had initially seen. The nurses did a great job of getting her lungs clear. I was surprised that she came out crying. Other than the poop, she was pink, crying, and had a ton of hair! Her APGAR score was an 8/9 which is really good, so the only concern was the meconium. They took her to the nursery right away. The hospital is really small, so they didn't have a NICU. They monitored her and did chest x-rays. There was an air pocket that showed up on the x-ray, which was later revealed to be a glare or something that wasn't there. She was on oxygen, but doing well. They initially had her on a nasal cannula, but switched her to a mask that was placed inches from her face. Carlos was with her the entire time.

That night, they decided that they would be transferring her to the Rady Children's Hospital NICU at Scripps La Jolla (where we had Addison). I was a wreck, but since I was in the hospital, there was nothing that I could do. I finally got to hold her before they transferred her. The team that came was AMAZING! They even took pictures of Addison in front of the ambulance. Carlos followed the ambulance to the hospital and stayed with her until later that night.

The next morning, I was discharged, and couldn't wait to go to the hospital. She had been off of oxygen the night before, but was back on a nasal cannula when we got there. We made it just in time for her feeding, so we got to hold her and feed her. We stayed until her next feeding and then headed home. We were told that she may be going home on Friday, but if she couldn't get off of the oxygen, she may have to stay for 7 days for treatment. It really hit me that we were leaving her there, and weren't even sure when she was going home. Needless to say, I didn't sleep. We had planned on going all day on Friday, but the doctor called and said that she was off of oxygen, and if she stayed off, we could take her home by 4:00. He told us to bring her clothes and carseat just in case. We were so excited, and at the same time, didn't want to get our hopes up. We got some things ready at home, and ended up getting to the hospital at 2.

When we were walking up, we ran into a nurse and Carlos asked if they'd gotten any more babies. She said no, but that one was going home. I was so excited, since I knew it was probably Miranda!!! When we got there, she was still off of oxygen and her levels had stayed the same all day. She was going home. I was so excited. I didn't think I could cry any more. Even thinking about it makes me cry. Even though she was only in the NICU for two days, leaving there was so surreal. I could barely even say goodbye to anyone because I was crying. Tears of joy, of course!

The car ride ended up taking 2 hours because of traffic, and like Addison, she slept the ENTIRE way! She has now been home for exactly 24 hours, and we are so excited that she is home! She is definitely a newborn. She eats, sleeps, and poops. She doesn't cry except when you change her diaper, or try to give her a bath.

Addison is coming home tomorrow, and since the closest she had gotten was to see her in the incubator, I know that she is super-excited to come home and see her. I can't wait for her to get home. I have missed her so much!