Hailey Marie is here!!!

HAILEY MARIE

Arrived October 26, 2010 @ 11:57pm

7lbs 15oz / 21 1/2"

As you may have noticed, I have been totally MIA since my 40 week update.

I had a doctor's appointment that day and was still not progressing much on my own. I was only dialated to 1, which I had been for a few weeks. The doctor scheduled me for an appointment on Monday of the following week, which brought me to almost 41 weeks. At that appointment, I was still not dialating and any progress I was making was SLOW. Miss Hailey just wasn't wanting to come out on her own. The doc gave us two options... 1. schedule an induction for the next morning (Tuesday, Oct 26) OR 2. Give me until Friday to see if I went into labor on my own and if I didn't he would induce me then. We asked the doctor if either option was safer than the other and he assured us he wouldn't tell us it was ok to induce any earlier than Tuesday if the baby wasn't ready. I was already so close to 41 weeks... the baby was fully developed.

After some questions, Craig and I decided we wanted to go ahead and induce on Tuesday. I felt like if I hadn't progressed much over the last week, that I probably wouldn't progress much more in the next 4 days on my own... plus, we were SO ready to meet her!

Tuesday morning arrived. The doctor told us to start calling the hospital early (Around 6am) to see if they had any room for me to come in and begin my induction. We didn't get the "OK" 'till 11:00am. When we finally got the call I started to get nervous! HERE WE GO!

We arrived at the hospital at about 11:45. I got dressed in my "pretty" gown and hopped in my bed. The nurse we had was A-MAZ-ING! From the second we walked in the door she was as nice and as helpful as she could be. This was the same nurse that delivered Craig's sister's babies! I was SO happy she was there to help me out.

I hopped in my bed and that's when it all began!

My doctor came by to check on me and by about 12:45pm the nurse had started my IV and the pitocin was flowing to get my contractions started. I progressed quickly and my contractions were regular and about 3-4 min apart right off the bat. I was happy and a little surprised. I have heard horror stories about labor being induced.

As time went on I was able to feel my contractions more and more. My doctor arrived (for the second time)around 4:30. He checked me again and I believe I was only dialated to 2. At that point he decided to break my water. That's when I got scared! I knew that once my water was broken things could REALLY get moving quickly... I questioned whether I was ready for that but not for long... BREAK MY WATER DOC!

In what seemed like minutes I felt my contractions intensify! WOW... contractions really hurt! The nurse could see that I was in a lot of pain and obvious in "active labor" and gave me a little pain medication to take the edge off. It helped relax me a little but I was still in a lot of pain. She told me that the anasthesiologist would be in soon to give a couple other mommies their epidural and it would probably be a good time for me to request mine. I quickly agreed.

This is where things got a little hairy. I was waiting for my epidural and trying to "tough out" my contractions but I was not a happy camper. There were a lot of family members in and out of the room while I was in labor. Once my contractions got that intense, I really didn't want to talk to or listen to any one talk. This was serious stuff. I had heard stories but you never really understand until it happens!

The doc w/ the good drugs finally arrived and gave me my epidural. I laid in bed flat on my back trying to get it to disburse evenly and I could still feel my contractions and they were still very painful. We waited about 20 min w/ no improvement in my pain level. The nurse suggested that I have the epidural done again. She said that I shouldn't be feeling ANY pain at this point and if I was something wasn't right. I decided to have the epidural done again. I was scared that this time it wouldn't work at all and I would have to go without. After about 15 minutes of being poked and sticked, my epidural was re-done. I laid down and got some relief but was still feeling some pain. The nurse told me to let the "drug man" know before he left for the night. I did! He gave me a quick shot of something extra and everything from then on was downhill! I felt no pain. Whew. I found out later that the anasthesiologist stuck me 4-5 times with EACH epidural (So about 10 times in total) trying to find "the spot". I had a lot of holes in my back. Craig said that even though he wasn't able to see exactly what the guy was doing, he saw a lot of blood on his gloves... ugh!

After the epidural kicked in, it was smooth sailing. I was happy again... our poor family didn't have to tip toe around my contractions! LOL

During the time the epidural drama was taking place my nurse was off for the night and a new one came on. Thankfully she was super sweet! I couldn't have asked for better nurses.

The nurse who had just come on shift checked me and I was dialated between 4-5. I was happy to hear that but had a feeling things might slow down after the epi was administered. Again... just something you hear.

We waited and waited and waited.  We could see that my contractions were still regular on the monitor and coming every 1-2 minutes. The nurse decided to check me around 10pm. I was SHOCKED when she told me I was dialated to 9 - 9.5! Holy cow! REALLY???

The nurse called my doctor and he was there before I knew it.

Everything from here on out happened so fast. My doctor sat on the edge of my bed (we asked everyone to leave so he could check me). He told me that I was ready to push! O M G! I was totally in shock. Was I ready for this? Didn't matter. Hailey was about to make her entrance!

The doctor had me pushing 3 times w/ each contraction. I felt no pain but it was hard because I couldn't even feel that I was pushing. Apparently, I was doing something right because she was coming down exactly how she should.

The doctor suited up, I told Craig to "GET THE CAMERA" and within a few more pushes I had Hailey in my arms!

I pushed for about 30 minutes total (not bad!) and my daugher was born and laying on my chest!

This was definitely the most amazing moment of mine and Craig's lives. Our daughter was here, looking right at us. SUCH a miracle. She was (and is) PERFECT!

I am totally teary eyed typing all of this. I am so happy. Hailey is the best thing that has ever happened to us! I can't stop staring at her, smelling her, checking on her as she sleeps. I look forward to her waking up so I can feed her. I often find myself wondering "How did we make something SO perfect???".

Craig has been the BEST dad. I knew he would be good at this but he's even better than I expected. SO hands on. He loves her more than anything and he wants to do anything and everything he can to take care of her. It's a beautiful thing, a daddy and his little girl!

Our lives are changed forever and I catch myself wondering why we waited so long to have a baby. It was obviously meant to be.

Well that's the story! I finally had time to tell you how Miss Hailey made her entrance.

Everyday she has been here is a blessing. I couldn't ask for any more than I have right now. HELLO HORMONES =) I feel so mushy and sappy! That's what babies do to you!

We have taken tons of pictures, so here is a little slideshow!