Samantha is born!

Samantha Nicole Smith was born at 4:43pm on September 11, 2007. She was a full 2 weeks overdue, and her size proves it. She was 8 lbs. 15 oz. and 22 inches long.

Labor & Delivery:

I went in for an induction (using Cervidil to ripen my cervix) on the night of the 10th. I also had my membranes stripped at my appointment earlier that day. By the time I got to the hospital at 7pm, my contractions were about 5 minutes apart. However, my cervix wasn't dilated any further (it was a 2). I was supposed to sleep that night and let the medicine work and my midwife would be in in the morning. I got some sleep medicine around midnight, but it didn’t really seem to help. My contractions got closer together and stronger come morning time and Stephen called my mom and Sarah at 6am.

I have absolutely no idea what was going on in my body. My contractions seemed pretty close together. Actually, sometimes it didn’t seem like they ever completely let up. I was hungry, but nauseous and couldn’t eat. My midwife got in around 8:30 and wanted to check me to see what my body was doing. She found out that the medicine had actually fallen and had been irritating my skin, so when she went to check me I just screamed. (I remember that as being the most painful of the entire thing). It felt like someone had stabbed me… not that that has ever happened to me, but if it ever does I’m sure that’s what it would feel like. The sad thing was… she had only touched me… and despite my trying to calm myself down to let her try and check… it just wasn’t happening. But she got some type of numbing cream and was able to check. And I was at a 3… after she stripped my membranes again.

Anyway, so all of this “non-active” labor had absolutely worn out my body. I tried walking a bit, but I could barely stand up. At one point in time my blood pressure had dropped down to 86 over 48. Everyone said (afterwards) that I was also very pale. It was decided that in order to allow my body to get some rest, I’d get an epidural. I had never planned on getting an epidural. And honestly, for just the contractions I don’t think I needed it. But add the exhaustion, dehydration and hunger on top of it… and I think my body was sort of shutting down in some ways. I could have gotten morphine but one of the side effects was nausea… and that just didn’t sound appealing in the least.

Anyway, I got the IV, an epidural and some pitocin (my contractions had gone down to about 7 minutes apart). Immediately upon getting the epidural, my nausea had left me and I was hungry. And it felt good to eat. I'm not really sure about the timing. But after a little while, the midwife checked me and I was still at a 3. But they didn't want to increase the pitocin unless they needed to so we decided to break my water so insert an interuterine pressure censor, to find out how strong the contractions were. Well... she found out that I had so much fluid that there was a little balloon that would push through the cervix during a contraction and then retreat back once the contraction was over. So my baby's head wasn't even touching the cervix to put pressure on it and open it up. Once the water was broken, she couldn't get the little contraption in because my baby's head "corked up" the hole. This was around 2pm. At around 4pm I noticed I could feel the contractions more… like the epidural had worn off. My mom (who had epidurals) took that as a clue that something was changing. Turns out that I was at a 9 or so… with a change in position I was at a 10 in minutes and started the pushing stage. After about 45 minutes of pushing Samantha was born. My midwife says that was an extremely short period of time for pushing with an epidural.

Stephen was great throughout the entire thing. He was really grateful to have Sarah there, however. He almost left the room during the epidural… but decided he could stay as long as he didn’t see the needle go in. My mom on the other hand was extremely intrigued by what was put in her back so many years ago. Stephen also, almost didn’t watch the actual birth. But he did, and he’s glad. It truly is miraculous.

Some other random parts of the birth were that Sammi came out with her arm wrapped around her neck (I think the cord was too). Stephen was worried that she was blue, but was told that all babies are blue when they’re born. I got three stitches, but my midwife didn’t say I actually ripped. She said something about “aesthetic” reasons… or something. I don’t know. Oh and Sammi pooped twice before they got her on a scale. Stephen gave her to me right after the first poop… because I could do something about it. I think my mom or Sarah ended up taking her.

Stephen's a daddy!

Grandma Cox!

Right now, Sammi is doing great. She had her first doctor’s appointment on the 17^th and she was back up to 8 lbs. 12 oz. (dropped down to 8 lbs. 5 oz. in the hospital). So I don’t have to bring her back until her 2 month check up.

Off to meet Grandpa Cox at the airport.

My dad came out on the 14^th (to meet his granddaughter and to drive back with my mom). It was fun to have my parents out here. My mom made curtains for Samantha’s room, and my dad helped Stephen take apart our Camry to replace the clutch. The car isn’t completely back together yet, but it should be this weekend. Oh, and my sister, Caitlyn, was out here for the week before Samantha was born. She was a great hit with all the nieces and nephews. Cooper was all set to go to school with her when it came time for her to leave. He even went and got a backpack on.

I'm in the process of healing, it's slow but steady. Every day I feel like I can be awake a little longer and move about a little more. The whole nursing thing is slowly working out as well. It's weird to be wearing a size 10/12 (I started as a 2/4). But I am amazed at how much my stomach has gone down in such a short period of time, and I didn't lose my belly button!