it’s crazy to think that it’s already been 2.5 weeks since torin’s birth.  being a mother has been the most amazing experience ever and i’m less than a month in.  torin has been a GREAT baby so far, barely crying (knock on wood) and really only fussing when she’s hungry.  we’re so grateful that she’s finally here and healthy. i’ll be updating life with a newborn, but for now, i wanted to recap the birth story, since my memory is slipping fast and i want to be able to remember the day.

since christmas, barbara had been experience random, real, contractions, described as prodromal labor.  her due date was january 16th, but as of her appointment on the 13th, torin was still snug as a bug with no signs of showing her sweet face.  we tried EVERY. SINGLE. ‘TRICK’. people recommended.. eggplant parm, tons of pineapple, 3rd trimester tea, and the list goes on.  the doctor schedule her appointment for wednesday, january 20th, which included a non-stress test, and sent us on our way; no talk of induction or c-section.

the night of 19th, things got really real. barbara started having contractions back to back and didn’t get any sleep. we just KNEW we’d be at the hospital by the end of the night having this baby.  wrong.

we got up and headed to the doctor to have the NST and have barbara checked.  we at least arrived to good news: barbara was 1CM dilated! all the contractions she was having paid off.  she had contractions the whole way to the doctors office, so we were just waiting for them to show up on the machine.. not so much.  barbara didn’t have a single contraction the whole time we were at the doctors office.  as we finished the appointment, the doctor discussed the impending blizzard our area was expecting and what we wanted to do (we don’t get much snow in central VA, so anything above 5-8 is big news and we were expecting 15-18 inches).

we told the doctor we trusted his opinion and he suggested induction the next day, especially since he was on call and would be able to deliver torin, which was one of barbara’s biggest wishes. he told us to be at the hospital at 6:45AM and we would hopefully have a baby by the end of the day.

AS SOON as we left the hospital, barbara’s contractions started up again, so i called out, just in case she went into labor.  we grabbed some more pineapple and went home to relax and get the last few items around the house done before torin graced us with her presence. after we got home, we walked about 3 miles, since walking made the contractions a little better.  as the day went on, they got more intense, but never steady made it less than 5 minutes apart.  as you can imagine, barbara didn’t get much sleep that night and i got a little more than her, but not much.

thursday, january 21st, we were both up by 4AM taking showers and getting ready for the big day.  barbara wasn’t allowed to eat, so i ate my breakfast in the kitchen as fast as i could so she didn’t have to smell it.  by 6AM, we were on our way to the hospital and it was finally sinking in.. our family would never be the same after we left the hospital.

by 7:30AM, we were all checked in and barbara was settled into the bed.  contractions were still pretty consistent, and by this time, she was 3CM dilated and 90% effaced.  i have to say, she made everything look so easy. even during the contractions that were off the charts, she kept her cool and was so laid back. i can only hope to carry myself the way she did that day.  the doctor came back into the room, and at 8:12AM, barbara’s water was broken and pitocin was started.

time went by super slow and super fast all at the same time.  not much happened between 8AM and 12PM, other than some rough contractions.  when they came back to check barbara at 12PM, she was 5CM and 100% effaced, +1.. ( a lot of terminology that i barely understand). barbara finally requested the epidural, so we grabbed lunch, downstairs and by the time we got back up, barbara was in a lot less pain.

from there, things started to get.. interesting.  they pumped up the pitocin to try to move things even further along, but shortly after that, torin’s heart rate dropped and the nurses came rushing in. they made barbara move to the other side and threw a mask on her face. luckily, her mom was in there and kept me a little more calm, but it was still scary to watch.  they checked barbara again, this was around 1PM, and she was already at 8CM. they dropped the pitocin back down to where it was and barbara kept contracting.

they came back in at about 2PM and upped the pitocin and shortly after, again, torin’s heart rate dropped super low.  this time, they couldn’t get her heart rate to stabilize, so barbara’s bed had to inverted and her hips were higher than her head, along with the mask back on. after they checked barbara, they realized the issue was that she was progressing so fast, torin was having a hard time keeping up.  by this time, it was about 2:30PM and the doctor agreed that it was time to start pushing!! yay! torin would be here in no time!

that last sentence was a joke. barbara pushed all she could push, but torin wasn’t having it. she pushed for a solid 2 hours and torin just couldn’t make it through.  the doctor came back in to see how everything was going, joking that she was going to need help with the suction tool like he had been saying the whole time.  he checked barbara and then everything started to get real serious.

he started to move very quickly, grabbing the forceps and getting everything ready.  the baby nurse brought in 2 other nurses to have on hand and it was apparent something wasn’t right. after a quick and not so pretty episiotomy and two pushes, torin was finally here.  they placed her on barbara’s chest, but the doctor quickly yelled “get her out of here” and i, quickly, cut the cord with little thought.  the whole time this was happening, torin was purple and not crying.

after the longest, maybe, 10-15 seconds, we heard a loud wail and tears immediately started falling from barbara and i. we were officially a family of 3.  at 4:42PM, torin kenley was born weighing 9LBs and 22INCHES long.  so much happened in the next 1.5 hours to follow, that i really cannot remember. torin breastfed for a solid 45 minutes, and even with all the issues, was never sent to the nursery or NICU.  she passed all of her tests and then visitors, after the golden hour had passed, were allowed to visit.

 because of the weather, my family was not able to make it down, but all of barbara’s immediate family was able to come in and see us after a very long day of labor.  that’s when barbara decided to scare the hell out of me.  about 2.5 hours had passed since she delivered and the epidural had pretty much worn off.  she knew she had to go to the bathroom so they didn’t insert another catheter, so she wanted to give it a shot.  the nurse and i walked her into the bathroom, but as she was finising up, she mentioned that she was feeling a little lightheaded.  the nurse knew what was about to happen and let me know that barbara needed to get back in the bed ASAP.  we rushed her back to the bed, but by that time, her eyes were completely rolled to the back of her head and her head was limp.  crying and screaming her name, you could tell she couldn’t hear anything.  the nurse finally got my attention and told me to take her arm lift her in the bed. since she was dead weight, the nurse couldn’t really do much.  during the incident, the nurse evacuated the room and called for help and about 10 nurses came rushing into the room.  by that time, barbara had finally come to, but was still white as a ghost.  after some juice and some water, she was finally feeling better, but had not realized anything that had happened in the last few minutes.

after all the excitement, barbara’s family left and we got to settle in the hospital room with our new family. the next morning, her parents came bright and early and i got to go home and feed the dogs, etc (they have a doggie door and had free range of the back of the house) and i took a shower. i got back to the hospital before it started snowing, but as soon as it started, it started falling down FAST.  barbara’s parents left shortly after and it was more one-on-one time with us and our baby girl.  i would never want to be snowed in at the hospital again, but it was nice not having to worry about visitors and just being able to adjust as best as we could.

saturday morning, barbara was cleared to go home, so her dad drove us home, on the awful roads, in her car.  we ended up getting about 15-16 inches at home, again this is a lot of snow for central VA, so i was happy i didn’t have to stress driving my newborn and letting anything happen.

 now, we’re just adjusting to this new life. i’ll probably pop in, in the next week or two and talk about baby items we love and don’t love, because i have always found them helpful from other blogs, like janetha & jessica.

now, i’m going to watch the super bowl commercials and drink some hard apple cider.  tomorrow is the weigh-in for a diet bet i’m participating in, so its back to business as usual.