Lil' Doddie

This is my favorite

The Monday before Dot came about.

This post is much delayed, but I just haven't been very into staring at a computer screen the past few days. Two kids really is much more to pay attention to. That sounds a bit oxymoron, huh?

I thought I'd give a little birth story because lets face it, who doesn't want to hear one of those? (sarcasm inserted). Really though, compared to Zuri's birth story this one was a piece of cake. We learned a lot from our first labor experience and we did almost exact opposite this time around. Worked out almost perfectly.

I wanted to be brave and all natural hypnobirthing with Zuri. I still think it works great for some women. I'm not one of those women though. I take pills the second I feel a headache coming on so really what would make me toughen up with my body contracting at an alarming amount of pressure? I took Staydol (spelling?) with Zuri and it whipped my mind good and clean. Focusing on anything was impossible much less knowing what was happening around me. The epidural after 15 hours of labor was my saving grace. At least I got a healthy baby out of that awful experience.

That labor was more traumatic for Chris cause he actually remembers all of it. He's not one for seeing his woman in pain. We decided this time I'd get an epidural early on and to skip any other drugs to keep my head clear.

Wednesday the 14th we went into the hospital to get me nice and induced. I was definitely nervous about knowingly going into labor and with my test run a few weeks ago I had the pain fresh in my mind. Luckily, I was already dilated to a 4 when we got to the hospital. So labor went something like this:

7am. Show up get the babe and contractions on a monitor

8am. hook up an IV to get some fluids in me.

830. Doctor breaks my water

9am. contractions start.

10 am. contractions are regular and coming on strong. I'm dilated to a 5. I ask for the epidural.

11-12. anesthesiologist come in explains the risks of epidurals etc etc. I suck in my fear of getting poked and he numbs my back. not so bad. He inserts the second needle....goes right through hits my spinal fluid. I loose about 5ccs. hmm....what?! Well that was one risk explained. I didn't have any cartilage in that spot and the needle just went on through. There was no way he could tell. Doesn't happen a lot, but it happens. He felt so bad and said he could give me a blood patch, but he couldn't do it right away (something about the swelling has to go down)

Well I had no idea what happens when spinal fluid is lost was so roughly explained: the fluid level around my brain obviously dropped and my brain lost its cushion around my skull. Therefore, I got a 'spinal headache'. Wasn't awesome, but I'd take it over contractions any day.

After that hiccup:

1-2pm I was laying on my side which made my headache almost non existent. That was a nice pain-free hour.

about 2pm. hit the awesome 9 cm mark. My nurse left to get all the birthing equipment. Then I felt 'pressure' and needed to push. Chris called for the nurse and the doctor came runnin. Alicia was bringing Chris food to keep him energized for what we thought was going to be a much longer event. She got to watch the exciting show down up close and personal. Luckily Chris' family is totally cool with stuff like that (as Chris puts it, ' we grew up on a farm,' literally). We figured it was appropriate since we were naming Dot's middle name, Kae, after Alicia's.

2:08pm. Little/not-so-little 9 pound Dot was born.

She's an awesome baby. She's an excellent eater which is a huge relief. My experience with Zuri on that part was also awful (k, I do have great experiences with Zuri I swear. Labor and nursing her just aren't part of those). She's a great sleeper...during the day. She wants to play around mid-night. Chris took care of her for me so I could get to sleep last night. He ended up with a hickey on his arm from Dot latching onto him so strong. Kind of hilarious. And she smiles a whole bunch. who knows if it's gas or not and I don't care cause she's so stinkin cute.

Zuri is tolerating her well. She'll give her kisses if we ask her to and I got her to compare her feet to Dot's and she thought that was funny. Yesterday she tried sharing her toys and gram cracker with Dot and when D got the hiccups Zuri started mimicking her. I got it on video, I'll post that later. Mostly she just ignores her and on a few occasions when I've been holding her she's come up to me and calmly says "no baby". It's pretty funny and at the same time I feel a bit guilty. I've tried to pay a lot of attention to her still though. Having my mom here has been wonderful. Much easier to transition and take naps. Over all so far the experience has been a positive one. Big sigh of relief!

Here is to our little Doddie and our big kid Zuri. Our sweet baby girls.