The Details

I've finally got a minute in between diapers and feedings and taking care of 4 very active kids to write a bit about the delivery. So here it is:
I woke up around 4:15am on Sunday the 10th when my water broke. I woke up Lance & we both got ready to leave. Liz from downstairs came up to be with the kids and my mom started driving down here to take over. Lance & I got to the hospital around 5:00am and I got admitted and hooked up to an IV by 6:00am. I had my epidural before 7:00am and then the contractions slowed down and I stopped progressing so they started me on some pitocin. It got me going again quickly. It hadn't taken the nurses long to realize that my amniotic fluid was a bit green, which they explained meant that Rebecca had pooped in the womb and could have merconium (baby poop) in her lungs and stomach. Because there was a possibility of this, there would be a neo-natal team on hand in case she wasn't breathing when she came out. That freaked me out a bit at first, but my nurse Melissa assured me that they had merconium babies all the time that came out screaming and fine.
So around 9ish, or a little later, they checked me and I was at a 9. So they called Dr. Jacobs and he came in to check things out. I also had another doctor, Dr. Daley there who was in her residency and helping out. Dr. Jacobs sat down and immediately said, this baby is posterior--that's not the ideal way to deliver--so he tried to turn her. She turned and I was supposed to push while he did something. I puked instead and when he came back a few seconds later she had turned again. So he turned her back and that's when her heartbeat started fluctuating. The next few minutes were a blur to me. Dr. Jacobs was worried about her heart rate so he used forceps to pull her down the birth canal. He had to use them twice, he might have had to turn her again, her heart rate slowed down and stopped for a second, my nurse put an oxygen mask on me to help Rebecca get air. Dr. Jacobs got her to the crowning position and I pushed and pushed to finally get her head out. Then I had to push her very broad shoulders out and she finally came out. I heard Dr. Jacobs say, "where's the cord clamp" and the neo-natal team had her over on the side of the room. She wasn't crying and she was completely purple. They worked on her, pumping air into her lungs and suctioning out all of the crud for probably 2 or 3 minutes before she started crying. It was so long that I had recovered enough from the pushing to say out loud, "she still isn't crying" and Melissa reassured me that the neo-natal team was cleaning out her lungs. I started praying hard at that point. Lance has the whole part where she wasn't breathing on video so that we would have had something if she wouldn't have made it. When she finally cried, Lance & I were teary eyed too.
I realized at this point that I wasn't doing so well either. So while the neo-natal people worked on Rebecca and then weighed her and wrapped her up, my doctors were trying everything they knew how to get me to stop bleeding. They finally did and I was able to see my little girl before they took her to the nursery--Lance went too, of course. I had the shakes so badly that I couldn't hold her until right before she went to the nursery.
At the nursery she had a bath and all that good stuff, and Melissa moved me from labor & delivery to the recovery rooms on the floor below. Then they brought me Rebecca and I was able to hold her and feed her.
We had one other scare with her that night when she coughed up some junk from her stomach and stopped breathing again. Thankfully my nurse was in the room and she ran out with Rebecca to the nursery where they had to suction her stomach which wasn't completely empty of the fluid. After that Lance gave her a blessing that she'd be able to breathe and wouldn't have any more problems and she hasn't had any since.
So there are the details. It was the hardest delivery of all of the kids. She was the biggest baby--almost a pound bigger than Jenny! I'm so thankful for the expertise of my doctors, nurse and the neo-natal team. I really believe that their quick thinking, quick decisions and expertise saved Rebecca's life. Just to say how good Dr. Jacobs was, he didn't tear me at all with the forceps and I didn't tear at all when pushing. That's been a huge blessing with the recovery--no stitches!! The nursing has been awful and painful but it's starting to regulate and I had a complication associated with the IV in that my veins are inflamed. It's VERY painful and when I called to ask if it was normal, the nurse said no, but it's a common complication and that I should just not use my wrist for a couple of days and it will go away. HELLO!! Not use my wrist? So I've been trying to not use it as much as possible and it's slowly healing. I'm so glad that I'm not pregnant anymore and I'm so glad Rebecca is alive and well.

Pics of Rebecca

I'm (Lance) too tired to type. Here she is. More to come soon.

Baby is here!

Shiree had our baby girl at 10:02 a.m. MDT. We will name her Rebecca Calais Dome. She was 8 lbs 11 oz and 20 inches long. She has chunky legs and arms and cute chubby cheeks. All is well with mother and baby (and dad is good, too). I will post some photo's soon. Happy Mother's day!

Baby is coming!

Shiree's waters broke at 4:15 this morning. We are in the hospital now and Shiree just got the epidural. Rebecca should be here soon! I (Lance) will update at some point after she is out. Shiree says, "hooray for epidurals and ice chips!"

Let the games begin!!!

Jenny started softball today and Alex started T-ball!! They were supposed to have games last week but they were rained out. Today their games were at the same time at different fields so Lance stayed with Alex and watched his game & Daniel and I went to Jenny's game. They were soooooo fun!! In softball, each girl gets 5 chances to hit the ball and if they do, they run the bases like in regular softball. If they don't, they sit down and wait until the next inning. No one counts outs, although if someone gets tagged they are out and have to go sit down. They bat through the lineup every inning and when all the girls have had a chance to hit, they switch to the outfield. Jenny hit both times that she was up and she got another girl out on 3rd base! She did so well, and they had so much fun! The best part was that there were treats at the end, and no one kept score!
Alex's t-ball was similiar except the boys get to swing until they hit the ball off the tee. They bat through the lineup and Alex actually played on the other team today because they didn't have enough players. Lance said lots of funny stuff happened like kids running to the wrong base, or to the pitchers mound. He had loads of fun watching and cheering Alex on. Alex did really well and scored 2 runs!
I had the camera, so I've got some photos of Jenny, and our neighbors took some of Alex which I'll post as soon as I get them.

Update

So I went to the doctor's today and I'm at a 3 & 70% effaced. I've got an appointment to be induced Tuesday morning if I don't have the baby on my own before then. She stripped my membranes this morning--very painful!--and so there's a good chance I'll go into labor on my own but we'll just have to wait and see. I had Daniel within 24 hours of stripping my membranes when I was at a 3, so we'll see. I think that having this baby would be the best Mother's Day present ever!! But if not, Tuesday is the longest that I'll have to wait. Phew! I'm glad this will be over soon!

p.s. Trista, I'm not sure if Blogging is how I nest or if I've just realized that if I fall behind on photos of b-days and stuff, I'll never catch up. Plus, I'm keeping the camera empty of photos so that we can take some when the baby comes. I have been posting a lot lately! ;)

A brilliantly insane move

So yesterday Lance & I decided to have Daniel's "friend" b-day party this morning. Thankfully the friends he wanted to invite were all available and I was totally impressed that all of their moms were able to get presents. All went well, and that's one more thing out of the way!! Here are some photos.

One birthday down. . .

. . . 3 to go. Plus a new baby. Some of you might be wondering how we could have all of our kids b-days within 4 weeks, well, there's not much to do in August. :) No, really, I love spring babies!! But enough of that.
Alex turned 6 on Tuesday and we had 2 parties for him. (I know, I must be insane!). Here are the photos for the events. He had 6 friends over and then all my family that was close enough to come--we missed Joe, Ashley & Marley!!! Enjoy the photos!

update

Well, there's no progress on the baby door today. It's quite depressing. I'm not sure what I'm doing as far as induction but it probably won't be until next week. So there's the update. Condolences are welcome, but I really don't want to talk about it, so email rather than call. :)

Big photo post

In preparation for Alex's b-day Tuesday I thought I'd better download the photos from the camera so I'd have plenty of room. Imagine my surprise when I realized that we haven't downloaded any photos since January! So here are a bunch of photos from our year so far. Hope you enjoy! Play dough on a snowy day




A trip to the Draper Temple Open House for my b-day.



More play dough fun.
Easter!






Snow on April 16!




Daniel's haircut!
Jenny & Mya Call--notice Jen's fingernails. She & I went for manicures together. My nails currently match hers. We had a great time!