The Arrival of Addison Grace

Monday
May 25, 2009

I was feeling increased back pain all day on Memorial Day. In the afternoon, we went to Tim's mom's house for burgers. While there, I felt my first contraction around 4pm. I wasn't paying too close attention, but I would feel a few contractions an hour.
We got home in the early evening and I continued to feel some contractions. Around 8:30pm I decided to start timing them. I wasn't in much pain, but when the contractions hit they were fairly strong, so I wanted to monitor them to see if this was the early stages of labor.
By midnight, the contractions were coming about every 5-7min, sometimes even as close as 3min. They were more painful, but I could still talk through them. It was this way for an hour, so we called our Doctor - per their instructions. I took a hot shower and we took our time packing up a few last minute things we needed and off to the hospital we went! Even at the hospital, I was still able to talk through contractions - with a little resistance.
The nurses got me all hooked up in Labor & Delivery to monitor my contractions and Silly Baby's heartbeat. The contractions were measuring fairly strong and as close together as 3min in that hour. However, I was only 2cm dialated so it was just not far enough along. The nurses had me drink a bunch of cold water and then we walked the halls for an hour, to see if I would progress at all. When that was all over and they hooked me up again, the contractions had slowed/lessened and I was still only 2cm so they sent us home :( The nurses said it was probably Braxton Hicks contractions since they got better after I had water and a walk, but that it could also be early labor.

Tuesday
May 26
It was 5am when we returned home, so Tim decided to call in sick to work. He thought he could survive a day at work on only an hour of sleep, but his concern was if this really was early labor and we'd be going back to the hospital that night - that would not be good on only an hour of sleep!
We stayed in bed til almost noon on Tuesday, but I couldn't sleep more than 30min at a time because my back hurt and I was feeling contractions pretty bad. I would go back and forth from the couch to the bed, trying to get comfortable, but nothing was really working. We went for a nice walk in the afternoon for lunch and I walked the halls for awhile in the evening to see if the contractions would lessen.
By Monday night, the contractions were pretty bad and pretty frequent, but I was gun shy after Monday night so I wasn't even keeping track of them. Tim went to bed at 10pm, planning on going to work on Wednesday. I told him I would wake him up if needed, but that I was still thinking it wasn't it.
I walked around the condo and again went between the couch and the bed trying to get comfortable. Closer to midnight, I walked the halls of our building and the contractions were coming so strong that I couldn't walk through them. I got back to our unit and took a hot shower. Then I started keeping track of the contractions - they were coming about every 5-7min. I was going to wait until they lasted like that for over an hour, but in that hour they got so bad I couldn't even concentrate on writing down the times they started and ended. So I decided to wake Tim up. It was 1am at this point.

Wednesday
May 27
About 20min later, Tim had been keeping track of my contractions and they were mostly 3min apart or less. At this point I started throwing up and walking/standing/sitting were all very painful. So Tim called the Doctor and we went to the hospital immediately. The two minute car ride was also very painful - but thank God it was only that long!
Tim pulled up to the Emergency Room entrance and got me into a wheelchair and checked in, he ran back out to park the car and then the nurse & Tim pushed me up to the Labor & Delivery floor. All the while, I was still throwing up.
We got to Labor & Delivery and all the rooms were booked, so they had us wait in the little snack room. It was at this point where I was in the most pain. I couldn't tell when one contraction ended and another began and I could only mumble words. Tim was very good at figuring out what I was trying to communicate.
After 10min in that room (that seemed like an hour!), I got into my Labor & Delivery room. They started me on an IV for hydration and gave me anti-nausea medicine. I had also been starting to hyperventilate, so Tim really had to help me slow down my breathing which was making me throw up. Then they examined me and thankfully I was at 7cm - so it was NOT a false alarm! He called our moms and let them know the deal. A little while later, I was at 8cm and then I got the epidural. I felt one bad contraction after that and then it was all numbed away and all of a sudden I could talk again!
So then Tim put on the "Friends" DVD and we just relaxed. We each dozed off for maybe 20min or so when they came into examine me again and I was over 9cm!! My doctor was there, but was in a meeting or something for like 2hrs so we had to wait. Tim's mom got there first and came in to say Hi for a little bit, followed by my mom also. My friend Katie also made it down, and she came in to quick say Hi as well.
At 9am - it was time to push! I was counting on about 2hrs of pushing since that is what I read is normal for first-timers. The epidural was turned down and I was feeling the contractions. So push I did! I was making really good progress and Tim was really impressed with me :)
At 9:31am, Silly Baby entered the world in just two final pushes! I looked at her and had to ask "What is it??" - since her legs were in the way. They looked and said " it's a girl!" That's when Silly Baby became Addison Grace.
I held her for a moment, and then she went to get cleaned up. Tim took a ton of pictures during all of that - and then went out to tell everyone in the waiting room the big news!!!
After we were all cleaned up, the Grandmas came in first followed by Auntie Lorie and cousins Isabella, Nicolas and Bianca and my friend Katie. After the quick visit, Addison was moved to the nursery for her tests/bath and I was moved into my recovery room!
I was there until Friday afternoon. We got a ton of visitors and lots of pretty clothes for our little Addison!
We have continued to get visitors since last weekend. We are so thankful for all of the great gifts and meals our friends and family have provided us with. We are eating wonderful healthy meals nice and quick without having to cook!
Thank you to everyone!

I will continue to update this Silly Baby blog with Addison news in the future. So stay tuned!