Saturday, January 30, 2010

Lexi's Birth Story and Pics (finally)


ALEXIS LAURA LINGMANN

Her Birth Story:
Wednesday morning at 6:10 I woke up to a weird "pop" feeling and a gush of water. I ran to the bathroom while yelling to Todd, who was in the living room studying, "I'm pretty sure my water just broke!" He went in and looked at our bed and said "Sure looks like it!" So I called my mid-wife while sitting there. She asked if the contractions had started... then I had one right then... but I told her I hadn't started keeping track of them because I called her to quickly. Then she told me that since I had been Group B Strep positive, I had to go to the hospital and didn't get to sit around my house. I quickly called my mom and told her we were on!! I jumped in the shower and we started timing my contractions.... immediately they were 2 min apart!! That set Todd into hyper-drive! He ran around collecting the last min items and I tried to manage the pain. We made it to the Hospital around 7:10. (So glad we had done our tour and pre-pegistration the week before!!) They check me at 7:25 and I was 5cm and 90% effaced. WOW!! My thoughts were "The part that's suppose to take the longest is already over!!" They checked my again at 8:15 and I was 7cm, 100% effaced, and at a -2-3!!! Things were moving quickly!!! They checked me again at 8:35 (They didn't want too keep checking me because of the risk of infection, but I begged) and I was 9cm, 100% effaced, and at a -1 to 0 station!! From there Todd's note taking had to take a break because he was helping me pain manage. But I'm guessing I was pushing before 9am!! (3 hours after my water broke!!!)

I did the whole thing without any medication!! :) I moved between positions for pushing- on my back (I know I said I wouldn't push from this position, but it was the most comfortable and moved her along the quickest), Squatting in bed (leaning over the top of the bed), and lying on my side- which turned out the worst for me because my leg kept cramping!! Eventually they realized how quickly this was going and that my medication for Group B Strep was not going to be in my system long enough to protect the baby-unless I made it all the way to noon- so they warned us that we'd have to stay in the hospital 48 hours. I actually wanted to stay that long because my Grandparents weren't going to make it til Friday anyway! Anyways, as I'm pushing they start saying things like "I can see the top of her head, about a pencil size" then "Now about a quarter size" "She's crowning" and they started telling me that she'll be out soon, maybe even with the next contraction! Well, she kept crowning, and crowning, and crowning... I started getting so disheartened because of all their encouragement and she still wasn't out! (turned out she had a "bullet head" that took forever to get all the way out!). Anyways, eventually she was born at 10:58am!!! So I pushed for almost 2 hours :(- which was about half the total time I had been in the Hospital!! They put her straight onto my chest and waited til the umbilical cord stopped pulsing (returning all the blood back to the baby), then Todd cut the cord :)

Then they took her to do all the measuring and whatnot. She weighted in at 6lb 3 oz, 18in long, and had a head circumference of 12. Her apgar score was a 7-8 so she passed as a healthy baby- only needing oxygen for a little bit (which she actually really liked). Meanwhile I was doing all the after birth stuff. I ended up only getting 1 stitch!

Pretty much after that everyone left Todd, me, and Lexi alone in the room!! It was wonderful to have some quite alone time with our baby so quickly after birth!! Todd started calling people and I fed her!! She was immediately interested and willing, only problem is that she was 2 weeks early and has a TINY mouth!!! (we are still working on getting that mouth open wider!) Eventually I REALLY needed to pee and we decided we didn't like to be left alone for THAT long! Todd tracked down my nurse, she helped me to the bathroom, and since I did such a good job peeing she took my IV out! :) Then she decided to give Lexi her first bath so we could move to our recovery room. When she was all clean and getting dressed, Todd asked if she had enough hair to put in a mo-hawk!! I allowed the mo-hawk, but demanded she have a bow too! I sat in a wheelchair and watched the whole process- exhausted and still in complete shock that I was a mother now! At 2:05 we moved to our new room.

Extras:
The entire time I was in labor my nurse and mid-wife kept saying things like:
"I've haven't seen someone this collected in over a year, especially a first time mom"
"I can't believe how quickly this is going for a first timer"
"You are amazing, I can't believe how calm and collected you are"
and lots of other things that make my labor brag worthy :)

Also, the only times we really heard her cry were right after birth, when they made her cry better, during her bath (but instantly fell asleep when she was under the heat lamp), when she had some blood taken to test for jaundice (which came back a little high so she'll have more blood taken and tested at her first doctor appointment later today), and when we would change her diaper- but only when the wipe was touching her.

She's such a good little baby!! I feel so blessed to have such a wonderful daughter!!!

Guess we should get to the picture part!!






3 comments:

emmalou said...

YOU ARE SO AWESOME! That really is incredible that things were perfect. Congratulations! She's just precious. :)

Unknown said...

Hurray! You are a super women. I can't believe your delivery was so fast. You're incredible. Alexis is beautiful. And check out all that hair! I'm so jealious. I think she has more hair then Gwenevere. hehehhe
I'm so happy for you guys. Tell Todd congratulations from us too.
I can't wait to see more pictures.

PS Gwenevere weighted the same. They are twinners.

Holly Mayer said...

Steph, I am so proud of you! I so wish I could afford to come out and help you out, and snuggle with Lexi. She is so beautiful. Way to go med free!!