Welcoming Isabelle!

I wanted to continue my previous post and document Isabelle's coming into this world. It took a little while for me to realize I was pregnant because I stopped trying and I didn't know when to expect a cycle after miscarriage. I remember calling and speaking to a nurse at my doctors' practice like it was yesterday. I told her that I hadn't had a cycle in two months and asked if that was normal after m/c. She said, "honey, have you taken a pregnancy test?" Well, no. "Why don't you go ahead and take one and call us back if it's positive to make an appointment? Your cycle should have returned by now." Well, okay! Sure enough, it was positive. I think John about fell out of his chair when I told him that night.

We were both a bit gun-shy about telling anyone so we waited until after the first trimester which we've continued to do with our pregnancies. Of course, there are a couple exceptions like my mother and our very closest friends. The entire pregnancy was nerve-wracking. I had no idea what to expect. The books only help you so much. I was also afraid to do anything from exercising to eating any type of fish, or consuming any caffeine. During the course of the pregnancy, the doctors found a heart irregularity where her heart would skip a beat every so often. So, we had a lot of regular and high-risk ultrasounds. It was a lot of fun to watch her grow on a regular basis but it's also a bit unnerving to know your baby may have a heart problem. Thankfully, she grew out of it by the time she was born so she's never had any complications.

One fun thing about going from a couple to a family were the baby showers. Unless your children are far apart in ages or you have a special circumstance, the baby showers are typically just for the first pregnancy. It was so much fun to create a nursery and go on a baby shopping spree with my mom for tiny clothes. We didn't find out if we were having a boy or a girl which made it much more fun to hear old wives tales and listen to family and friends guessing the sex. It really was a fun pregnancy. Plus, the only time I was willing to show off pictures of my baby bump!

I was working full time and going to graduate school during this pregnancy so I was exhausted. About a month before my due date, my doctors pulled me out of work because of high blood pressure which we all believed was due to my job/boss at the time and turned out to be true. After about a week at home, my blood pressure was fine and I could just prepare for the baby. My grad classes were over for the semester and it was a great month spent in a brand new house. (We had also bought our first house about two months before my due date.) My due date came and went. I also had the humiliating experience of going to the hospital with false labor. Thankfully, we didn't tell too many people.

My doctors allowed me to go to 42 weeks before scheduling me for induction. They don't so much schedule you as call you one morning and tell you to come in that day. We had to board the dog, etc. I was given Pitocin and the contractions went from zero to whoa very quickly. I think John and I played one game of Rummy before I couldn't focus on anything but the contractions. I labored for about 10 hours before I gave into an epidural. I didn't want one until I was far along but a nurse told me that with the contractions I was having and the lack of break between them, I should have been pushing by then. It's tough to get an epidural in the middle of labor. You have to sit perfectly still while contracting which was certainly a chore. My anesthesiologist was less than desirable and had the nurse answer his phone and speak for him while he was putting the needle in my back rather than letting the nurse help keep me calm since they don't allow your husband near you at that point. The killer was that the phone call was about how he had messed up an epidural and had to go back to another room.

Anyways, we thought the epidural might help calm me and allow my body to relax and progress more. I never progressed more than 3-4 cm. After another 2-3 hours, we decided to listen to the doctors and have a cesarean. The doctors were theorizing that the baby had grown too big to pass the pelvis and were telling us how in some cases they have to break the baby's arm or collarbone to birth naturally. That was unimaginable so the doctor gave the order to stop the Pitocin and restart the epidural drug. (The dose had initially been too high and I couldn't feel/move one of my arms.) Unfortunately, this was pretty late at night/early in the morning and no one followed the order. I told my nurse that I was feeling my contractions while being wheeled to the delivery room. I also vomited on the way there. Fun times! My doctor had some choice words for the nurse for not being properly prepared for delivery (had contacts on, the Pitocin was still running, etc.).

In a cesarean, there is a test cutting before you get started which I passed. But when the deeper cutting started, I apparently screamed and my eyes rolled back in my head. Everyone backed away from the table, checking my epidural meds and the surgical nurse wasted no time in delivering morphine. This is when they realized how low my pain dose was. Evidently, there is a significant difference in what you feel given and epidural in comparison to a spinal block which is often used in scheduled c-sections. I felt a lot of pulling and tugging and contrary to popular belief, you very much feel the moment your baby has left your body. Once I heard her cry, I didn't care about anything of it. John was able to see her and bring her to me. She was absolutely perfect. Tiny pink face and a gorgeous, healthy baby. We had so many compliments on her from nurses in the hospital and when I started walking her the hallways. There is nothing in the world like having your first baby. I could follow her schedule and sleep when she slept. Isabelle Erin was 9lbs. 8 oz. and sure enough she had a huge circle/indentation around her head where she had been pressed on the pelvis bone for weeks but couldn't go anywhere.

Isabelle has been such a blessing. She has been amazingly healthy as an infant and toddler. She's one smart cookie with an enormous heart. I will always treasure that first year together where it was just us and so simple. She slept through the night almost immediately and she was content to sit in a bouncer next to me while I worked on my school work. We had our struggles like her very distinct early afternoon fussy time. Or her fear of being in the dark in the car which induced blood curling screams. It's hard to believe she's going to be 3 years old next month. Treasure those babies because they become little kids in a blink of an eye. Every time you get sick of a phase, they grow out of it and start something new.