Allow me to introduce you to..... Miss Lady Leighton Faye

Drum roll please... Our majesty has arrived. On Thursday, August 25th, 2011 at 1:26 pm, Miss Lady Leighton graced us with her presence. Joining the world at a very happy 7 lbs and 9 ounces, she was 20 1/4 inches long. She came out kicking and peeing so we knew she was ours!  :)



The Labor & Delivery
My labor began on Wednesday at 2:38 am. I don't care what you call them, Braxton Hicks, practice, whatever... contractions HURT! No other way to put it. I drove to work thinking these would get better... 5 hours later... not so much. I had a dr. appointment that day so I tried to "hold out" and see if I was in fact in labor. The doc told me... again, not so much. Not even dilated. However, it could be anytime.. lovely. Back to work I went. So, I walked the office; paced; sat this way, that way... nothing soothed me. It wasn't easing up. My last resort, a hot bath. It was time to head back home. In all honesty, I was scared to go home because my hospital is in the city. No one wants to have their kid in their car, much less in Chicago traffic. I seriously felt like she could fall out at any time. She was that low. I knew in my heart it wouldn't be long. I don't care what any doctor said.

Thankfully, the delivery fairies were watching over me and I made it home. Nothing like contractions while driving. Fun times, let me tell ya. To the bath I went. It SO worked. They eased somewhat. I thought they were passed until about midnight. Then it started again. My doc told me to wait until they were 7-10 minutes apart and lasted over an hour. My hubby had been to the first day of the school year so I didn't want to wake him until I knew for sure but I was watching that clock like a hawk. An hour later, they were 7 minutes apart and it was time to wake the hubby and make some phone calls. We live about an hour roughly outside the city. Lucky for us, it was 3 in the morning (24 hours of these "non-contraction pains" at this point) and there wasn't MUCH traffic. Chicago never sleeps apparently.

Upon arriving, I was in the waiting room with a gal that was in full on labor. Her water had broken and she was about to drop that baby in the chair. This was like a scene from a movie. Seriously! This chick was itty bitty and looked like her head was about to spin on her head. While we were in Triage, I heard her screaming HELP ME NOW!! That's when I got a little panicked. Please bring on the drugs! Later in the week, I saw her husband who informed me that she delivered 30 minutes later.

At this point, we're in triage, it's a little after 4 am. Upon arriving, I was only 1.5 cm dilated so the likelihood of sending me home was high. I wasn't too happy about this however since we lived so far away. So my doc told us to walk. FOR 2 HOURS! Sweaty and determined, we huffed it in a circle as fast as we could. They'd check on me at 6:30 and see where I was from there. Poor Jay... he had no sleep and no had to hike it with me each step, stopping for contractions and rubbing my back each time. What a trooper. It worked though and at 6:30, I was 3 cm dilated and ready to be admitted. The best news, I could get my epidural too. Doin the happy dance!

We "checked in" so they say and we headed to the good room where we had a personal nurse - Laura - who was simply amazing!! This hospital had really hit the mark. Prentice in Chicago is seriously one of the nicest facilities with the best people. More on that though. The labor, delivery and recovery room had flat screens, a Bose ipod dock (to which I wasn't able to use bc my playlist was on next week's to do list). We were ret-ta-go! The anesthesiologist came in and it was puppies and rainbows from there. I was about 4 cm  by then and it was around 9 am. At noon, I was at 8.5 cm and they started to page the dr. WoW! This was happening fast! Jay's parents and Aunt Mandy had arrived, my parents were beginning to head this way. The wheels were in motion to greet our little baby! Maybe it was the medicine, but it felt so surreal. I'd waited 9 months for this day....yet it was like an out of body experience because it flashed before my eyes.

The doc came, we chatted about the strategy, started pushing and whoala... she was here! Jay and Mandy were there coaching me the whole time and it was so nice to have them by my side. Mandy actually counted and said it took me 10 short rounds of pushing and about 30 minutes to get her here. At one point, I thought something was wrong as they told me to stop so they could prep. I thought they needed to do an emergency c-section - nope! She was crowning! Seriously?! All that and this was it? Don't get me wrong, it's work. But the delivery is nothing compared to the labor.

I can't describe the emotions in that room. It was like my heart had exploded and that little girl had soaked up all of it in one breath. She was perfect! She was adorable and healthy! Her head wasn't alien shaped; she didn't have the old man skin; SHE WAS PERFECT!! I couldn't really see her face for a while. I looked when she came out, I saw her briefly when they laid her on my chest, but it wasn't until they put her in the bed again that I saw her features. Instantly I saw a couple of the signs of DS. She had the almond eyes, her thick neck and her lowset ears. I cried more. Not sure if it was that I was hoping it wasn't true or that I was relieved that we know for certain now. Regardless, it made me love her more. I couldn't stop crying for so many reasons. I  was overwhelmed with joy. I was so happy to share this moment with my husband. I was SO HAPPY it was easier than I thought. I didn't have to be scared anymore. She was here, she was healthy and we were HAPPY!



Off to post-partum
NO, it's not the sad floor... it's where your room is. Maybe a name change for that floor would be nice. :) They took us to our room with the baby in tow. She was in my arms now and it felt oh so nice. For the next few hours, it was still a whirlwind. I was meeting and greeting people, nurses, etc. The epidural was still in my system so sleeping wasn't really happening for me. I was also so charged on life in general. AND my hubby was off to get me some Chik-fil-a with SWEET TEA! BOOYAH! First shot of caffeine in 9 months and it was OH-SO-Delicious! We had a few visitors so we sat and chatted for a bit. Once everyone left, we had a few minutes to ourselves with our new little family. Jay and I were so overjoyed, exhausted and gitty to get to know Lady Leighton. Then the nurse came to do some vitals on her which took about 30 minutes. Once she came back, our joy all changed.

Until next time..
Shona



Comments

  1. I have been thinking of you wondering if baby girl had arrived yet....Congrats on becoming a Mom!! Little Leighton looks so very sweet...Cant wait to hear more about her!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Thanks Jenny!! She is here and we are SO IN LOVE!!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Thanks for checking out my blog! We have so much in common! We even liked the name Leighton! Harper was born on August 30th so the girls are really close in age!

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Leave me a message.... I would love to hear from you.

Popular Posts