She's here!

Welcome to the world Payton Marie Hall! She was born February 27, 2010 at 10:52 am, 8 Ib 4 oz and 21.5 inches tall. Her birth went absolutely nothing like we expected it to, but of course these things never do! :)

So at my last doctor's appointment on Thursday, I was 3-4 cm dilated but still 50% effaced. We discussed what we would like to do if she was overdue and if it came time to do an induction, even going so far as to tentatively schedule a date. The next day was Friday, my day off, and I spent it sleeping in (thank goodness!) and cleaning up around the house. We had made plans to go to Albany that weekend, so we took off that afternoon. We should have known the second we went out of town that something would happen, huh? :)

Kyle had only been asleep about half an hour and I was in bed reading a book Friday night when I realized that I felt like I was leaking... I went to the bathroom and definitely confirmed it, and after waking Kyle and my mom in law Sue, we decided we had better head back up to Portland. I called maternity and the doctor on-call at my doctor's office, and she told me to go home, take a shower, get a couple hours of sleep, and come in to the hospital sometime in the morning to get checked out. She said that since I was a first timer, I probably had plenty of time and to try to get some rest. Well, when we got in the car at around 3:00 am, my water really started gushing (gross, I know... good thing I was sitting on two towels and a waterproof pad!) and my contractions started. It was the longest car ride ever! I have a contraction timer application on my phone, and when we realized that my contractions were 2-3 minutes apart lasting for over a minute, we went straight to the hospital instead of going home; we didn't even have time to grab our hospital bag. I was admitted to maternity, and when they checked me I was already at 9 cm! We couldn't believe how fast I had progressed, my water had broken less than two hours before. I changed into a hospital gown and it was time to push! Well, unfortunately that did not go so well.

Trying to work through a contraction...

When I was checked again we discovered that she was sunnyside up (face towards the front), which is the opposite way she was supposed to be facing. Because of the way my pelvis is shaped she wasn't able to get past my pubic bone in that position, so we tried everything to get her to turn around... but unfortunately nothing was working. I pushed for about 3.5 hours with no pain meds, and I was getting really exhausted. The on-call doctor attending me was actually a midwife, so she called in one of the doctors to give his opinion. He gave us two options; one was to get an epidural in the hopes that I would relax enough so that he could manually turn her around with forceps, but he said I would still have to push for probably a couple more hours and it only had a 50/50 success rate. Or, I could get a c-section. Kyle and I talked about it, and decided to just go ahead with the c-section. I hadn't slept and had already been pushing for several hours, and just wasn't sure how much more I had left in me, especially it if was only successful about half the time. So, since there was another c-section just starting, we were told that we would have to wait for a little while until they were finished. This was probably the most terrible part; because I was having a spinal block, I couldn't get pain relief until right before the procedure, so I had to continue having contractions and push for about another hour before they could get us into an OR. Having that kind of pain when you know you're going to have a c-section anyway is the worst! After that though, I was finally wheeled into the OR to have my baby. Kyle was the only one allowed to come with me, so he got all scrubbed up and came in after they did my spinal block and had me draped and ready. It was a really surreal experience, and about 20 minutes after they wheeled me into the room, she was here!

I see you!

Kyle and I were immediately in love with her, and she definitely has us wrapped around her little fingers! Her Apgar scores at birth were 9 and 9, which is really good, and every doctor and nurse who has come by to see her has pronounced her perfect and healthy. We're tired of course, but everytime we look at her she is so worth it! :)

Our little family...

Look at those big feet!

Proud papa :)

I'm feeling great, a little sore but not too bad... anything is definitely better than the labor pains! We're here for 72 hours, so we won't be discharged until Tuesday morning sometime. We're encouraging visitors while we're at the hospital rather than when we get home, at least for the first couple weeks. We just feel like it's going to be stressful trying to get into a routine and settle into home life with a baby, so we'd rather people wait to visit us at home until we're really settled. You're more than welcome to visit us at the hospital if you'd like to see her though! :) Just let me or Kyle know, and we can navigate you to where we're at.

I'll definitely be posting lots more pics in the next couple days, but right now as I'm writing this my eyes are starting to droop... and since Payton is napping right now, it's time for me to grab one too! :) Thank you so much to everyone who has congratulated us and sent us their love, we definitely feel it and appreciate it more than you know!

Doctor appointment update!

So I had my appointment this morning, and it went really well... I'm 1.5 to 2 cm dilated and 50% effaced! I'm making progress, which she said is great. Still not an indicator of when it will happen, but good to know that something is happening. :) Hopefully I'll keep progressing like this without feeling anything! Also, no traces of infection or protein in my urine, so I'm good to go! Thank goodness, because I've been having to break up my antibiotic pills and mix them in pudding so needless to say... I'm really really sick of pudding lol. So now it's just a waiting game! My appointment with her next week is also on a Thursday, and she said that's when we'll talk about options of what we want to do if I go over my due date, which I don't really want to think about right now... but I know that she will come when she is good and ready, and not a minute sooner! :)

This weekend I'm just relaxing, and really looking forward to it! We're also going to pack our hospital bag, just in case so we're prepared. It's been beautiful outside, so maybe I'll go on a long walk and enjoy the sunshine while it's still here. :) Have a good weekend!

Nursery pics

Our parents came this weekend to help us put the finishing touches on the nursery, and it is SO cute!

The crib!

Changing table...



Her clothes have been washed and put away, we're just finishing organizing and putting the finishing touches on everything! :)

On Saturday my co-workers threw me a baby shower, and it was a blast! Good friends, good food... and the sweetest cake ever! Check it out:

My friend Denise's fiance Chad makes cakes, he's really talented! The baby carriage and blocks on top of the cake are made out of rice krispy treats covered in fondant, and the cake itself was funfetti with chocolate and raspberry filling. It was delicious!

I'm 37 weeks tomorrow, which is a big milestone! The baby is considered full-term, which means that her lungs are considered mature enough to adjust to life outside the womb without any problems. I have another appointment on Thursday, so we'll see if I've dilated anymore... probably not but I'll definitely let you know!

26 days and counting!

Ok, I know I've been the biggest slacker ever, so hope you guys are prepared for me to make it up to you! :) Between baby showers, childbirth class, working 10 hour days, and trying to put the baby room together, it's been a super busy couple weeks! I can't believe that she's due to arrive in less than a month, it totally blows my mind that my pregnancy is almost over... it seemed to be taking forever, but now that I'm in the home stretch, it feels like I can't slow time down to get everything I need to get done... I'll update on baby stuff in a little bit, let's start with the showers. They were both wonderful!

My mom and Chelsea threw me my first shower in Gig Harbor about two weeks ago, and they even had a red velvet cake made by the bakery that made my wedding cake! It was delicious!

Posing with the cake

Cute little onesies!

So many gifts! People at both showers were way too generous! :)

Sue and Lindsey came up from Albany for the shower and spent the night, and we had a fun girls night just relaxing. I absolutely love that my families mesh so well together! :)

The next weekend, my mom came down and picked me up and we continued to Albany for the next event. Kyle's Aunt Pam and cousin Sarah threw me a shower, which was so much fun! Another great day with family and friends.

Almost 36 weeks with a BIG belly!

Cousin Sarah, me, and future sister Lindsey :)

A bunch of girlfriends from OIT, I was so honored they came to celebrate with me!

Cutest cupcakes EVER!

Me with my moms! :)

My mom and I stayed the weekend in Albany, and we had another fun girls weekend together. Kyle and I are now in the midst of organizing all the gifts so that they're ready for when she arrives! I have another shower tomorrow that my work friends are throwing for me, which I'm excited about because I love hanging out with my co-workers outside of work; we don't get the opportunity to do it enough!

Kyle's been busy too, putting together all the stuff that requires assembly. We have the crib up and stroller and car seat all ready, and as we speak he's assembling the pack n play while I'm trying to do our taxes. I had the day off today, and our mission was buying all of the stuff that we still needed. So, armed with lists and coupons we hit Target, Babies R Us, Fred Meyers (for some storage bins for her closet) and got everything! We felt pretty accomplished. :)

Kyle working on the crib...

The finished product!

Stroller and carseat

But enough about baby stuff, let's talk about baby!

At 35 and 36 weeks, Baby Hall is packing on the pounds, at the rate of about an ounce a day. She weighs about 6 pounds (we're suspecting more than that, but we'll see!) and is about 18.5 inches long. She's shedding most of the downy hair that covered her body as well as the vernix caseosa, which is the waxy substance that has protected her skin for the last nine months. She swallows both of these substances, along with other things, and this will form her first bowel movement, which hopefully Kyle gets to change. :) Her kidneys are fully developed now, and her liver can even process some waste products. At the end of this week, baby will be considered full term!

I've started to go to the doctor once a week now, which means that my exams are starting to get a little invasive. I was checked for Group B Strep this week, which is a bacteria that lives in the birth canal that doesn't affect the carrier at all, but you can pass it on to the baby, and it can be really harmful. I guess up to 30% of pregnant women test positive for it, so we'll see; I'll get the results of that at my appointment next week. It's not a big deal if you do test positive though; they just give you antibiotics through your IV during labor. She's also started to check my cervix to see if I'm dilating, and I'm 1 cm dilated! Woo hoo! She said my cervix is really soft too (sorry if that's too much information), which she said is good because that means it's preparing to thin out and efface. It's basically a baseline exam, it doesn't predict when you will go into labor. She said I could go into labor tomorrow, or I could be 1 cm dilated for the next 5 weeks. I'll get checked again next week to see if I'm making any progress!

Every time I go I have to pee in a cup, and unfortunately I got a call today that my last sample showed I have a UTI. It's just a mild one, but I have to take antibiotics 4 times a day for the next week. I'm thrilled because you all know how great I am at taking pills. :) She said she'll know more about it on Monday because they sent it to the lab for culture, so I'll let you know when I know!

Kyle and I have breastfeeding class tomorrow morning before the shower, so it's time for me to go to bed... hope you all have a special Valentine's day! :)