The one with the baby!

Thank you all for the good vibes that you sent out! About an hour or so after I posted last time, Boyd and I decided to go for a walk around the mall to try to get labour going and to go buy a puzzle so I'd have something to do while on all fours (which the midwife also recommended to get things moving).

We walked about halfway down the mall, headed to the Bargain Shop, browsed around, found a puzzle, and were just about to check out when - GUSH!!

"Um. We need to go home, Boyd"
"Huh? Why"
"We need to go home!!"

Yep, that's right. My water broke in the mall. That thing that everyone says never happens ("Oh, it's not like in the movies, it's not likely that your water will break in a big gush in a public place") happened. Luckily I had put a pad on before we left the house so that plus my clothes absorbed it and there was no clean up in aisle six. Boyd ran out, pulled the car around, and we headed home to get the bags and go to the hospital.

We got to the hospital around 4ish in the afternoon and they hooked me up to the monitors. I got a little button to push whenever I felt the baby move. At one point, I could hear movement on the monitor and the nurse asked me if I could feel that. I said no, I could only feel her stretching and pushing her butt out and the nurse told me that was actually a contraction and that it was the second one I'd had since they hooked me up. Nice! I was about 2-3cm dilated at that point and not feeling the contractions, so I sent Boyd and Mom home to get some sleep since it would likely be a long night. I tried to sleep myself, but I couldn't - too much adrenaline, excitement, and the lady giving birth in the room next door must have been getting ripped in half because she was screaming her head off. Not ideal for sleep. I did listen to my iPod and got a bit of rest, anyhow.

The remainder of the evening went pretty well. We walked around to get contractions coming along stronger. At 10:00 we made sure to head to the waiting room and watch Modern Family (because labour won't stop me!) and after that, contractions started coming on sooner and stronger. They still weren't bad, though. They felt like bad gas pains. I'd just close my eyes, put my head down, focus, slowly breathe through it, and that was that.

Around midnight, things started to get harder. I got the shakes really badly, I was feeling the contractions in my thighs as well (weird), and I felt a lot of pressure to push. All those things combined with the contractions made it really hard to focus and breathe through them. We had the nurse check me and I was 4cm dilated. She said the pressure was just that I needed to go to the bathroom and that it was okay for me to do so. As I was heading to the bathroom, she asked if I wanted anything else for the pain. I told her I hadn't had anything yet, so she went to get me something. After I went to the bathroom, she was back with a shot of morphine for me. The shakes went away, the pain in my thighs went away, and it took the edge off. It all felt like bad gas pains again and I was able to get back and focus.

Sometime around or after the 4:30am mark, I was feeling pressure again. I asked for the nurse to check me because I just wanted to know whether or not it was time to deliver or if it was just bathroom issues again. I also asked her, mostly out of curiosity, how long the morphine lasts and how much I was allowed to have. She checked me, said I was pretty much fully dilated, and it was time to head to the delivery room! Then she told me that I wouldn't be able to get anything for the pain at that point. That was no problem - the shot I had had earlier was still helping and I didn't think I'd need anything else.

So we headed to the delivery room, all excited, cracking jokes, and trying to figure out what time the baby would come. I had a teeny lip of cervix to get out of the way, so I worked through some contractions in the delivery room. They were starting to bother me in my back, so Boyd rubbed my lower back through each one. He was absolutely amazing throughout the entire experience. All I'd have to do is sort of nod my head at him and he knew just what I needed him to do to get through the contraction. I know I never would have been able to do it without him. I can't even express how grateful I am to him. Love love love.

I started pushing around 5:25am. I guessed that she would be born around 6-something and the nurse said that she thought she'd be born before 6am. All that positivity soon went out the window...

I pushed and pushed and pushed. I pushed on my back. I pushed on all fours. I pushed squatting. I pushed on the birthing stool. Nothing. She just did NOT want to come out. I was getting exhausted at this point and feeling really discouraged. I cried. I was so exhausted that I couldn't even really tell when I was getting contractions anymore. I just pushed when I felt pressure. I just wanted it to be done and done now. Minutes turned into hours. Finally, I was checked and the baby's head was transverse. My OB decided that we'd need to use the vacuum to get her out. Once that was inserted and things started to get moving, everything turns into a big blur. I just closed my eyes and pushed and pushed while the doctor pulled. I heard all the commotion around me. I felt her coming down. This was the only point in the labour and delivery that I actually got loud and I remember just crying for them to get her out of me. Everyone's voices got louder and more excited and at 9:49am, October 14 2010, Charlotte Anne Chapman entered the world at 7lbs 2oz and 21.3 inches long.


















































Proudest daddy ever! He definitely deserves that coffee mug :)






























Hanging out together at Grammie and Grampie's house before heading home

We were released from the hospital on October 16, spent that night at my mom's house, and came home to our house the next day. We're slowly getting settled here at home. She's a very content baby and sleeps a lot (HA!). We had some breastfeeding issues that are slowly getting resolved and I think once that all falls into place, things will be just fabulous.

It's still crazy to think she's here! Remember when she was a lemon?!