I had my baby!

Just wanted to let everyone know, I had my baby!

Laelynn Oakleigh-Rhielle Vega was born on Saturday, September 10, 2005 at 3:46 P.M. She weighed 5 Lbs. 12.5 Oz. & was 18 1/2 In. long.

She is in the NICU right now, because I wasn’t due until October 8, so she was 4 weeks early. I kind of figured I would have her early or mid September, though, because I lost my mucus plug a few weeks ago, and I was dilated 2 centimeters at my last appointment (which was last Wednesday.) So I kind of prepared for it being it was expected the doctor said.

I had a pretty quick labor though. And I am very proud of myself, because I had planned on going natural with nothing whatsoever for pain, and I did it! Didn’t think I was going to at the last minute, so I went through a major self doubt signpost, and I remembered from Bradley classes that when you reach the self-doubt signpost, birth is just around the corner, so I stuck it out, and I am so glad I did now. My water broke Saturday morning at 10:22 A.M., I wasn’t having contractions right away, so I called my mom and dad over, and I called my husband. He was at work, which is like 45 minutes away, so I waited for him to get home, and I ended up leaving for hospital around 11:30ish. I still wasn’t having contractions, so I was like oh, this isn’t so bad! I wonder why everyone says it hurts so much! Well, my hospital is like 45 minutes to an hour away, and there was traffic extremely bad that day, because I live in Louisiana, and my hospital is right between where I live and New Orleans, it’s like the half-way point, so there was traffic EVERYWHERE from Hurricane Katrina. But anyways, as soon as I was thinking wow, this isn’t bad at all, the contractions hit, and I started timing them, and I started one at like 11:57, then when the next one started, it was 11:59, and then the next one started at 12:01, and so on, and then I realized they were coming like 2 minutes apart, so I started getting freaked out. Lol. But by the time we got to the hospital, it was around 12:30 P.M. when I got up to Labor & Delivery and got changed into a gown. And then I had her at 3:46 P.M. And I pushed for a total of 7 minutes. I was 4 centimeters when I got there. Then I dilated to 5 centimeters the next hour, and then another hour passed, and I was 6 centimeters, and then I started getting really bad contractions and they said I went from 6 to 10 centimeters and was ready to push in the next hour. So from the time my water broke to the time I had her, I was in labor for 5 hours & 24 minutes. Which I don’t think is that long really, because I was freaking out thinking I was going to be in labor for like 12 hours. But the baby is in NICU right now. She will be a week old Saturday. She wasn’t breathing right away when I had her, and it took her a while to cry, so they put her on oxygen, but she started breathing on her own just fine and eating and maintaing her body temperature on Monday or Tuesday, and they were going to let me take her home Wednesday, but then they said she had jaundice. So she is under the bililights right now to bring down her bilirubin levels. Hers were at 15 yesterday morning, so they put her back under the light, and I just called, and her nurse wasn’t in, so I don’t know what her levels are now, but one of the other nurses said she knows they went down because the doctor took one of the lights off, so she’s doing good. Hers have to be below 12 before I can take her home, so pray for her! But I’m feeling better, too. I only had to have 3 stitches, (I guess that is because she was early and is a little bit smaller), and I’m not bleeding very much anymore, and I’m not really hurting anywheres except in my tailbone and my back still. I’ve just been really depressed lately, crying a lot, and stressed out because I want my baby home! Just wanted to let everyone know an update!

-Kristin