Pushing Daisy

Daisy was born last Saturday, the 19th of November.  I started having contractions at 3am on Friday morning, but wasn't admitted to the hospital until 6pm that night when I was finally 4cm dilated.  After 2 hours of really painful contractions, the doctors gave me an epidural.  Once that kicked in, I actually fell asleep!!!  I could still feel the contractions, but they were much easier to deal with.  I was in and out of sleep until about 4:30 am when the midwife gave me some petocin.  She said Daisy was close to crowning on her own, but my contractions needed to be closer together to push her out.  When I finally started pushing, it only took about 15 minutes for her to come out. 


It was amazing finally seeing Daisy.  I couldn't believe how beautiful she was.  She weighed 8 lbs and 10 ounces.  Since she was so big, they had to check her glucose levels to make sure she was a "healthy big".  And she was :) 

About 2 hours after Daisy came out, Matt noticed my skin was really pale.  So we called the nurse and she saw that I was bleeding a lot more than I should be.  When she pushed on my abdomen, a huge blood clot came out, and I felt a lot worse.  I don't remember much of this point, but I do remember them giving me a pain medicine that made me feel really drunk.  I could hear a lot of nurses and doctors in my room, rushing around.  Someone ended up giving me stitches, but I felt every little prick.  I remember hearing Matt's voice, saying that everything was going to be okay and that I was strong and could do it.  The commotion died down, and I opened my eyes again.  The doctor told the nurse to watch me carefully and that I may need to go into the OR.  It was all pretty scary.  Thankfully my mom was there to hold Daisy and Matt was there to hold my hand and kiss my forehead.  But I got better and wasn't hemorrhaging anymore. 

I'm glad that Daisy is finally here though.  She is simply amazing, and I love her so much.  And seeing Matt with her is great.  He is such a good dad already. 

A great contribution

Today I had another doctor appointment.  The doctor did all the normal things like blood pressure, fundal height check, and fetal heart rate.  They also did a strep test.  Nothing too dangerous, but then again nothing good for the baby to get.  So if I run positive for the test they will give me medications during labor to help prevent passing it to the baby.  And the last test they did was check my cervix.  I am already 1cm dilated!!! 

The doctor said that it's good I'm already dilating.  Most first time mom, he said, don't start this early and it's harder for them when it comes to labor.  But he told me that since I am dilating already I need to be more prepared for signs of labor. 

The other day Matt's mom sent us a box of mail, and in it she had a flier for cord blood banking with a little note saying "might be something good to look into."  So I asked my doctor about it this morning and he said they don't have the equipment to do it at the hospital on base, but I could contact the cord center and they would send the equipment to the hospital. 

I got home and researched it a little more.  I found a few great informational sites.  There have been cases where families have helped treat their child's leukemia.  It's amazing to me how something so natural in life, usually wasted, can save a little kids life from some diseases.  However, I don't think I can save my baby's cord blood.  It is just too expensive....

One company, the cheapest I found, starts at 20 years for $1900 and then $100 a year after that.  I wish we had the money to do it.

But I did find out that I can donate the cord blood, just like you can donate regular blood.  I think this is what I am going to do.  It would bring me so much happiness knowing that instead of wasting the cord blood, I could be saving another kids life.  So first thing Monday morning, I am going to call a donation center and get the equipment sent to my hospital.  I think it'll be such a great contribution :)