Thursday December 11th, 2008

MARLEY IS HERE!!!! And will be turning 3 weeks old tomorrow evening at 5:58 pm! I cannot believe that it has already been three weeks. Marley is growing so fast and is getting so much cuter with every passing minute! I will now attempt to recap the last three weeks.....
I officially went into labor in the middle of the night (about 2am) on Thursday November 20th. Greg and I stayed awake all night timing my contractions but they remained about 10-15 mins. apart so Greg went to work at 7 and I continued to keep an eye on the contractions. I was scheduled to go into the hospital that night to get a cervix softener to help prepare me for my induction Friday morning at 7, so I called the doctor and asked what I should do now since my labor had seemed to begin on its own. The nurse told me to go walking if I could, so Liana and I went on a 6 mile walk while I got the 4 runner detailed for Marley's homecoming :) My last nesting effort! The house was spotless and now the cars were too! After returning from the long walk my contractions were closer to 5 mins. apart so when Greg got home from work at about 3, we packed up and decided to go the hospital a little early.
I was so ANXIOUS. A combo of nerves and excitement...I couldn't believe that the moment we had been waiting and preparing for for so long was finally here!!! We packed our bags and prepared the house just as we would before going on vacation and then got in the car. It was Greg, Liana and I. When we arrived, they put me in a room and once we were settled they checked gave me an exam. I was dialated 2 cm...I WAS IN ACTIVE LABOR!! They told us that there was really no need for the cervix softener at this point and that we could go ahead and induce labor now if we wanted or we could go home and come back at 7am. As tempting as it was to stay and get things underway, we decided (as a team!) to go home and get a good nights rest and return in the morning. I liked the idea of laboring on my own and getting that one last nights sleep! They gave me an ambient to help me sleep through the contractions (because at this point they were really starting to get painful) and boy did it help! They had to give it to me at the hospital and within 5 mins of leaving, I felt VERY sleepy. Before I knew it, we were waking up to head back to the hospital to have a baby!!!!
As soon as they started the patocin, my contractions became much stronger and closer together. Greg and Liana did a great job helping me through them, but at 4 cm I decided I wanted an epidural and OMG!!! Epidurals are crazy! I felt nothing after that and was able to sleep through my contractions! The doctor was checking my progression every 2 hours and I seems to be dialating about a cm an hour. Lori joined us at about 10am and was videotaping me talk about how much I loved my crushed ice when I felt a big gush of warm fluid poor out of me! I knew it wasn't pee because since I had an epidural they had to put a cathedar in me. My water had broken!!! The nurse told me that I should try and sleep through my labor and rest up for the pushing so Liana and Lori left for awhile and left Greg and I to rest. They returned with beautiful roses for me and a big ol burrito for Greg's "last meal". It was so big, he held it like a baby :)
Megan came by about 3 with a bunch of cookies and brownies she baked for the nurses! We talked about this weeks before as a way to get extra good care :) The cookies were definitely a hit!
Before I knew it I was 7 cm and this is where it really started to get exciting. Since I was dialating about a cm per hour, the doctor was estimating that I would be pushing in about 3 hours, which at this point seemed like no time at all!
Labor was a lot different then I ever imagined. I had always said I would wait until 6-7 cm before getting an epidural and thought that I would be in the shower and using the birth ball to get through contractions. The reality of it was that none of that would have made a difference.
I was in so much pain that it really felt stupid not to get an epidural and once I did, there was really no need for my birthing team. But don't they look good!! We all looked forward to the pushing...then I would really need them! BUT things started to get pretty interesting at about 4pm. I was 8cm at this point and Marley's heart rate was dropping with each contraction. At first the nurse and doctor didn't seem worried at all. They said that the pattern was very much like what they see when there is a cord around the baby's neck, but NOT to worry because that was very, very common. I tried not to worry but of course I was scared! I kept telling myself to stay relaxed and tried so hard not to worry because I knew that would just make my body more tense, but sure enough the doctor came in at about 5 and explained that the situation was a little more serious than he would like and that we were headed in direction of a c-section unless things changed. We instantly agreed to an internal monitor to get a more accurate reading of Marley's heart rate to make sure it was as low as the external monitor was showing and I was given an amniotic infusion where they inject fluid into me to help the baby to float again, therefore taking the pressure of the cord off of her neck. Here heart rate did improve, but not enough to make the doctor comfortable with allowing me to continue to labor naturally. Also, I had not dialated any more since 8cm...it was as if my body ceased to labor any further on its own. At this point Dr. Dunn recommended that we proceed with an emergency c-section for the good of me and baby and since he has one of the lowest c-section rates in the county, we knew it was serious and that we should take his recommendation. Plus, we had done all we could to prevent it at this point. At 5:30 we decided to go ahead with the c-section and at 5:58 Marley Anne Hartgraves was born. I have never been as scared as I was during that procedure. I couldn't stop shaking all throughout and for hours afterwards, but the times I was holding Marley I felt no pain and no fear!!!
What an amazing feeling to see your perfect child for the first time! I couldn't hold her right away but they held her up over the curtain so that I could see her and she was looking right at me and reaching for me!!! It was the most amazing moment of my life! I thought maybe I was the only one that saw it, but Greg couldn't believe it either and actually got a picture of it!!

For the next 3 days, we stayed at the hospital (room 203) and it was a nice little home for those 3 days. The nurses were great and very helpful with breastfeeding tips! We didn't get any sleep but somehow it was okay. We had a lot of visitors which was actually really nice since we couldn't go home for a few days. Chris and Lindsey came with Alison and Madison. John and Sara came and brought Starbucks!! Dad and Marge flew in!! Pete and Laura and the girls (including 2 week old Avery) came. Scott and Melissa came. Nancy, Jeff and Ryan came. We felt very loved and so thankful to have so many great friends and family! Dad and Marge were supposed to fly home Sunday night but decided to stay with us until Thanksgiving, so we checked out Monday morning and the 5 of us headed home. Goodbye Scripps Memorial Room 203...it was fun!!
We got home at about 3 pm Monday and were greeted with a surprise sign on the garage that all the kids in the neighborhood had made. It was such a nice surprise!!! It felt so good to be home! Dad and Marge had stayed the night before and so the house was nice and clean and they even went grocery shopping for us. They cooked and cleaned and waited on us hand and foot. It was nice considering I was not allowed to do anything because of my surgery. It was also nice to have the extra TLC for Marley since Greg and I were SO exhausted!! By the end of the day Wednesday we had a full house. Dean and Sharla, Max and Jack drove from Tempe and Brian and Carolyn drove from Central Point. Dad and Marge got dinner for everyone and we had a really, really nice evening with all the family! At one point I just sat on the couch watching all the family play scrabble together while I held my new daughter and I started crying happy tears because I was so overwhelmed with joy at that moment :) Yeah, I was extremely hormonal, but I was also just really, really HAPPY to have all my family there to share in such an important time in our lives!! The hormones were back a few hours later when I found myself crying myself to bed because I felt so tired and overwhelmed. Now looking back it already feels like so long ago because now I feel like an old pro :) It was a very hard first week and I am just so thankful we had so much help....the moral support was the most important. It was nice to hear how normal my feelings were because i felt a little crazy at times:)
The next day was Thanksgiving and Sharla came prepared to handle the entire dinner herself....she is so industrious and just amazing...I idolize her!!! At one point, she was cooking while Dean was doing our laundry! The boys were so cute and set the table. I think I was in bed by 8 that night....the first night that I went to bed without my baby. Here are some pics of the family. I am signing off for now but will catch up more on these last three weeks tomorrow!