Hailey Joy
Someone really didn't want to be a September baby!
Labor day weekend was supposed to be a weekend of hanging out and getting chores done. I started off Saturday morning with the intention of getting Dakota's hair trimmed up - and accidentally cut a chunk out of his ear. To make up for it, I decided to take him for a nice long walk. After the walk, I felt pretty crampy, but figured that I was having Braxton Hicks from the walking. I decided to relax and read a book in the recliner while Joel went down to Richfield to mow our other house's lawn and play racquetball.
The cramping didn't seem to let up and sort of felt like it was coming and going in intervals, so I decided to call the doctor. I finally go through and she said based on how they were feeling, she didn't think they sounded like contractions, but to monitor for the next hour and come in if the cramping got closer together. Joel called and I told him to play another game of racquetball and if the cramping didn't go away by the time he got home, we would go in. I waited about 10ish minutes and just felt like something wasn't right so decided to drive down to Southdale. Joel called once I started and almost talked me into waiting until he got back, but I decided to just drive down and have him meet me at the hospital - both of us assuming that we would just go in and they would send us home. The cramping was really annoying, but then it would go away as I was driving and I almost turned around and went home because when the cramping stopped, I felt just fine.
I got to the hospital around 2ish and Joel and I headed up to labor triage. They hooked up the monitors and told us they were in fact contractions that were 4 minutes apart and I was dilated to a 5. They told us we were in active labor, to our surprise. They admitted us to labor and delivery around 3pm and called the anesthesiologist up to give me an epidural. Once I got the epidural, they called in the doctor to break my water. She came in about half hour later, broke my water, and told us to get comfy since I was dilated to a 6. Joel was enjoying his Chipotle and had showered in the room since he was still sweaty from playing racquetball. The doctor left to go home and 2 contractions later, it felt like the baby was coming out so I called the nurse back in. I was dilated to a 10, she had me do a practice push and then called the doctor back in. She rolled me onto my left side and about half hour later, the doctor was back and it was time to push. She got there around 6pm and Hailey was born at 6:39pm. She was meconium stained, so there was a NICU nurse there when she was delivered (once they called her in, I knew she was only a few pushes away from joining us!). She came out screaming with an apgar score of 8 and 9.
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Hailey Joy joined the world at 6:39pm, apgar score of 8 and 9. It was the most relieveing thing to hear her cry. She weighed in at 6 pounds 2 ounces.
No tearing, was up walking around a little while later. She wouldn't take milk so they hand expressed and finger fed her.
We wheeled up to postpartum. Didn't sleep all night worried about her.
feeding was an ordeal for the first few days - I would have to try to get her to feed for 15 minutes, then Joel would finger feed her donor milk, then I would pump for 15 minutes to try to stimulate milk production. The lactation consultant came in and was amazing. We then started trying to feed her while giving her a syringe of donor milk at the breast to encourage her to keep trying there. Then I would pump.
The second night, Joel convinced me to let them take her to the nursery so we could get some sleep - I am so glad that he did that.
She passed her hearing screening and her congenital heart screening. Every time she fed, she had to have her foot pricked for blood sugar readings - luckily she stayed above the required levels for 24 hours, so she didn't have to get pricked anymore. Her tiny feet were covered in pricks, it was so sad looking.
We did first day photos right before getting discharged. She looks so tiny in her car seat!
The first night was so rough, I was so worried about her. We saw a pediatrician on Wednesday, which really helped some of my anxiety. I made a Target run with my mom and left Hailey home with Joel and Cassie. We also tried the sleeping in shifts with her so that we could each get some decent sleep. We've taken a walk the last two days to get out of the house. It has been helpful for people to come over and just hold her or watch her so that Joel and I can get a few things done or catch a little nap.
Labor day weekend was supposed to be a weekend of hanging out and getting chores done. I started off Saturday morning with the intention of getting Dakota's hair trimmed up - and accidentally cut a chunk out of his ear. To make up for it, I decided to take him for a nice long walk. After the walk, I felt pretty crampy, but figured that I was having Braxton Hicks from the walking. I decided to relax and read a book in the recliner while Joel went down to Richfield to mow our other house's lawn and play racquetball.
The cramping didn't seem to let up and sort of felt like it was coming and going in intervals, so I decided to call the doctor. I finally go through and she said based on how they were feeling, she didn't think they sounded like contractions, but to monitor for the next hour and come in if the cramping got closer together. Joel called and I told him to play another game of racquetball and if the cramping didn't go away by the time he got home, we would go in. I waited about 10ish minutes and just felt like something wasn't right so decided to drive down to Southdale. Joel called once I started and almost talked me into waiting until he got back, but I decided to just drive down and have him meet me at the hospital - both of us assuming that we would just go in and they would send us home. The cramping was really annoying, but then it would go away as I was driving and I almost turned around and went home because when the cramping stopped, I felt just fine.
I got to the hospital around 2ish and Joel and I headed up to labor triage. They hooked up the monitors and told us they were in fact contractions that were 4 minutes apart and I was dilated to a 5. They told us we were in active labor, to our surprise. They admitted us to labor and delivery around 3pm and called the anesthesiologist up to give me an epidural. Once I got the epidural, they called in the doctor to break my water. She came in about half hour later, broke my water, and told us to get comfy since I was dilated to a 6. Joel was enjoying his Chipotle and had showered in the room since he was still sweaty from playing racquetball. The doctor left to go home and 2 contractions later, it felt like the baby was coming out so I called the nurse back in. I was dilated to a 10, she had me do a practice push and then called the doctor back in. She rolled me onto my left side and about half hour later, the doctor was back and it was time to push. She got there around 6pm and Hailey was born at 6:39pm. She was meconium stained, so there was a NICU nurse there when she was delivered (once they called her in, I knew she was only a few pushes away from joining us!). She came out screaming with an apgar score of 8 and 9.
.
Hailey Joy joined the world at 6:39pm, apgar score of 8 and 9. It was the most relieveing thing to hear her cry. She weighed in at 6 pounds 2 ounces.
No tearing, was up walking around a little while later. She wouldn't take milk so they hand expressed and finger fed her.
We wheeled up to postpartum. Didn't sleep all night worried about her.
feeding was an ordeal for the first few days - I would have to try to get her to feed for 15 minutes, then Joel would finger feed her donor milk, then I would pump for 15 minutes to try to stimulate milk production. The lactation consultant came in and was amazing. We then started trying to feed her while giving her a syringe of donor milk at the breast to encourage her to keep trying there. Then I would pump.
The second night, Joel convinced me to let them take her to the nursery so we could get some sleep - I am so glad that he did that.
She passed her hearing screening and her congenital heart screening. Every time she fed, she had to have her foot pricked for blood sugar readings - luckily she stayed above the required levels for 24 hours, so she didn't have to get pricked anymore. Her tiny feet were covered in pricks, it was so sad looking.
We did first day photos right before getting discharged. She looks so tiny in her car seat!
The first night was so rough, I was so worried about her. We saw a pediatrician on Wednesday, which really helped some of my anxiety. I made a Target run with my mom and left Hailey home with Joel and Cassie. We also tried the sleeping in shifts with her so that we could each get some decent sleep. We've taken a walk the last two days to get out of the house. It has been helpful for people to come over and just hold her or watch her so that Joel and I can get a few things done or catch a little nap.
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