My Baby is SO Hollywood . . .

Little Sasha is such a diva! In fact, she is so cool that she needs a reverse tan. We got a little crazy with the spray on tan and she's a little too orange, so we have to reverse it. Ha! Ha!
Yup, the Bili count was up to 16 when the doctor checked her today so our little one is now under the lights. :( This is so not fun!!! My new hobby is cuddling with her and sitting here watching her in this little bed is kind of hard. But at least her eye shields are cool! (Funny pictures to follow soon.)

Okay, so here is the whole glorious story . . . sorry if you've already heard it but I keep getting asked. :)
Overall, it was not bad. For anyone that had a bad labor, I'm sorry. Mine was not that bad. We got to the hospital at 7:30 am. By the time they got me all hooked up it was about 8:00 when they started the petocin. The doc came and broke my water about 1:00 or so. Can I just say what a completely uncomfortable feeling that is? Sitting in a bed and basically peeing your pants for five minutes straight and you can do nothing about it. Not fun. By 2:45 I was ready for the epidural. Those of you who go natural by choice, good for you . . . but why? Never mind, I've sparked enough debate on my blog for one week. But let's just say I was GLAD to have those drugs. I know I could have survived without them, millions of women have, but since I had a choice I chose drugs. Josh had to sit out for the epidural though. He has a thing about needles, plus since administering the epidural itself is such a touchy thing he didn't want to risk getting weak in the knees and making me move while the doctor was putting the needle in my back. I was totally ok with this. And actually getting the shot wasn't too bad either. It hurt at first, but then it was fine. Once that kicked in things were good. At about 5:30 I was dilated to a 9 and ready to roll. The doctor got there about 6:15 and I started pushing. I just took it one push at a time and it didn't seem like it took two hours, at least not to me. I kept asking the nurse if she was moving along at all. She very sweetly lied to me. Every time I would ask "Is she getting closer? Has she moved at all?" Josh and the nurse would exchange glances while I wasn't looking and silently say to each other "This baby is not coming out without help." Finally the doctor decided that the vacuum had to come out. He did an episiotomy, unfortunately it wasn't long enough and I tore a little more. Ouch. Then he attached the vacuum, it took about three tries and finally her head came out! From there it was all very easy. He lifted her up so I could see her and I was expecting him to lay her on top of me like they do in the birthing class video, but he immediately handed her off to the nurses. At this point he discovered that I tore an artery and he had to start working on me right away. I was completely weak and totally out of it by this point. Of course Sasha was fine and doing everything that newborn babies are supposed to. I on the other hand couldn't stop shaking. I was anemic to begin with and by the time the delivery and stitch up was over I had lost too much blood. Not that it was an extreme amount by normal delivery standards, but since my blood was already low it was too much for me. The hematocrit (sp?) number was down to 25 so my doctor strongly recommended that I get some blood pumped in to me, which I happily accepted. Otherwise it could have been a long, slow recovery. I got two units overnight and felt much better the next day.
Our hospital stay was great. If you get the choice, I recommend delivering at Lakeview. The nurses are super nice and fabulous, they spoil you rotten and happily get you anything you want. The lactation specialist there is very nice and very helpful with all things newborn. The food is actually good as is the cafeteria for hubby and they don't gouge you on the prices. Sweet! They served us a 'Special Meal' with steak, potatoes, salad, rice, veggies and dessert, which was kind of cool. Not that it was the greatest steak I have ever had (hello, NO ONE can top my dad's steaks!) but it was good and unexpected from a hospital. Plus they gave us a cute little shirt and hat for her, put a new and cute little bow in her hair every time they brought her back to us, and Sasha got a new blanket for Christmas. So if you have the choice, I say do it at Lakeview.

So there's the story . . . don't think I left anything out. I was so worried about something going wrong with her that I never thought that I would be the one to need extra attention. But all in all, it wasn't scary, horrible, extremely painful or long. The day actually kind of flew by and it felt like a total out of body experience to me. It was strange to me right after that I had just performed (with a lot of help) the most amazing miracle ever. Josh was totally amazing, and continues to be the best husband and dad ever. He changed all the diapers in the hospital, ran around for me and did everything with a sleep-deprived and exhausted smile on his face. I love him so much and could not have asked for a better partner through all of this than him. My mom has also been super wonderful. She has been here with me the last two days since Josh had some work to get taken care of. She spoils me rotten and I know she just loves to get paid in 'Sasha time.' She has been the absolute best. And thank you to everyone that has called, emailed, texted, commented or even thought about us in the last week. We have felt all of your love and support and we very much appreciate it.

And now she's back to sleep under her Bili lights for the weekend and we'll know on Monday if she has to stay longer. This is going to be a long weekend. Time for another ice pack.