Faith Amy is here!

Faith arrived yesterday, February 8, at 11:54 AM, at the National Naval Medical Center in Bethesda. She weighed 8 pounds, 10 ounces, and she was 21 inches long. We came home this afternoon, and everything is going fine! Now, for more details . . .

I continued having bloody show Saturday night, as well as these "gas pains". The pains were never regular or very strong, but I did assume they were contractions. I just was afraid they weren't doing anything. If I got up to go to the bathroom, I would feel one or maybe 2, but they certainly weren't waking me up or anything.

I woke up Sunday morning fully intending to go to church. I ate breakfast, debated about whether or not to walk on the treadmill (decided "no"), helped people get ready, and showered and got myself dressed in church clothes. All the while, I was feeling pretty uncomfortable with these pains, which were in my back, mainly. I got on my hands and knees and crawled around for awhile, and I rocked my pelvis a lot, knowing that the baby was probably not in a good position and that should help. Finally, at 10:00, everyone else was ready to go to church, but I decided I was too uncomfortable to sit through a service, so Bob and I didn't go. Mom said I should call the labor ward and see what they said, but I told her I knew they would just say to come in, and I didn't want to do that and have them tell me the contractions just weren't strong enough to do anything, and that they would give me some pitocin. I wanted to wait until the feelings were in a more regular pattern. Up to that point, they weren't regular, and they weren't long--less than 30 seconds long.

After everyone left, I updated my Facebook status to say that I was having contractions, but that they were in my back, and I was trying to get the baby into a more favorable position. I also piddled around, getting the rest of my stuff into my hospital bag. I brewed up my super-strong raspberry tea pint that I drink when I go into labor to help ease labor pains. It is supposed to be 2 cups of boiling water over 1 ounce of tea, brewed for 30 minutes. I realized at that point that maybe I wouldn't be able to wait 30 minutes for the tea to brew, however. Hmmm. At that point, these feelings were definitely happening pretty regularly, about 3-4 minutes apart, although they were still only 30 seconds long, and it wasn't like I was breathing through them or anything. I just felt more comfortable leaning over when I had them. So I leaned over the couch, and I realized that I was actually quite sweaty and clammy and most likely in transition. Hmmmm.

I told Bob we needed to go to Bethesda immediately. We loaded everything up in the car, but as I was walking out to the van in the driveway, I was already feeling a lot of pressure and wondering if we had not waited too long. Bob zoomed along in record time, and we were so thankful it was Sunday morning, so there was hardly any traffic. We left our house at 10:50 and got to Bethesda at about 11:25. I prayed the whole way that things would slow down enough for us to actually get to the hospital, so I wouldn't have a Beltway baby! And although I kept feeling more and more pressure, I didn't feel the urge to push, and my water never broke.

We went up to the labor and delivery floor where they examined me in the triage room. The doctor said I had a slight anterior lip and a bulging bag. They wheeled the whole bed I was on into a labor room, broke my water at 11:50, and I was ready to push! I pushed a few minutes, and Faith was born at 11:54. You know how you always really remember your first birth, so when I felt her head getting close, it hurt, and I thought, "I so do not want her to stay right there through a whole 'nother contraction--that hurts!" Then the doctor said, "You're almost there--keep pushing!" So I did, and her head popped out! One more push, and out came the rest of her. Ahhhh. Every time I have a baby, I am so happy that you only have to have your first baby once! It definitely gets tons easier!

I couldn't believe it was all over so quickly. Everything was kind of chaotic, with people rushing in and out. I was just sort of in shock, but really glad that it was all over. The thing was, I didn't nurse right away, so by the time I got Faith back and tried, she really wasn't interested. She also started having a hard time staying warm, and when they checked her blood sugar level (because of my gestational diabetes), her number was really, really low--28. The pediatricians were called, and she was given a bottle of formula, since she wasn't interested in nursing. Then they tested her levels again, but only about 5 minutes after she finished eating. Her number was 38, which was still not that good. The doctors said they wanted to take her to the NICU and give her glucose in an IV for 12 hours, until she got rid of the extra insulin in her blood and could regulate her own levels.

At this point, my parents were on their way to visit us, having gotten home from church and eaten lunch. I knew the kids would be so disappointed if they couldn't see Faith, so I wanted them to wait to take her until the kids had visited. Bob asked if they could stick her heel again and take one more reading. They did, and her number was up to 60. They still wanted to take her, but they agreed to wait until 3:00, so the kids could visit.

After we took some pictures and let everyone exclaim over Faith, the doctors took her over to the NICU, with Bob following along. When they got there, the NICU nurses tested her glucose levels again, and they were up to 107--perfectly normal. So they decided not to start any glucose IV, but they would just observe her for awhile. After my parents took the kids back home, I went over to the NICU to nurse. I asked the nurse there how long Faith would have to stay if everything continued to be fine, and she told me 24 hours! She said Faith had to prove she was well, etc., and that once a baby was in there, they rarely left earlier than 24 hours later. Grrr. This meant I would have to get out of bed every few hours and trek over to the NICU to nurse at night. Plus, Faith looked like a chunky toddler in there, compared to all these preemies! She was right across from an adorable set of twins that had been there for 11 weeks. They had started out at a little over 1 pound each, and now that they had chunked up to 4 pounds, they were getting discharged the next day! Faith the newborn looked like a giant compared to them! Since she didn't even have an IV line in, it seemed silly for her to have all these leads attached, and all this care. I started praying that she would be able to get out of there sooner.

Her glucose numbers continued to be just fine, and when I went back to nurse at 7:00, a new nurse told me the doctor was getting ready to send her back over to my room! Yay! So around 9:00, she was discharged from her little stay at the NICU. She has been a great nurser so far, and I was glad to be able to nurse her in bed, instead of far away in a rocking chair, with a ton of beeping and activity going on around us!

Since she was doing fine, and I was feeling fine, we got discharged this afternoon, making it home by 3:00. Everyone was excited to see us! Now we're just settling in. It's great to be home! I'm looking forward to sleeping in my own bed tonight, without corpsmen and doctors coming in all the time for various reasons. I will say that all the people we dealt with at Bethesda were so very nice. It was really a good experience all around. Very impressive, especially for a military hospital!