Delivery

I'll keep the gruesome details to a minimum ;) When it was time to start pushing, I am so glad Tim paid attention in our parenting classes to the pushing part, it took a few times for me to get it down...Breath in, hold breath in and push...I kept exhaling as I pushed until my FAB husband and coach corrected me and then I got the hang of it!  Thanks Tim!

My doctors shift was ending so after the initial round of pushing she introduced me to the doctor on rounds for the night who would be delivering, but told me since it's my first baby, it could take 2-3 hours...I was hoping for the sooner.  So for the next hour and a half it was Tim, my L&D nurse and me, pushing away.  As explained to me, every time I felt like I had to "go #2" meant it was time to push, so about every 10 minutes or so I'd say OK and Tim would hold my left leg and my nurse my right leg and we'd do 4 sets of pushes.  My nurse got called out of our room for a little to help the nurse across the hallway and left Tim and I to go it alone at the pushing...WHAT??!!  She assured us that the baby wasn't far enough down to push out.  So for about 20 minutes it was just Tim and I alone and pushing.

I did have them bring the mirror out so I could see the progress and what was going on, quite honestly when pushing I would look out of one eye scared of what I was going to see...but thankfully nothing embarrassing happened!!  At about an hour and a half in my nurse said "oh, it's time to get the doctor in here, don't push just hold it", wow...she is ready to come now...really??this is happening for real?? WOW!!  I have watched many tv programs with Tim and we both know that the doctor doesn't come in until "go time!".

G-rated shot of the pushing position and delivery room.

The doctor came in and got in her scrubs, another two nurses followed behind, they got their trays of tools ready and then it was time to start the official pushing.  Tim got the camera ready (G rated only) and the doctor said "ok and PUSH", it was honestly such a blur but within about 3 seconds out slides Raya on the first push with the doctor!!!  WOAH that was fast and at 8:03 PM she was HERE and joined the world!  My placenta came following right after her and Tim cut the cord.  I had a level one tear so I needed a few stitches, all the while they had little Raya resting on my chest and starting to take her first breaths of air.  I didn't know weather to laugh or cry, it was certainly a surreal, amazing, once in a lifetime feeling!

Daddy with his little princess, she's one lucky girl!

Labor

Everybody has a birth story and I have heard at least a dozen of my friends stories leading up to Raya's delivery.  Some easy, some difficult but one thing is for sure after having gone through it myself now, no two stories are the same, but I enjoyed hearing all the stories so I will share mine!

So EDD was April 14th which came and went with no delivery.  I saw my doctor on April 19th and I had made some progress but she wanted to talk induction plan just in case.  She scheduled me for induction on Wednesday April 25th IF she did not come on her own in the upcoming 5 days.  She also had me do the NST (non-stress testing) on Friday the 20th and Monday the 23rd.  I attended both and everything checked out normal, fluids levels were good and baby's heartrate was strong and normal...so I was sent on my way from the nurses with "we'll see you Wednesday".  At this point I had come to terms with the dreaded induction that was around the corner :( To make matters worse the ased me to come in for my induction at 5:00 AM and to call them at 4:00 AM to make sure there was room for me in a room...WHAT????  I am not going to be sleeping for the rest of my life and I have to get up at 4:00 AM, makes no sense to me :( Tim and I headed to bed Monday night saying "let's enjoy our last night of sleep for a WHILE!!"

Sure enough as nature would have it I was woken by contractions that felt like BAD period cramps at about 3:00 AM in the morning on Tuesday!  I had experienced some contractions earlier in the week but just as I learned in class and from my doctor, if I was able to go back to sleep they were not real contractions...well I was up and down to the bathroom about 12 times between 3 and 5 AM, everytime I stood up I had to pee again.  It was hard to keep track of the contractions becuase of how often I was frequenting the bathroom, I thought "Oh I must have dropped!!", I had been told about a bazillion times leading up to my due date that I hadn't dropped yet so I thought this must be what it that is??  Tim was mostly sleeping but knew I was in an uncomfortable state and finally at about 6 AM after much of my signing and complaining of cramping, he said OK let's start timing these contractions.  After about 40 minutes he said "I think it's time to take a shower".  According to his timing my contractions were about 3.5 minutes apart and pretty steady.  I was freaked out at this point (was I REALLY ready to do this??  after all the waiting and now I was nervous) and convinced him to let me take a bath to see if that eased up my pain.  The bath didn't ease up the contractions, but it did give me a chance to relax a little and shave my legs knowing that VERY soon I'd be heading to the hospital!  Tim was anxious and wanted to get going, I was taking my time since I didn't want to spend my whole labor in the hospital and I think I was stalling based on my nerves.

I had a small breakfast of toast and applesauce. I think it was about 8:45 or so that we headed to the hospital.   We were admitted to triage and right away I was checked and hooked up to heartbeat and contraction monitors.  Just as Tim had timed, I was contracting about every 3-3.5 minutes and at this point I was at 4.5 cm dilated.  It was really real when the triage nurse told me we are admitting you, looks like you are going to have this baby by dinner time.  WHOA!!!  Tim was sent to the car to get our bags and we were assigned a labor and delivery room.

I got to room 307 at about 11:00 AM and again got hooked up to the monitoring machines, I was still in a good place pain wise so I didn't want an epidural yet.   My mom and Tim's mom arrived shortly after and we just hung out and played the waiting game.  I had brought Moulin Rouge with me (one of my favorite movies) so I had Tim put that in the DVD player.  I used the exercise ball to open up my hips and tried to walk around. They told me that my contractions were stronger than I was leading on, which made me feel good, I wanted to go as long as possible before getting an epidural.  My doctor came in and checked on me a few times and at about 1ish my doctor broke my water and I was at about 6.5 cm dilated.  They told me that my contractions would start getting more intense and that was no lie!  By about 2:30 I almost couldn't concentrate and I told Tim I think it was time for the epidural.  By 3:00 PM I was feeling MUCH better and relaxed and  when my doctor came to check on me and I was still at about 6.5 cm, she ordered that I get some pitocin since I was stuck at 6.5 cm for a little while. 

Relaxing in bed, capturing the moments of the day

 Just before the pain REALLY started, laboring on the excercise ball

At 6:15 PM my doctor came back in before her shift ended to see what my progress was and I was 10 cm finally!!!  It was time to start trying to push, wow!!  crazy!!  HERE WE GO... 

SPECIAL DELIVERY

Our sweet Raya Grace Altbaum FINALLY arrived on Tuesday night at 8:03 PM weighing in at 6 pounds 10 ounces and just 19" long. 

Welcome to the family Raya, we LOVE you!

Distractions

My mom got to San Diego on the 18th, partially thinking Raya was waiting for HER to get here to make her welcome into the world, BUT Raya had different plans.  Instead she decided to sleep in a few days more so that Mom and I could spend some time together before her big debut!

From the minute my mom got here we have been on the go!!  We have been walking, walking, walking, to try to get this girl to move her way out, but NOPE she must just like the rocking motion but at least it has given us some good exercise.  On Thursday we went to see a preview of the movie Five Year Engagement, which was pretty funny. 

We got to the Safari Park on Friday for more walking with a view at least!  The elephants and hippos were fighting over whose team I could join :( What happened to black being a slimming color???  GEESH!!!

After the Safari Park we went to Orfila Vineyards which is just down the road.  We stumbled upon their Friday afternoon concert, it was a BEAUTIFUL day so Tim and mom tasted the wines and we sat outside and listened to the band play, I had a few sips of some of the yummy wine too...hey at this point I don't think it will effect her at all except to put her to sleep more!

Sadly my stomach actually worked as a shelf for the wine glass!!

Saturday we got to enjoy the nice weather and headed to the pool...I did a few laps and squats in the water again to try to move the baby along but nada!  Sunday we headed to Tim's baseball game then the Hillcrest Farmers Market for some fresh produce.

So although nothing has brought the baby any quicker, I have at least had some fun distractions while we wait, wait and wait some more!

NST

So I went to see my doctor on Thursday and good news was things are FINALLY progressing "down there", bad news is that if this little baby doesn't get things moving along on her own by Wednesday I will be induced.  I guess it's not a bad thing because we know she will be here this week, but I am just worried about the induction process, drugs involved and it having a negative effect on me.

Since she is sleeping in late my doctor called for me to have NST (non stress test) performed. I had my first one on Friday and I had to go over to Mary Birch and get an ultrasound which measured my fluids then I went to triage and had heart rate monitoring for ~45 minutes, all checked out good!  I just wanted to say "OK Raya, I realize you are comfy in there BUT it is TIME TO COME OUT", I know she can't understand that, so just trying to be patient is what I am doing (not very well I should add :().

I go back again tomorrow morning for another NST unless something happens overnight...I keep saying every night maybe tonight will be the night and it's not, so I'm not too confident that anything will be different tonight.  I know I am not being a good mom by having any negativity, I realize there has been progression BUT is it enough to get here here on her own before Wednesday??  We shall see!

Sigh!!!  

Taurus Baby

Well this little girl is overbaking and has passed the date of being an Aries and will now be a Taurus.  So what are the characteristics of a Taurus baby...

Babies/Toddlers

• stubborn with a capital S-T-U-B-B-O-R-N
• loving
• flirty
• daddy's little girl and momma's boy
• sweet
• charming
• well-behaved
• shy (they don't want or expect to be the center of attention)
• artistic and musical

How ironic she is STUBBORN, well heck I knew that already by her lack of appearance in this world thus far!

It's just an estimated due date, right??

I was hoping little Raya would have joined us already but with 2 hours left in the day, I am pretty confident she is not coming out on her EDD. Momma is always fashionably late whereas daddy is an always early kinda guy, so looks like little lady will be following in my footsteps. Which is all fine and good as long as she is Not TOO late!

To distract myself today I had a little retail therapy. I picked up slippers (comfy plush grey flip flop sandals with a little flowerette) and pillowcases (in a blush pink color) for the hospital. I also got a new pair of sneakers to prepare for post baby workout! Shopping always helps :)

Tim had a wedding tonight so I am having a couch night with little Zara...one of our last nights just the two of us. We enjoy watching reality shows, lifetime movies or taking a walk up to Redbox to see what chick flicks we can rent when we stay in for Saturday nights together :) I mostly enjoy watching her snuggled sleeping next to me, soon little Raya will join us on the couch on those nights when daddy has to work - cant wait!!