Finally after 4 months...

Well folks after all this time I think I'm finally settled enough to start giving you all some updates on the Grenier household!!!  About time eh?  Let's start from the very beginning, a very good place to start.  If I recall correctly I left you all hanging with baited breath regarding the growing child in my womb.  Let me assure you, SHE is no longer in there and is a healthy, quite chunky and squishy 4 month old!  Which leads me to the birth story so here goes.

INDUCTION!  What I thought was a nasty word, turned out to be much better than anticipated.  There I was at 41 and 1 weeks of gestation all itchy and plump ready to get this kid out any way shape or form!  My wonderful Dr. had me scheduled for an induction where I would come in at 10pm and they would insert this little tiny pill to sit on my cervix and dilate me in hopes of kicking me into active labor.  It was Wednesday May 22nd at 9:30pm when I got the call.  Apparently God had orchestrated a natural disaster with several tornadoes touching down in various states around us which in turn, caused the barrometric pressure to drop, which caused every pregnant woman in the DFW metroplex to go into labor, which caused me to get booted from my scheduled induction.  The lovely nurse on the phone informed me that there were three women in labor in one room; I would happily stay home and wait out "the storm."  I was instructed not to eat anything and told that I would have a baby within the next day once they cleared out the deluge of patients.  So just in case your math is as good as mine, that would mean almost a full 24 hours of nothing to eat...right...who were they kidding?!  So I politely assured her that I wouldn't eat and would wait for their call the next day.  By noon the next day we did not have said phone call, so Paul and I promptly decided to go out for sushi, well he had sushi; I had some california rolls and tempura.  In the middle of our succulent lunch, we got the call.  Could we be there in a half hour they said; sure we said :)  We rushed home, gathered our accouterments and headed out.  All of the cavalry was called in as this was, in fact, happening.  It was a strange feeling to arrive at the hospital NOT in labor, check in with the receptionist and play solitaire on my phone next to the nursery of screaming babies as I waited for my room.  I looked at Paul and said, "This is the last time we'll walk in any place just the two of us."  Mind blown I started to perspire- who was I kidding- I was going to birth a baby,OMG!  I waddled back to the room and changed into my lovely hospital garb and the waiting game began.  The nurse asked me my birthing preferences and Paul and I told her that we were planning to do this thing naturally.  She looked at us like we had 10 heads and said, "Ok."  Fortunately she was about to go home for the night.  The aforementioned pill was inserted at 6ish after what seemed like every nurse in the hospital came in to check me for progress.  My Dr. then peeked his head in to say that he wanted me to take some Ambien as this would probably be the last night in a long time that I would get a full nights sleep (in actuality it was the night before and had I known, I would've commemorated that sleep with some sort of significance- I digress).  So I took the Ambien and prepared to drift off.  Not two hours later my nurse, the one that would see me through this ordeal, who just happened to look like my bestie Colleen, came in to introduce herself and insert another pill.  She was on board with my pain preference and said she wouldn't mention it unless I brought it up myself~score one for us!  A couple hours later I was awakened by some cramping and got up to pee when whoosh, there went my water.  Paul came over and the fun began.  We started a rhythm; he would breathe in deeply and I would mimic his breathing.  We got through every contraction that way.  It was around 2 am at this point and the nurse came in and told Paul (I don't remember any of this conversation) that my contractions were coming too fast and she was going to have to give me some fluids to slow them down while she called me Dr.  I think I was around 8 cm dilated fully effaced, but this kid was still pretty high, so my nurse asked me if she could maneuver me into some rather uncomfortable positions.  She also asked me what my pain level was and I think I thought I was at a 5 or 6.  The next hour or two were some of the most painful of my life but I felt like I was progressing and I was able to breathe through them, so onward we went.  At some point my breathing changed into some medieval sounding grunt and I knew it was time to push.  At this point I almost lost my cool, but as long as I was locked eyes on Paul I was alright.  I remember asking my sweet nurse when my Dr. was going to make his appearance because it was time to get this kid out!!!  As soon as he walked through the door, Paul informed me that I said, although I don't remember this, "Took you long enough Weinstein!"  Hilarious!  Since I wasn't medicated I could feel him telling me where to push and 45 minutes later he held up this giant child and all I could see was her vagina!!!  It was a girl- a girl!!! I was for sure it was a boy!  I kept on saying over and over again, "It's a girl!"  She also looked exactly like my little brother :)  It was a moment to cherish.  Meanwhile, I was bleeding out like a stuck pig.  I didn't realize that this was happening, but needless to say I was being poked with every blood-stopping medication known to man. The absolute worst pain out of the entire experience was when my Dr. shoved his whole hand into my uterus and began massaging it from the inside and the outside with his other hand.  I was writhing in pain at that time and really would have preferred him to stop, but I also wasn't relishing a blood transfusion, so there ya go.  This little angel weighed in at 8 lbs. 13 oz. and measured 21 inches long; she was born at 5:34 am. roughly 6 hours after I went into active labor.  Let me take a moment to comment that I drank my weight in red raspberry leaf tea in the months leading up to her birth and I think it did wonders for my speedy delivery.  I'm banking on the next one walking out in under 3 :)  

Labor and delivery were an absolute joy and I say that with all sincerity!  It was a bonding experience with Paul that took our relationship to the next level and I felt that I had accomplished something that women had been doing for millions of years!  What a rush!  I would do it again in a heartbeat!  What I wasn't prepared for were the next 6 weeks, but that's another story for another post.  I'll leave you with a couple of pictures of our sweet chunky monkey!