New Baby!

(Written on Dec. 2nd) Our baby's birth from Melody's perspective(which is rather fuzzy and probably a little inaccurate about times, dates, etc..): As of yesterday, December 1st at 2:10 pm Scott and I are the parents of a beautiful baby girl named Abigail. Abby was 7 pounds 14 ounces and 19 and a half inches long when she was born. When I get the chance to spend time with her and hold her and look in her beautiful dark blue eyes I am amazed at how blessed we are. The look on Scott's face when he holds her is just priceless. It looks to me like a combination of awe, shock, love, disbelief and more awe.
Abby had a rather traumatic birth so if you aren't prepared for what may be To Much Information discontinue reading! I am still finding out more details of how it went and what happened as time passes. I started having contractions fairly frequently  late Monday afternoon between 6 and 8 pm.  The pain was pretty severe and lasted through the night so on Tuesday morning we headed into the hospital in Orem(Mt. Timp Regional) to be checked. They observed for an hour and said I was effaced almost 80 percent but still only dilated to a 2 which was where I had been at my last appointment a week before. Needless to say, I was pretty disappointed but I think it was almost a relief for Scott as the birth of his daughter was looming nearer and becoming more intimidating and this gave him a little break. So, they gave me a shot of morphine to keep the pain at bay a little and sent us home, but told us they expected to see us back later that evening with how my contractions were going.  I was able to sleep a little bit in between the really painful contractions which still woke me up.
 On  Tuesday we headed back in and were checked again, Much to my continued dismay, I wasn't making much progress in dilation. So, more morphine and back home to rest. At this I am beginning to wonder why this process is so difficult and painful.
Wednesday morning I had had it! I hurt so bad I wanted to just curl up and die. Scott was great at holding me up and coaching me on my breathing through the contractions. It helped so much! He was super supportive and poor guy had no idea what I was feeling. I tried to explain what they felt like but if you've never had menstrual cramps it's a little harder to understand the similarities. They put me in a room to be checked and low and behold I was dilated to a 5!!! I was so excited to finally be making progress! Not only that but the midwife I had seen the most during my appointments had just come on call so she came in to see us. We called my folks up in Brigham City to get them prepared and waited and breathed through the contractions which I have to say is much harder to do when laying in bed doing nothing that when you are moving around being distracted. An hour later I was dilated to an 8. They called the anesthesiologist to come and give me my epidural and he instantly became my best friend! Turned out he only had about 5-10 minutes before he had to be in surgery and so everyone was rushing around trying to get it all ready for him. It was quite the whirlwind! I had heard a lot about how painful it is to get an epidural but that it's worth it once you do have it. Totally not true in my case. The epidural was almost painless to get and made such a huge difference. Luckily I had the chief anesthesiologist and he was good at what he did. At this point I had been in labor about 36 hours with almost no sleep and was very tired and getting a little cranky.A few more hours went by( so they tell me) and there was no more change in my progress. I don't remember exactly how it all happened but I wasn't feeling well(felt like the flu - sweaty, headache, dry throat, fever, etc...). The midwife consulted with the doctor on call from the same clinic sometime during all this and it realized that not only did I have a fever but my body was too small for this baby to fit through the birth canal. Apparently they had waited much longer than normal to come to the conclusion that I needed a c-section.Well, that was devastating and very upsetting. Scott wiped away my tears as I cried.
So, they called in the anesthesiologist again(who by now was out of surgery) and they gave me even more drugs to be completely numb. They would spray my skin with an icy cold substance in one spot and then in the spot that was numb to see what I could feel which I think was interesting. Before I knew it Scott was kissing me goodbye as I flew by as they were wheeling me into the hallway and  we went to the O.R. What felt like less than five minutes later Scott appeared at my side all scrubbed up and they attached the blue sheet in front of me so I couldn't see what they would do. Scott was more nervous than me and I really dislike being cut into! But somehow I just felt like everything would be fine.As soon as things started  to get going(from what I could feel) Scott started  talking to me  and asking me lots of questions and trying to keep up a conversation.  While you may think this was for my benefit, really it was for him. He forewarned the staff in the OR that he might end up on the floor and they showed`him how to "fall" so his head would end up next to mine on my pillow. When I would stop talking or asking him a question he would get a little more pale and worried looking. He did a great job of conquering his fears and at the same time it kept me distracted as much as possible from the pushing and shoving being exerted on my poor tired body.  I heard someone say, "Happy Birthday" and then a very healthy cry from my little girl. She has some great lungs! She cried for the next little bit and Scott went over to see her and take some pictures while she was getting cleaned up. In the meantime they started trying to put me back together. Scott came over and showed me a picture of our little angel and then I started to want to die again. They weren't sharp pains, it was more like every part of body in the affected area was being ripped and stretched apart. This is what the anesthesiologist called "the uncomfortable part". Apparently I wasn't taking it well because that's the last thing I remember. I woke up hours later in a recovery room with my parents and Scott. So, the pictures of Scott showing me Abby in the O.R. are a complete mystery to me, I don't remember it at all. I started to freak out a little in the recovery room when they said they were still running tests on my baby and so I couldn't see her. After sending people to find her several times they brought her in to see me for a few minutes (against the rules, but I was desperate and about ready to demand seeing her). Scott and I got to have a few minutes with just the three of us and I held her and fell in love. A baby couldn't be more perfect than that. She is such a miracle.