One Week

Martha will be one week old tomorrow. How crazy is that?! I mean, I have a kid! Insane.

Anyway, I'll make the labor story short and sweet. I really just want to document the experience so I can remember how horrible/awesome is was.

I woke up Sunday morning at 4:00 AM with my water breaking. I really wasn't sure if that's what had happened so I waited until 4:30 when the pain started to wake Chris up. Since it was still weird and I really wasn't 100% sure if I was in labor, Chris went back to sleep for a while and I managed to shave my legs and put make-up on. All this through HORRIBLE contractions. I mean, it was bad. Chris was freaking out a little bit. (Oh yeah, I called the hotline thingy and was told a doctor would call me back, but no one did.)

So, we threw our bag and car seat in the car and got to the hospital around 6:30 AM. They checked me and I was already 4 cm dilated and Martha was really low. So low that they could feel her head. Whaaaaaaaat?! Ha ha. No wonder I was in so much pain. After answering a billion questions, they got the anesthesiologist in there and I was feeling 100 billion times better within 10 minutes of him giving me the drugs. I think that was around 9:30 AM or so. Personally, I don't know how anyone could give birth without an epidural. Seriously.

I pushed and pushed and pushed and at 12:45 PM Martha popped out all gooey. I heard the first cry, Chris cut her cord, they put her up on my belly, and there she was. That part, which was the best part, happened so fast. I wish I could have savored that moment more.

All in all, it wasn't that horrible. I think if I'd gone to the hospital sooner and had the epidural sooner, I wouldn't have any complaints about labor. The pushing part was tiring, but not hard or painful.

My body is still recovering but I feel pretty good. Oh, and I'm on blood pressure medication right now, which I'm thinking I won't have to be on for long. Throughout the whole labor and afterward in the hospital they were checking my blood pressure allllllll the time. It stayed consistantly high-ish. So that's what's up with that right now. I think it'll be back to normal soon.

Ok, so that wasn't very short.



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April 18th, the day she was born.

Martha Faye is here. She looks exactly like chris when he was a baby. I thought the Dorris family had strong genes! Dang. Oh well. She's beautiful still, of course.

We're all doing great and she's been sleeping absolutely non-stop.

I will post again with more details of my experience (not gross ones) when we're
home and settled.

I'm a mom!

April, Baby!

So, at my appointment last week, my doctor said I was measuring big (again) so she asked if I wanted to do an ultrasound that day to get an idea of how big Martha is. I believe my response was something like, "YES!!!"

I'm aware, and the ultrasound tech explained as well, that the further along in the pregnancy, the harder it is to estimate an accurate size, so their estimation is just that...an estimation. She said they like to get within a half pound, but you really never know until the baby is born.

Anyway, she said that at 36 weeks, Martha is looking to be about 7 and a half pounds! If the tech was in the ballpark and Martha really is that big a week ago, that's pretty crazy. If I went full-term to 40 weeks then she may be 8 and a half to 9 pounds when she is born.

So, my doctor said "I'm thinking we might want to induce you a little bit early. Probably around 2 and a half to 3 weeks from now." And I believe my response was something like, "THAT SOUNDS GREAT!"

That would put Martha being born a week to a week and a half early, which is totally fine and legit and I'm alllllll for it.

Because of this news, we've been getting more prepared so we're not doing everything at the last minute. My mom bought a diaper bag for me and a robe to wear at the hospital. And I'm hoping that the gifts that a few people from work bring over on Saturday will cover the last few important items on our registry. Oh, and Chris' mom should be ordering the stroller and car seat very soon.

I'm just so super excited to finally have this pregnancy over and have Martha here. I want to see what she looks like. I want to see if she has any hair. I want to finally hold her instead of having her jab at me from the inside.

I'm so close. So. Very. Close.