Well, I have a good reason for falling off the face of the planet:
Summer Navani was born at 36w4d weighing 6lb 9oz!
I began to notice a lot of watery discharge last Wednesday, almost as if I was having little pee accidents, but they would happen at random times, especially right AFTER I peed, when I was standing up from the toilet.
I began to suspect I might be leaking amniotic fluid but didn't want to feel silly if it wasn't. Over the course of the nighttime the fluid increased a bit and turned a bit pink at times, at which point I was quite sure it was NOT pee. I wasn't having any contractions other than the usual Braxton Hicks, but I couldn't sleep at all and kept going to the bathroom. I waited until 6am and finally called the midwife on call (MINE WAS OUT OF TOWN!!!). I was told to come right in to L&D and they would check to see if it was really amniotic fluid.
It was the strangest feeling: showering, quickly finishing packing the hospital bag, giving the dog a big bowl of food and water, putting the dishwasher on etc, just in case we were gone for a while.
Good thing we did -- the test strip was positive, which meant my amniotic sac had been leaking for about 22 hours. I wasn't having active contractions so in went the IV and pitocin was started. I tried to be SUPER active in labor to get things going. They weren't keen on checking my cervix due to the risk of infection, so I had no idea if I was dilating. I danced to 90's hip hop music, rocked on hands and knees, swayed, walked the halls, bounced on the ball, EVERYTHING! The contractions were coming regularly but were only of moderate intensity. When I finally got checked at 6pm, I was 90% effaced, 3cm dilated and -1 station...progress, but hardly amazing for 9 hours of work.
I continued on laboring and things really did start to pick up as the evening wore on. The problem was, it was all back labor, so they really wanted me to keep moving around, as she was posterior. I got a couple of doses of fentanyl (narcotic) around 6:30pm and then 10:30pm, which helped me keep activem but around midnight I couldn't stand it anymore and I got my epidural.
AAAAAAAAAAH. The relief. Amazing.
I was then asleep by 1am and slept soundly until 7am. I slept through the blood pressure cuff, nurses coming in and out, my IV setup beeping and even being straight cathetered (plastic tube stuck up my urethra to drain my bladder). When I awoke and I realized it was the next day and I hadn't had my baby, I was sure I was headed for a c-section. The nurses thought that was possible, but the MW still had to check me, and that would decide it all.
At 8:30am (this is now Friday), the MW came in and as she went to check me she said, "OH! Well, we are ready to push!" She then grabbed my husband's hand and stuck it in my vagina and said, "that's your baby's head." I started BAWLING! It would be a vaginal delivery!!!
24 hours after the pitocin started, I started pushing. They turned off the epidural so I could feel the contractions more, but for the first half hour, my pushes weren't too effective. Then as the pain medication wore off, holy moly, I could feel pressure like I've never experienced. She did manage to turn anterior as she was descending, but I agree with Kerrhy, when the head was just barely coming out and I had to wait for the next contraction, it was the most brutal wait! I could barely breathe. It did encourage me to push harder though and soon everyone was saying I was very close. The MW did cut an episiotomy to help her get through as it was a "tight fit." I didn't care, anything to get her out.
Within two pushes the head came out and I felt a huge gush of fluid. I thought that the rest of her would just slide out like on TV but no, I still had to push. I think I pushed for 4 minutes straight just to get it over with! Soon the MW yelled at me to grab my baby and I pulled her onto my chest (yes, HER!). I wish I could say I cried and was immediately so happy, but to be honest it was still so painful! I was continuing to contract as the placenta was readying to come out. Finally it slid out and it was quite a relief. Seriously though: after pains. No one talks about those. As she was laying on my chest I was trying to breathe through the pain, and I couldn't focus on her at all! I could just look down and see she was an okay size, and had a full head of dark hair!
As the oral pain meds they gave me set it, I finally calmed down and began to explore my new daughter. She's perfect! She was 6lb 9oz and quite healthy, although her blood sugars were very low the first day. She was too sedated to take the breast so she had to be fed through a tube down her mouth twice and we syringe-injected my colostrum into her mouth (I had to hand-express). Finally her sugars stabilized but she never cried, she just slept, and practically slept through her first bath. She was so tired she couldn't last at the nipple very long and wasn't getting adequate calories.
Long story short, she ended up getting mostly donor breast milk as I worked night and day with the breast pump to get my milk to come in. Eventually we moved from syringe feeding her to bottle-feeds with some practice time on the breast too.
At 4 days old, she was discharged, and we have now been home for 48 hours. It is quite a struggle to keep her fed as she is quite sedate still and falls asleep during feeds ... but we have goal amounts she has to eat and that means it takes an hour to get her fed. I was getting no sleep and got very depressed and unwell for a few days until we came up with a new schedule yesterday with the lactation specialist that allows me longer stretches of sleep at night with more frequent feedings during the day. She is doing primarily bottles of my milk, but takes to the breast a few times a day as well and seems to be getting a little better at it.
She has lost 7% of her birth weight at her check yesterday, which isn't bad, but she is expected to gain an ounce a day from here on out, so it is a lot of pressure. Our days are dominated by trying to get her to wake up enough to eat. We have a pediatrician appointment tomorrow and I'm very nervous for her to have finally gained!
Other than that, she is perfect and wonderful. Daddy is already wrapped around her finger and he is quite good with her, although he cannot keep track of the feeding schedule so it is annoying to be constantly reminding him. Admittedly it's complicated...so I've typed up a chart that outlines all the feeds and I'm trying to get him trained on it. Heaven help me.
Oh, and although my weight gain at the time she was born was 52lbs, I'm already down 24lbs only 5 days later. Part of it is just finally peeing and sweating out all this extra fluid (I had no idea I was swollen EVERYWHERE!), part of it is breastfeeding, and the last part is just not having time to eat very often as I'm constantly trying to get the little miss fed!
As things settle down I'll be back on more regularly, but wanted to check in and see how you all are.
Puppy, my fingers are triple crossed for you!
JBell - so exciting to see you talking TTC dates again!
Mind - I LOVE the name Josie, and actually had it on a list or two when we were thinking of names!
Peanut - getting SOOO close, cannot wait to hear your story. Enjoy these last few weeks as much as you can.
Kerry - I'm so glad to hear from you and your little girl is completely precious! How are you adjusting to motherhood?
Fingers crossed, touch wood and hope that your bfp is not too far away now! Sending you lots of 
Also, I just found out yesterday that my best friend is pregnant! Like literally, we've spend the past 48 hours going back and forth via email analyzing her tests (she's in the U.S.), so it's very early days. But I'm so super excited that we'll have babies that are roughly the same age. She's one of my mama heroes. She has a 2 year old daughter already and I've learned so much from her experience of being a mother, so it's cool to know we'll be pregnant and having babies so close together. So I've been on 
the past day or so. 
for trying for October. It's a great month to have a birthday, as you're in school (makes celebrating with your friends easier growing up) but it's not around the holidays or the dead of winter. I had lots of hayride and pumpkin picking birthday parties as a kid, which I loved! I still love pumpkin picking! We also planned around the holidays and started in May. So I think your plan sounds perfect. So that means you'd be trying around the holidays or a little after this year, right? 
Your birth story brought a tear to my eye, in more ways than one, I am so scared of labour but really want to have a successful vbac and experience that. You sound like you did brilliantly! Good to hear you've got established with breastfeeding like you wanted too. 
I can't believe how far our little group has come. 
