I had my baby!
Delilah Vida Honan was born at 6:35pm on Sunday June 24. She weighs 5 lbs 2 oz. and is 19 inches long. She was crying a lot when she came out and turned pink immediately. She is a little chubbier than I thought she would be. Her Apgar score was 6 and then 8!
Labor was intense. They started me on a pill to thin my cervix. About an hour after I took it I started to contract every 1-2 minutes. Eventually they slowed to 2-4 minutes. But they were extremely painful. I used gas and air which did very little. I also decided to add Fentanyl, a fast acting narcotic that lasts about 15 minutes. That also did very little except help the time in between contractions feel less painful. I labored in a jacuzzi tub for a while. Time completely escaped me. When I got out of the tub they decided to put me on pitocin. That's when the real fun began. Not only were they coming faster together, they were much more painful. Finally I threw in the towel and asked for an epidural. I waited and waited and waited. I found out the anesthesiologist was pulled into an emergency C section. At this point it was an hour from when I requested it and I waited a while to request it. The contractions were so strong I could feel her pushing out of me. This went on for a while. It was excruciating. Finally a doctor did a cervical exam and I was 10 cm. I could have told them that. My baby was coming out. They quickly wheeled me into the operating room and told me I could start pushing. I pushed for about 20 minutes or so with no meds. She came out fairly quickly. They all told me I was a really good pusher and they said they don't tell everyone that. There was a team of specialists waiting to take her. They did a lot of tests while I birthed the placenta and got stitched for a minor tear. Ouch and ouch. She wasn't breathing as well as they would like so put a mask on her that hopped give pressure to the lungs. It's not a breathing machine though. I got to give her a quick kiss before they brought her to the NICU. Tim went down to be with her. I had to heal for 2 hours before I could see her. My mom showed up about an hour after birth, but we both got to go to the NICU for the first time together. She's little but doing great. She has my big cheeks.
Her middle name is to honor my step-father from Spain. The last time I saw him before he died from dementia, he told me "we will find your baby." he was not making sense about anything he said and I didn't know what he meant. This was before my losses. The first day we saw her heartbeat was on his birthday. He did find my baby. Vida means life in Spanish.
The icing on the cake (for me anyway) is that she was born on Gay Pride Day in San Francisco. The symbol for Gay Pride is a rainbow flag.
Thank you all for your supportive words and encouraging stories. You really helped get me through one of the scariest times of my life.
I'm not sure how long Delilah will be at the hospital. I hope not long. I couldn't believe that little baby I was holding was all mine.
Pics later, I promise. Tim took some but he went home for the night. My mom is staying in the hospital room with me. I haven't slept in over 24 hours. Exhausted doesn't begin to describe how I feel.
Love you all....I'm a mummy!!!
as my little man seems to have decided that he doesnt need to sleep tonight.
