Adelaide Irene

We recently welcomed to our family Adelaide Irene Butt! She has her Daddy's eyes, her mommy's round face and a natural mohawk! Adelaide was born Sunday August 24, 2008 at 3:40 AM. She weighed 7 lbs 10 ozs and is 21 inches tall. She is also a succesful VBAC baby!

It was a long labor and probably would have been extremely difficult for me if it wasn't for the miracle of modern medicine. It began Friday morning and progressed through the night. I got very little sleep. Saturday afternoon my water broke and we went to the hospital. I was very reluctant to go earlier because as a VBAC they monitor you more closely. Once there, I learned that I was GBS positive (something my doctor forgot to mention at my visits) and would have to be on anitbiotics. Fortunately, I was also at a four so I had made more progress than with Meghan already. A couple of hours later I was at a five and taking a narcotic to take the edge off the pain.

The doctor decided that since I was irregular and progressing slowly that it was in my best interest to try to speed things up using Pitocin. I was reluctant but tired from the long labor and agreed after discussing with Kyle that it would be OK. Pitocin does make the contractions worse and the narcotic became less and less helpful. They never managed to get my contractions regular and when I was pushing there would be two or three close together and then a long break with everybody waiting and waiting and I would just have to shrug since I couldn't do anything about it.

Around nine the contractions were terrible, I was swearing at poor, loyal Kyle and at a seven. Half an hour later with even worse contractions I was still at a seven. I knew then that transition (from 7 to 10), which is normally comparatively quick (20 - 90 minutes) for most people, was going to be a long process for me like everything else in my labor. I knew that if I didn't get some rest from the pain that I would be too tired to push and probably have to have another cesarean. So at that point, I opted for the epidural. With the pain finally relieved, Kyle and I crashed and slept for hours. I woke at 3 AM feeling strange but finally rested. The contractions felt different then before. So the nurse checked me and I was at a ten! Finally! It was time to push.

Pushing went fairly quickly even though I was still irregular to the nurse's dismay. By 3:40 Adelaide was squalling about the bright, cold place I had dropped her into. A few stitches took care of some small tears and I was all done! Kyle didn't enjoy the pushing part and had a hard time watching. He refused to cut the cord, pointing out that that was why he paid a doctor. I, on the other hand, opted for the mirror and enjoyed watching even when the doctor was sewing me up. He offered to do some decorative stitching like butterflies, but then he would have to sign and date them so I told him that I'd just take the standard type.

I am so grateful I got the opportunity to have my baby vaginally. The pain is different but I am recovering so much faster than with the cesarean. I will also never smile smugly at the epidural again. Not everyone needs help like that, but for those that do, it is a wonderful and useful tool. I don't think I would have made it to the great birth experience that I had without the relief.

Meghan came and visited us at the hospital after church. She thought the baby was lots of fun, although a little gross since it had no teeth. Here are some pictures of her visit.

We got home from the hospital around 8:00 PM on Monday. We are all healthy and happy, if a little tired.