The Package Has Landed!

Most of you already know, but for those of you who don't, Cookie has arrived!  And for those of you who have been waiting on baited breath for a name...

Sweet Cheeks Muscolino
Wednesday, January 26th, 2011
8 lbs, 5 oz
21 inches

Good lord she is a big baby.  The 6-7 lb deal I thought we were making in utero did not come to fruition...thank goodness she came 2 weeks early!

My water broke at 1:30 AM on January 26th although I didn't know it was my water breaking.  It wasn't the traditional gush that you see in the movies for me...I actually thought I was tinkling myself for about 45 minutes.  Now I thought, "Is this my water breaking?" since that moment is supposed to get an immediate call to the OB, but just couldn't be shure.  I actually woke Nick up at around 1:45AM and said, "I think my water broke, but I'm not sure - just go back to sleep." And he did.

At 2:15 PM the contractions started.  And, yes, there's no mistaking what a contraction is - I can't believe I thought I could ever not know.  Now, from what I understood, I would most likely labor at home for hours so I didn't even worry about starting to count them (although the possible water breakage was always in the back of my mind).  I woke Nick up at about 2:30 PM and told him, "I'm having contractions."  I never seen someone shoot out of bed so fast.  I explained it would be a while, but I wanted to let him know and he should go back to bed.  And he did.

The thing was, the contractions hurt pretty badly and felt like they were coming pretty frequently so I decided to start timing.  My OB told me to call the office if I had 6-8 contractions for 2 hours straight.  After 1  hour I'd had 20 contractions about 2-5 minutes apart all lasting any where from 20 secondds to a full minute.  Then I had a gush - which convinced me my water broke.  I woke up Nick and we called the OB's office.  The answering service didn't even page the OB on call and said - go straight to the hospital.

We brushed our teeth, got the bags together and I grabbed my wallet - at the last minute I ran back in the house to grab a sweatshirt (it was cold outside at 4AM!).  We drove to Scripps La Jolla - it's about 10 - 15 minutes away with no traffic.  We parked, started to get out and I realized I forgot my wallet.  The ONE piece I was responsible for was at the house still.  We got back in the car and drove home, picked up the wallet, and headed back.  So with that detour we didn't make it up to L&D until 5 AM.  The car rides were horrible - contractions sucked. 

Now for those of you who have asked, you know that I was going to fell out the labor process and try to go natural if I could do it.  About 15 minutes into my contractions at HOME I knew I'd be getting drugs.  Those were the beginning contractions and they were terrible for me.  I think the issue was I had been under the impression that I would have more time between them...like 5-10 minutes in the early phase of pregnancy...mine were right on target at every 2-3 minutes.  Not much of a break!

Got to the hospital and I made it until 7 AM until I made the epidural call.  I probably could have gone longer, but the anesthesiologist had a c-section and if I didn't get it at 7 AM I'd be SOL until 8:15 AM (and that's as long as everything went well).  I wasn't going to wait that long.

Epidurals are HEAVEN!  I labored well until about 2 hours before pushing and I started getting this intense pressure...everyone says pressure.  What no one told me is that the "pressure" is the same sensation as wanting to go number 2!  I wasn't fully dilated so I had to lay around for 2 hours with the sensation of having to go to the bathroom.  As we got closer, the sensation gets more intense.  And then all of sudden it was time.

Wow - pushing felt so good...only problem was, when I stopped pushing I still had the intense pressure.  It also gets more intense as the baby descends down.  I pushed for about 3 hours, 10 minutes.  Cookie was a bit bigger than any one anticipated.  At 2 hours the OB was favoring c-section, but noted I was in no distress and Cookie was in no distress so I could push for another hour if I'd like (you could see she wasn't convinced this baby was going to be delivered vaginally).  I wasn't convinced I could do it, but the nurse told me that she was pretty close to crowning and she thought I could do it...so another hour of pushing.

In the end, we ended up with a vaccum assist, I was told by everyone in the room that I was an impressive pusher and both the OB and nurse were impressed I pushed that well for 3 hours.  Cookie born without the c-section I was hoping to avoid.  When I saw the size of her after, I'm shocked I did too.

Now my fellow ladies, you can read all the books you want and be as prepared as you can be, but no one really prepares you for the ugly after.  I'm not going to share that with everyone, just know you're girl parts - very, very, very unhappy after.  I'm glad I had friends to lean on and grill about it because I was prepared with some supplies. 

Cookie if officially 1 week old today and considering what I felt like when we were discharged last Friday, I can't believe how quickly it all starts healing.  I'm still pretty swollen, but I think that's starting to go away because the scale is starting to lower each day 2-3 lbs.  My carpal tunnel is gone in the right hand, but rearing its ugly head in the left (I think it's actually worse).  I'm going to call the OB today because it's really hindering how I can hold Cookie.

Here's some highly anticipated photos...she's pretty incredibly cute I must say.  Look at those cheeks!  She looks just like her mommy with the exception of the really dark hair - that's all daddy!



So happy for the epidural and my ice chips.





Already tuckering mommy out...




The family...think Daddy's tired?




Little Mookie still isn't quite sure what to make of Cookie.