Samantha Rose Holland
4/6/10
12:46 am
7lb 3oz
19.5 in
Samantha (Sam) was born one week ago today! Labor started Monday morning after my 39 week check up at the OBGYN. My appointment was at 8:45 that morning. Everything was looking good. I was about 3-4 centimeters dilated (which is what I was at my 38 week appointment the week before). But the midwife said that everything looked ready to go. It was just a matter of when. She did perform a simple procedure to help get things started. I left the office feeling fine. By about 10 o'clock I started to get some "hmmmm... those might just be real" contractions. I ignored them most of the day and tried to work on some chores around the house. By 5pm I decided to time a few just to see what they were doing. Wouldn't you know it they were coming about 3-6 minutes apart and last about a minute each time. I was shocked! Was it really time to go to the hospital!?! As we reached that six o'clock hour poor Gary was running around the house trying to put last minute things in our bags and get everything in the car. I meanwhile was sitting in a chair breathing and keeping track of each contraction. Actually it was rather comforting to keep my mind busy with the record keeping. Finally, we were ready. We put Casey in the car (my parents were still half an hour away from Greensboro) and off to the hospital we went. As we arrived my contractions were definitely getting stronger and the nausea part of labor started to kick in. Check in seemed to take forever... although I'm sure in reality it wasn't that long. Of course the waiting area for check in was full. I sat down in the only seat available and thought to myself these poor people... I didn't want to be a moaner/groaner labor person but I sure was having to breath a lot louder with each contraction and all these people are sitting here having to listen to it. My final comment to Gary before they took me back for the initial vitals and check in was, "Gary, I think I'm going to be sick." Now I KNOW the guy beside me was thinking, "just take the lady back there already!" So with barf bag in hand I went back for my vitals. Of coarse the lady had a long list of questions to ask as she checked my blood pressure. All I kept thinking was... Stop asking these stupid questions and take me to my room!!! After what I'm sure was an eternity they wheeled me back to my labor room. (Just an FYI Casey didn't stay in our labor room long. Mom got there and took him off somewhere). Here is where I admit that I am a whimp. The first thing I asked for...an epidural. I was done playing around with contractions and I was DONE with the nausea. Little did I know that the nausea was not done with me. I went to the bathroom to empty my bladder and the nausea hit me again. I was yelling at Gary to bring my the barf baggy but sadly he didn't make it in time. I kinda felt like the chica from the Exorcist... and we'll just leave it at that! Before too long the doctor came with the epidural. I love that man! As weird as it may sound I wanted to enjoy my labor and delivery and I knew that would be a lot easier with an epidural. Now it was time to "rest" and get ready for the next step. As we waited Gary found some shows for us to watch... Deadliest Catch and Cash Cab. Part of me thinks that there are only certain shows you are allowed to watch while in labor. I remember watching Cash Cab while in labor with Casey too. Our midwife Hilary came in to check me around 9:30 that evening. She said I was about 5-6 centimeters... really, laboring all day and still only 5-6 centimeters!? Hilary said that she had a C-section she was getting ready to head into and then she would come and check me again when she was finished with that. So again we waited and "rested." Hilary didn't return to our room again until 11:45. She apologized and said the c-section took longer than planned. After checking me again she said I was 10 centimeters and ready to push! WHAT!? Was I really ready to do this!? With a deep breath I decided...yup, here we go. Honestly, delivery was the easiest part of the whole process (well, okay aside from throwing up yet again). Hilary was a wonderful midwife and made the suggestion that we get out the mirror to watch the whole thing. I thought she was crazy at first but then agreed to the idea. As strange of an experience as it was, delivery was really neat! At one point I even looked at Gary and said, "you know this is really fun!" Thank you epidural!! By 12:46 am our sweet baby girl was being laid on my chest. We did it! Happy Birthday Samantha!!!
Congrats! She is beautiful! Welcome to the wild world of 2 kids :)
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