Thanks to our doula Toni Hill for taking these pictures!
I went into labor 7 a.m. Saturday the morning of February 27th. The contractions were frequent just not terribly intense. James took Jake and Mari outside and I read a library book to take my mind off the contractions as I didn't feel well enough to go outside. This went on all day. We called my parents to come get Jake and Mari and texted our doula Toni to let her know it was probably going to be sometime the next morning or later that night. I figured I would have another long labor, but this one was my longest yet (if you don't count the 5 weeks of contractions 10-13 minutes apart with Jake, but I only count labor as contractions 8 mins apart or less). After I thought they were getting intense enough that I was having concentrating, around 10 p.m. that night, they let up to 10 minutes apart and so we decided to stay home and nap in between until they picked up again to 3-5 mins like they had been. I have had long labors with Jake and Mari and so this was not a big surprise. Around 1:30 they picked up with a vengeance, but I still felt it wasn't time to go in yet (I am restricted to the bed when I go in for monitoring since I was VBACing so I wanted to stay at home as long as was comfortably possible). We decided to head to the hospital around 4:30 a.m. as it is an hour away. James was trying to put everything back in the car/double checking to make sure we had everything and I hit transition labor just in time for the car ride:( That was the longest most painful one hour car ride of my life. As soon as I got there, around 6 a.m. they started hooking up the monitors and immediately had trouble picking up the baby's (well now we know Ali was a her, but we didn't then) heart rate. They starting freaking out and paged the doctor and said we had to get her out NOW. I asked if that meant another c-section still not realizing how serious things were, I just thought she was in a funny position or something. They said since I was almost 7cms dilated the doctor would probably try to break my water first and see if that didn't complete dilation so that I could get her out as that might be faster at this point. Dr. Chaney came running in, I was so relieved to see it was the same doctor as delivered Mari. They baby's heart rate seemed to do better when they laid me on my right side (strange as left side is normally better I thought) but was still dropping into the low 60s when I would contract. Dr. Chaney did a fetal scalp monitor. When he came back out I said shouldn't that have broken my water and he said your water has already been broken. I told him it hadn't and then we started having deja vu from my emergency section with Jake (misdiagnosed water breakage 10 days prior to labor finally setting in left him in the NICU for a week and me with an emergency section from a uterine infection). It was immediate chaos. They started prepping me for the section, one person trying to prep me for surgery while another started the IV and another was cathing me. There was not time for a spinal so I had to be put under again and James was once again not allowed to be present. It all happened so fast that luckily I didn't have a chance to get scared or realize how scared they were. Dr. Chaney later told me he thought I had ruptured and was loosing her. I started getting scared when he angrily asked the nurse where in the world the NICU team was and then said, we don't have time, we are going to have to start without them. I realized it must be pretty serious then, but then the anesthesia took over. The nurse said the last thing I said was please hurry up and get her out safely. She was surprised when James told her we didn't know the gender because she is sure I referred to the baby as a girl. Alice Anne Carr was born at 6:30 a.m. Sunday, February 28th less than 30 minutes after we got to the hospital. She was 7lbs 10.2 oz and 20 inches long. Quite a few nurses commented that she looks big for her birth weight, but since I didn't have an IV during labor, I was told that can result in a smaller baby than if I had an IV. James got to hold her in the hallway after she was born and she only had to stay in the nursery for three or four hours for observation. Dr Chaney said she was fine after they got her out, but that she had an unusually long cord and thinks she may have been getting tangled in it or it was somehow getting pinched during contractions causing her to go into distress (I was having long, strong contractions starting in the car). She had passed the meconium but because my water broke it didn't really have much place to go and just stuck to her instead of her inhaling or swallowing any. It was not an ideal birth, but I am just so glad she is here safely and that I never have to personally go through any of it ever again!
Although her birth weight was a pound an a half below Mari's she really favors her older sister a lot, just a less chubby version of her. She is a delightful baby. She is quite content to eat, make diapers, sleep and stare up at us during her waking moments. She has a head full of black hair and big blue eyes! She looks like a blue-eyed version of her daddy, but then again so did Mari at this stage. She makes the cutest little noises at us but hardly ever cries. She loves riding in the car and seemed to enjoy riding in her bassinet for her trips down the hall to the nursery twice for tests/observation. She would suck on her pacify and her eyes would get really big like it was so exciting. We were lucky that even after her eventful arrival they allowed her to room in with us after a few hours of tests observations right after birth. Her daddy heard her first cries from the door outside the OR and was able to hold her in the hall before they wheeled her off. It seems strange for us to now have three children together and have only been present/awake for the actual birth of one of them, but I am so fortunate to have three healthy, happy children and so I am not really complaining. Jake and Mari are intrigued by “the baby” as they still call her. Mari especially so far, she really loves sitting with me and gently rubbing Ali's head and legs. I never thought she would have taken to the new baby so well or that she would be so gentle. Jake is full of advice on why the baby is hungry, what the baby wants, what the baby says, etc. They are both taking to their new roles much better than I expected.
We were able to leave the hospital on Tuesday evening and but Thursday we went back to the doctor for an appointment and picked up food and food poisoning on the way home. Soon after going to bed Thursday evening I woke up with stomach cramps. At first I thought it was just pain/cramping associated with after pains from child birth or c-section but then the fever/vomiting/diarrhea hit. I was so worried it was an infection or something from my c-section but then a few hours later James joined me (thank goodness for two bathrooms upstairs). I know it sounds horrible now, but I remember telling him I was so glad he was sick too as it meant it wasn't something wrong from surgery:( I couldn't hold down any of my pain meds and let me tell you that vomiting so soon after a c-section without any pain meds is the worst feeling I have ever had. We called my parents to come get Jake and Mari and my dad brought us some meds, ginger ale and ginger snaps. That helped a lot. My fever was around 101 when my doctor's nurse called to check on us. I told her what was going on and they (my doctor was standing right next to her when she called) decided to call in some phenergen (enough for me and James) and told me since he was sick too and that I didn't feel I had injured my incision that I could stay home as long as I could hold down fluids after 12 hours. That helped tremendously and I was finally able to hold down ginger ale and pain meds YAY! It took awhile to get over it (three-four days) and made for a really rough week. I think it set me back a few days on my c-section recovery as well, but this is now week three and I feel almost back to normal. I just have to remember not to do to much (it is hard to remember not to lift certain things, carry certain things, etc).
Ali has the most precious little feet!
Jake and Mari showing Ali how to play with her toys.
