She's Here!!!!

Well...the moment we had been waiting for finally came at 6:34 am on Friday November 28th...weighing in at 7lbs 9oz and 20 1/4 inches long, Esella Veronica Hiu Ying Yeh entered this world! We are SO in love!!
So here is the story...On Wednesday my Braxton Hicks contractions started getting stronger (though not painful) and we figured my body was gearing up. It was raining, so we decided to head to the mall to walk around in hopes of helping labor get started. After that we cam home and watched some TV. I noticed that the contractions were beginning to hurt (though only mild- like a 2/10). I also noticed they were coming pretty regularly. So at 4pm we started timing them. They were regularly irregular- ha ha ha. They were coming every 8-20 minutes. At 6pm we decided to do walk another mall (still raining!) to help get things going. They were becoming more steady and by later that evening they were coming every 10 minutes. However- they were still not too painful. I called my parents (who live about 3 hours away) and let them know to be ready for my call.

We headed to bed about 12:30- and about 2:30 I woke up. I was having quite a bit of cramping. At 3:30 I had to use the potty- a sign labor was getting started. Justin woke up then and neither of us could sleep. I ended up taking a shower about 4am- and then at 5am we started timing the contractions. They were every 5-8 minutes. After 3 hours of this we called my doctor. I could tell he thought it was still early due to the ones that were 8 minutes apart and the fact that they were still only 2-3 on a pain scale- but he told me to wait an hour and come in to get checked. Justin, Ainsley and I walked 2 miles, then headed into labor and delivery to get checked. Here I am hooked up to the monitors.
Dr. S checked me- but I was only at 3cm. The contractions had slowed down a bit as well (though that's normal when you head into the hospital the nurse said). He said it was a waiting game- he could break my waters and start Pitocin (which was not his first choice) or we could go home with some drugs to help me sleep and wait. We decided to do that- they game me some fun drugs, and we headed home. I was in a semi-conscious state for the next several hours. A little after 4 we decided it was time for another walk- so off we all went for another 2 mile walk. The contractions at this point were becoming stronger and slightly more painful- though still like 7 minutes apart. When we got home, Justin's sister and brother-in-law Chris pulled up to bring us some Thanksgiving dinner (Thanks guys!!!). We headed in to start eating.

As Justin was reheating the food- at exactly 6pm I got a contraction that hurt more- and was different from the others...the pain kinda started in my bum and went up and around (the ones before started in the front and wrapped around my back). From that point on- they were every 5 minutes and there were a few I had a hard time talking through. However- I was hungry! So between contractions I was eating my Thanksgiving dinner!! Ha ha ha.

After about an hour and 15 minutes of this- we called the doc and he told us to head in. When we got there the nurse checked me- but I was still only at 3cm! however- I was 100% effaced. The nurse called the doc and after discussing our options we decided to have him break my water. I wanted an epidural in the long run, so they said to get it now before they broke my water (I did not need it yet for pain- but it would be harder once my water was broken). We had to wait a while to get the epi- by that time my parents and brother were there and hanging out. They were having WAY too much fun watching my contractions on the monitors! Ha ha- there I was in pain and one of them would say "Hey- look at THAT one- it's off the charts!" It was kinda funny- anyway I finally got the epi (piece of cake by the way- and it was AWESOME!!!!) and then Dr. S came in to check me and I was at 6cm! YAY! So he said to try to get some rest and they would be in in a few hours to check me. He said I would start pushing between 2-4am.




A couple hours later at about 3am (and no- Justin and I did not sleep despite it being the middle of the night) the nurse came in to check me and I was at 9cm! Only one more cm to go! She said she would be back in an hour and it would be time. She came in at 3:45 but both Justin and I had fallen asleep- so she told us to keep sleeping and she waited until 4:30. When she came in I was at 10cm and the baby was ready to come out! I was stoaked- my body was doing all this with no help!!

So the nurse got the bed ready, our parents came in to wish us luck, and then we started pushing. It was just the nurse (Her name was Mary- and she was SO great!) Justin, and me. The first hour of pushing was fine- I felt pressure but no pain. The problem was that my contractions had slowed down- every 5 minutes with some even 7 minutes apart! This was making the pushing phase quite long. Between contractions Justin, Mary and I would just be chatting and laughing away! After that first hour, Mary decided to add just a tad of Pitocin to my IV to try to help get the contractions closer together. She said my uterus was just tired- it has been contracting for 36 hours already! Once she added the Pitocin- they got closer together and stronger- and things really got moving! This is about when the pain started. Though the epidural was AWESOME, it did not do too much for the pain when the baby made her way into the world- but it was all worth it. Soon the doc came in and with the cheering on from Justin, Mary, and Dr. S, I pushed out our beautiful daughter!

As soon as I saw her, I said "You are so tiny! And you look just like your daddy!!". She hung out on my belly for a while, then Mary took her to the warmer to clean her up and do some initial stuff. Meanwhile, Dr. S did our cord blood storage and other fun stuff- and for the next 45 minutes Dr. S spent stitching me up. Yeah- baby girl did some damage! But again- I would do it all over again tomorrow! But because of all the work that had to be done- I really did not get to hold Esella for over an hour. Here I am holding her for the first time after birth.
After that- Esella headed to the nursery for her first checks and bath. I had Justin go with her to take pictures. Here are some of them.
Here are some other pictures from our stay in the hospital.


Here she is getting her hearing tested...she passed!
And here we are on our way home!

We have been home for almost 5 days- and things are going so great! We are breastfeeding and its going well- at the doctor on Tuesday she was only 1oz from her birth weight already (they want her to be back up to birth weight by 2 weeks). However- I am spending most of my time feeding her! Ha ha ha. The last two nights- she slept 4 hours and 3 hours in a row! I am trying to sleep when she sleeps but its hard.

Anyway- hope you all enjoyed Esella's birth story. She can not wait to meet you all!!