Tabria was born on December 22, 2008, and she is the joy of our lives! Since many people have asked about my labor, I guess I'll include the story here. Well, my due date was actually December 14, which means that Tabria was actually eight days late. My doctor wouldn't induce me any sooner than 41 weeks, and since 41 weeks was a Sunday I had to wait until Monday.Monday morning the hosital called me at 6:00 am and told me to come in for my induction. My room wasn't quite ready when we got there, so we had to wait about 3o minutes before we got into our room, but by 7:00 they had started my IV and put me on PIT, and by 7:30 the doctor had broken my water. I was a little surprised at how fast the process was going . . . little did I know - the rest of the process would not go quite as fast.
There was a little bit of drama during my labor. In the early afternoon I got an epidural and my labor was progressing along nicely. A little while later my contractions started becoming increasingly more painful, but I just assumed this happened as the contractions increased in intensity. I kept pushing the button to try and get more epidural, but the pain was not subsiding. The nurses had me rotating which side I was laying on to try and increase the process, and when it was time for me to switch sides, Nick switched the side that he was sitting on as well. When he came over to the side, he found puddle on the floor . . . and the liquid was coming from my epidural tube. The tube had disconnected from me, so I was not getting any epidural. The nurse called the anesthesiologist back in, and they hooked me back up and gave me a double dose. This made me so numb that I couldn't move my legs at all. They really just flopped around!
Sometime after I got my epidural, the baby's heart rate was lower than the nurses wanted it to be, so they kept me on oxygen. It got pretty stuffy having that mask over my face the entire time, but I was more than willing to keep it on if it was best for my baby!
Anyways, about 5:30 pm they told me that it was time to start pushing. However, because I was so numb, they turned off my epidural so that I could get some feeling back. After pushing for 30 minutes and not much happening, the nurse decided to consult the doctor. The doctor came in and checked on Tabria, only to discover that she was turned sideways. So they decided to have me stop pushing and turn me on my side to try and get her to turn. Thirty minutes later, the nurse told me that I was going to start pushing again. I pushed and pushed . . . and pushed . . . and pushed. While I was pushing, the nurses discovered that I had a fever, and this increased the risk of infection in my uterus. Because my fever wasn't going away, the doctor decided to give me an antibiotic. They tried to hold off, but decided it was best for me and the baby. Unfortunately that meant that Tabria had to stay in the NICU for 48 hours to be monitored for infection, and I had to stay in the hospital and receive antibiotics for 48 hours. Finally, after another two hours of pushing, Tabria was delivered at 8:23 pm. She weighed 7 pounds, 14 ounces, and was 20.5 inches long. She did have to stay in the NICU for two days, but we got to bring her home on Christmas Eve . . . the perfect Christmas present! She is the pride and joy of our lives, and we love her very much!
