Before I forget!

The last week has all seemed to blur by now, and so I figured I should write this sooner than later so I don't forget (maybe I'm trying to??)

Sunday, we woke up early and figured we would give our new ward a try. I made it through Sacrament and then wasn't feeling up to sitting for two more hours so we went home. An hour or two later, I thought my water broke. I called my mom and she just said if I would feel better knowing if this was it or not, just to go in. Of course I was so anxious for her to be here that I knew the only way my nerves would be calmed was to go in and check.

We went in and got checked into triage around 1:30 that afternoon. They checked the fluid, and couldnt read any of the results, so they had me walk around for 30 minutes and then they planned on getting more fluid to test. Just before they tried taking more fluid, they said they found the fern pattern on the last slide, and that it was indeed amniotic fluid. We were admitted. And sooo excited knowing that soon we would have our little baby in our arms. Plus, this was the 24th, and my family and I had a pool going on the date she would come and I just so happened to pick the 25th!

So we were moved to labor and delivery and I started walking. My mom came soon and met with us, and then we had a few other visitors. I was hooked up to two different kinds of antiobiotics for my heart and me being GBS+. I was put on the monitor, and they said that I was having steady and strong contractions so they wernt able to give me anything to speed up labor. I was still dilated to a 1 at this time. Around 10 they came in and said nothing was going to happen for a while so they gave me some sleeping meds and I was out for the night. They started me on pitocin at 3 the next morning. When I woke up well rested, they started upping my dosage every few hours. I was up to a 22 ML/MIN drip. But I still wasnt having any pain, so that was good. Hours and hours passed and I still hadnt dilated. The doctor FINALLY came in and I got to meet him (my doctor was of course out of town all this week) and he found that my water still hadnt broken all the way so they did it again. He also started talking about the possibility of a c-section because I just wasnt progressing at any rate. I started having some painful contractions, and I knew because my water was broken now they would continue to get worse..so I gave in and got an epidural around 6 that night. It was heavenly not knowing the difference between my legs and the pillows :)


Around midnight, I was just barely dilated to a 4...I was starting to give up and had started freaking myself out. Tylers grandpa came and gave me a blessing. Within the next two hours I had dilated to an 8..and 15 minutes after that I knew it was time to push. With Tyler and my mom being the best support team I could have asked for..I pushed for 30 minutes. I finally had my baby girl here at 3:32 am on Tuesday, July 26th. I was 3 hours off of my guess, but the other part of the pool was guessing the weight, and I had guessed 8 lb 2 oz and thats what she measured! Cha-Ching! She was also 21 inches long and beautiful. We decided to change Hallie's middle name from Kate to Rene at the last minute. Partly for it being my middle name, and also because our favorite nurse was named Renee, and she had so much to do with getting Hallie here that we will forever be grateful to her.

We were moved to the postpartum room and the visitors just started piling in. It is crazy and a little overwhelming to see how much this little girl is loved by all of our family and friends. We barely got any rest the first day, and unfortunately felt the affects later that night when Hallie refused to sleep if one of us wasnt holding her.

Wednesday Hallie was tested and they found her jaundice levels high. She was eating very well and having lots of dirty diapers, so we figured it would pass soon. She was tested again early this morning and they were still too high. Although I was supposed to be discharged today, they told us Hallie still had to stay overnight. It was sooo hard for me dropping her off at the nursery and knowing other people are taking care of her now. I just am so beyond ready to take her home and have her be ours. But the hospital has been great and Im feeling much better. They are slow tonight so they let us stay in our room for another night even though Im technically not a patient anymore, and they're letting us take her off the lights every 3 hours for 30 minutes to feed her. I cant begin to explain how much I enjoy going over there to feed and hold her. I miss her being next to me all the time, and we constantly have a prayer in our hearts that she will be able to pass this today and be able to come home with us tomorrow morning.

Thank you to all of those who have offered services, or who have sent kind words and thoughts are way or have come to see us. Tyler and I are so grateful for the support from our family and friends, and we know how much our little girl is loved. She is a beautiful and sweet spirit, and I cant wait to see how she will grow and what she will become in this life. I feel so honored and blessed that she was given to us, and I cant wait to have her at home and start our little family!