The Journey of a First Time Mom: The beginning.

So I am finally getting around to writing this and sharing my new journey with all my Shine friends, starting with my birth story.

My beautiful baby girl, whom I shall refer to as 'bug' or 'baby bear' was born early in March. It was quite unexpected as she decided to show up a whole week early, which is uncommon for first time mom's such as myself. It was the morning after my husband came back from his business trip; I had gotten up like usual to go to the bathroom when I realized that something wasn't quite right. It was 5 am and as I was on my way to the bathroom I realized that I was... ahem... leaking... which I knew immediately it wasn't quite right as I hadn't leaked all throughout the pregnancy. I knew right then that my water had broke. So as soon as I could I woke up my husband (oh how he loves being woken up at 5 am for important news such as "I'm pregnant" or "my water just broke") and then called the doctor on call.. not knowing what to do and not having any contractions (as I expected I would). With the insistance of my husband, my mom and then the doctor that was on call, I reluctantly went into the ER. Though I was sure they would just send me back home and I really wanted to go this function I had volunteered for that was at 8 am (I volunteered for it because I was sure I was going to go late or at the very least "on time") that same morning...

We took our time leaving the house and got to the ER around 6-6:30 am, when I was then taken up to the OB triage. After changing into the hospital gown and getting hooked up to the fetal monitors, the nurse checked my vitals and then checked to see how far along I was. Surprisingly, I was 2-3 centimeters dialated at that point. I say surprisingly because I hadn't felt one contraction... not even a cramp that remotely resembled a menstrual cramp. So, off to the laboring room I went.

I was hooked up to the IV and then because I had tested positive for Group B Strep, I had to have an antibiotic administered twice (if possible). And let me tell you, that antibiotic was the worst pain I have ever felt... it was so bad that I nearly passed out from the pain. I was then put on pitocin (on the lowest dose possible) after I still was not feeling any contractions (still nothing that resembled cramps at all) after a couple of hours. That was officially the end of my NUCB... because as soon as that hit my system.... Oh Lord did I think I was going to die! I think between the antibiotic and the pitocin there was enough pain to go around and neither was worse than the other... they were both hell... So I gave in to my husband and got the epidural after about 3 pit induced contractions... and life was SO much better after that... my mom was jealous about how easy it was going for me. Then after about an hour/hour and a half of pushing, the most precious and beautiful baby girl came into our life. She was born at 1:47pm that Saturday at 7 pounds 7 oz and 19.5 inches long.

And the journey had then begun....