Congratulations Sapphire!!!

Congratulations on your beautiful baby girl.

Ainsley Hope was born today at 2:21pm weighing 7 lbs 7 oz, 24 hours after labour started. We are so happy for you and your husband. We can't wait to hear more details, and see pictures.

Tiff thanks for posting it here!

I am soooo happy for them too!! I hope to meet them someday!!

I cannot wait to hear more and see pics.

xox

I SO didnt' see this yesterday!Congratulations Sapphire hunny! CAn't wait to hear about it and see pics!

Woohoo!!!!!! Congratulations Sapphire!!!!

Can't wait to see her!!!!!

Congrats Sapphire, can't wait to hear all about it and see the pics. Hope everything went smoothly.

Congrats Sapphire!!! That is fabulous news! Can't wait to hear all about the birth and see a picture of the little one!!!

thanks so much girls for your congrats, and thanks Gutter for passing on the news! Sorry I haven't been on sooner, it's been pretty time-consuming being a mom to a newborn, but it's been really good. I'm so lucky with Ainsley, she's such a good baby already. She's totally adorable and DH & I just can't get enough of her.

I don't think I have time to write out a whole birth story yet, but I'll start. We went in at 10am on Dec. 26 to get the cervidil put in, which happened by 11:00am. We expected to go home after that, but the OB on call sent me for another u/s to check fluid levels, and that showed a drop in fluid and some concerns over the baby's muscle tone. I wasn't worried since she's been so completely healthy at every point so far in the pregnancy, but they explained that a drop in fluid often means the placenta is breaking down, which affects the baby's oxygen levels. So the OB decided I needed to stay in hospital with continuous monitoring from then on. I wasn't happy to have to stay, but of course wanted to do what was needed for the baby.

By 2pm I felt some pains in my back that would come & go, but honestly I thought it was pain from gas & constipation! It took awhile before I realized they were contractions, and pretty soon they were coming every 2-3 minutes and getting stronger & stronger. I was surprised they were so frequent, but hopeful that things were really happening. DH & I hung out in my room in the antepartum unit where they were keeping me, trying to pass the time and keep me distracted. The pain was manageable so far. We watched a movie on his laptop, and I bounced awhile on the birthing ball next to the bed - that was really all I could do since I was hooked up to the monitors. By 11pm, 12 hours after the cervidil was inserted, they came to check me. At this point I was in quite a bit of pain with the contractions, DH was holding me & pushing on my lower back with each one, and they were still 2-3 minutes apart. We were sure something was happening, so were totally surprised to hear after all those contractions that I hadn't dilated at all. They were going to make DH go home to get some rest since I wasn't in labour, but I really didn't want him to go, the contractions were strong enough I didn't think I could cope by myself. The nurses offered me morphine, which I didn't want originally, but I decided to take it because of how much I had already been dealing with, and I hadn't even started real labour yet - I was worried about how exhausted I would be by morning when they would start pitocin and I knew I needed a break. So I took the morphine & gravol shot, and this did make me dopey and so I would sort of nod off in between contractions, but the pain was still pretty intense. The morphine helped a bit but not much. They were going to let DH stay until I was settled & comfortable, but that never happened. An hour or two later they checked me and I was at 2cm all of a sudden, so sometime soon after the morphine my labour had started. They explained that my contractions earlier, being as painful & frequent as they were, was a result of the cervidil irritating my cervix and causing it to thin out, and that for many women, that happens slowly over weeks, but for me it all happened in a few hours.

I started the laughing gas after they checked me the 2nd time, and this helped me to relax in between contractions and gave me something to focus on during contractions, which helped me to deal with the pain. We stayed in the antepartum unit a few more hours, DH and I working through the contractions with the laughing gas and his massage. I felt I was managing pretty well, though I was much louder than I thought I would be, moaning & groaning through the contractions when I didn't have the laughing gas mask on! I'm a bit fuzzy with time around this point, but somewhere around 5am-ish I was far enough along that they moved me to labour & delivery. I knew that I would eventually get an epidural - something I originally was going to try to avoid, but because I had to basically stay in bed due to the continuous monitoring, I knew I wouldn't be able to do pretty much any of the coping techniques I wanted to try. I just knew with the amount of pain I was in, and how much energy I felt I had, and especially with the monitoring that the epidural was a good choice. So around 6ish, at 5cm dilated, I went for the epidural. I was in a lot of pain. The epidural was quick to insert, and pretty painless. I threw up very soon after though, not sure if that's a coincidence or not. Soon after the epidural, my contractions were slowing down and they added some pitocin to my IV. Everything was so much more medicated by this point than I had ideally wanted, I didn't even care anymore. Whatever would work to keep things moving along.

DH and I both got a bit of rest after the epidural. There was a couch in the room that was a pull-out bed which was great for him, I know he was tired too but he wasn't letting on to me! He was so good through everything. After a few hours, I'm not sure how many, the epidural started wearing off, despite me using that button to keep it topped up. I was 8 or 9cm. The nurses & doctor were concerned about the baby facing the wrong way - I don't honestly know if she was posterior or sideways, but they kept having me move into different positions to make her move. I was a bit cranky by this point because I was feeling the contractions and didn't feel like moving so much! Plus, half the time when I moved they lost the baby's heartbeat on the monitors, or it dropped a bit, so I'd have to move again. They attached a monitor to the top of her head to more accurately measure her heartbeat. I was breathing through contractions but breathing really fast, almost hyperventilating. I felt good doing that, but the nurses kept telling me to breath slower. Apparently the baby's heart rate dropped a bit when I breathed like that (she wasn't getting the same amount of oxygen), and she was fine when I breathed slower. I knew I had to do it, but it drove me crazy when everyone kept telling me to slow down my breathing!!

Eventually someone agreed to up my epidural amount a bit, but soon after that it was time to push. I wish I didn't bother getting it topped up, or that they had done it much sooner when I needed it, because it made it harder to know when to push. But I could tell somehow still, and was able to push well. I started pushing at 1:15pm and tried a couple different positions in the bed, including with the birthing bar, and they were all okay. I felt like things were progressing quickly, and after half an hour of pushing they were telling me I was nearly done, just a couple more pushes. I touched the hair on the baby's head, she really was right there. DH was still right by my side, and was watching everything down there too. The nurses and DH were so good when I was pushing. Another half hour went by, though, and still no baby. With each push, her head would come halfway out and stay there, or stay at least part way out. That was definitely painful! After I was done pushing, I could totally feel her head stretching me open but not coming out. The OB said she wanted to do a small episiotomy. I asked if I really had to, because I knew I didn't want one, but it was pretty obvious I needed one by that point. I didn't even realize she had cut me, but right after she did, Ainsley was born with one or two more pushes, at 2:21pm, almost 24 hours exactly after my contractions had started. She had pooped some meconium while inside me, so she was first taken to the neonatal staff who were waiting beside me to make sure she was okay, which she was (8 out of 9 on her Apgar, just missing a point for muscle tone). Once that was done they put her on my chest. I cried when I first saw her next to me being examined, and cried when she was on my chest. I couldn't believe it was all over and that she was really here, that she was really mine after everything over the past three years.

We had a good first day & night in hospital, breastfeeding went well, and I just felt really good and really at ease with her. I was sore down there, but it wasn't nearly as bad as I feared. I forgot to ask how many stitches I got, but they were 2nd degree. The next day we were ready to go home, dressed and even had our discharge papers when we found out Ainsley had a bit of jaundice and they wanted to keep her overnight so she could go under the lights. That was okay, I of course wanted her to get the help she needed and was glad we caught it before it got serious. But it's awful to have a newborn under the lights when they don't want to be there. She has to stay in there, wearing only a diaper, so she can't be swaddled, held or anything that would normally comfort her. Ainsley hardly cries, and only does with a good reason, but under those lights she just cried and fussed for hours. I stood over her incubator with the lights, talking to her, reaching in and touching her, rocking her a bit with my hand, letting her suck my finger ... none of it really worked that well. It was such a long & heartbreaking night. I just cried when DH came in the morning (he's not allowed to stay overnight). Thankfully we were able to go home that next day, as her toxin levels had come down with the light treatment and she was doing better.

At home we've been good ... she was a bit constipated and didn't poo for almost 2 days, that's the only thing. By the end of those 2 days, though, my milk had come in and she had started demanding to be fed more often that the every 3 hours I had been waking her to eat (a sign of jaundice is sleepiness & a lack of interest in eating). Suddenly she wanted to eat, she started pooping and my milk was in. She's been doing really great the past few days. She even sleeps for a couple long stretches at night (3-4 hours at a time, twice a night) the past 2 nights. She starts around 2am, I wake her up 3-4 hours later to eat, and then she goes to sleep for another 3-4 hours. We've been spoiled. Then she wakes up and eats almost constantly for a few hours! Definitely some cluster feeding going on.

Okay so Ainsley stayed asleep for longer than I expected and I wrote far more than I thought ... but there's my story! I will go and grab a couple pictures for you now, assuming she stays asleep.

thank you ladies for all your support through everything and for your congrats!!
xoxox

awww,thanks so much for sharing.Your story made me cry after all that time of ttc.Finally you have your baby girl!I am so happy for you and you did so great! I am sure this gives hope to all the other ladies who have been long term! <3 Well done and can't wait to see pics of her xxx

Sapphire, I'm so glad you were able to excape from having a csection, but what a birth experience. I hope you are enjoying your first weeks of being a mommy and are able to get lots of sleep. i can't wait to see pictures!

A massive congratulations to you! I just loved reading your birth story, and I am so happy it all turned out well. Ainsley is gorgeous.

Awww huge congrats hun !!!!!!

thanks so much ladies!! really appreciate your support!! xoxox