D-day, A baby story

We were scheduled to be induced on Wednesday, Oct. 28th at 10pm, but the hospital said they were too busy and had to put us on hold. This is common here, we are told, that's why they wanted to get us on the schedule so badly. We were expecting to get a call sometime in the night or early morning hrs, but it never came. Thursday am we decided to take matters into our own hands, and Tracy took a dose of Castor oil. by 3pm she started having steady but light contractions, and the Dr.s office told us to go on to the hospital. We go there around 5pm, and finally got in a room for observation around 7pm.

(Tracy in the last available labor bed, in a post op room for recovering c-section patients. There was a lady in here waiting to transfer to a postpartum room when they brought us in.)

When they hooked her up to the monitors, they said the contractions weren't strong enough to dilate, but they were still coming steadily. Since we were already there and scheduled for induction, they decided to keep us, and told us we would get the next available labor room, and they would start the induction when we got there.

(Tracy with our focal point. We bought this little cheetah for baby Grace when we were at the Wild Animal Park in San Diego this summer.)

We finally got in the room around 11pm, and they started the pitocin around 1pm, and told us to try to get some sleep. There were no comfy chairs, like it showed in the picture when we had our virtual tour of this facility, so Peter had to sleep on the floor. He was given a couple blankets, and several pillows, but he didn't have a very good night's sleep.

Around 6am the contractions were strong enough to keep her awake, so we decided to get up. Both our mothers were able to be there during labor, and delivery. The proud grandfathers were also there in the beginning, but as the contractions got stronger, they had to wait in the lobby.

After a while, the cheetah didn't work as the focal point any more, so Peter just got real close, and the love I saw in his face was more precious than I can even describe. It got me though like nothing else could have. Thanks Honey!

Early on I had nubane(?), an IV pain killer that really made me loopy. As it began to wear off, I thought there was no way I could do this without an epidural. After a while, as we read over the possible side effects, the pain seemed to be bearable. I asked the nurse if it was gonna get much worse, and she said I was pretty much at the peak, there would just be more pressure, and the epi wouldn't relieve that anyway, so we decided NOT to get it.

There were a couple times when the baby was in distress, but the nurse said there was nothing to worry about. the first time she had me lean to one side, and that seemed to help. The second time, she had to start me on oxygen. I had to breath that between contractions. When I was 9.5 cm dilated, and in transition labor, she said not to push. A but later, she said I could "half" push (which neither mother had heard of before.) after an hour and a half of that, the Dr. finally came in at 4:10, and 2 minutes, and 2 contractions later, Baby Grace was born

Baby Grace was born.
Grace Jacqueline Holladay was born at 4:12pm on Friday Oct. 30, 2009, weighing 6lbs 150z, and was 18.5 in long. Here she is getting cleaned off right after birth.

Peter was disappointed not to be able to cut the cord. He asked, but it was done before any of us knew what happened. The cord was wrapped around her neck, so the Dr. acted quickly. Once she was out, the Dr. said they could start taking pictures. He didn't let us take any of the delivery itself. He was in the room no more than five minutes, it seemed.

Grace on the scale. Doesn't look like she likes that.

I'm really glad they let all the grandparents in right after she was born. First of all, only 2 maybe 3 visitors are aloud at a time and secondly, they give the baby and her parents a golden hour, before they transfer us to a postpartum room, so this was a real treat for everyone to come in and see her so soon, and not making them wait a whole hr.

Before they left, Pop (Peter's dad) had everyone gather around my bed, and we all held hands as he prayed over us. It was really great to have them all there to share in this special time.

A lot of hospitals now encourage skin to skin contact with mammy and baby for an hour as soon after birth as possible. This allows bonding to happen and, I must say, is such a special time.

In class, we learned that if baby's body temperature is too hot or cold, mommy's adjusts to help baby out. Not sure if this happened, I just know it was really special to have her right there.

After, an hr with mommy, daddy got to hold her too. They brought in some blankets to cover him up, and daddy held her on his chest. It was a very special moment!

Our little burrito girl.

Getting ready to take her first bath. That's daddy holding her down.

Peter got to go with Grace and take pictures and video of her first bath in the hospital, as they got me ready to transfer to my postpartum room. The grandparents all went out for a bite to eat and got back just in time to catch the tail end of her bath.

That's better. All cleaned up. They said it looked like she would have curly hair. When it gets wet, it sort of looks like it, but it's totally straight when it drys.

Getting dressed.

Getting her little hat put on. They cut out a little piece of a hat, and made a little bow for her. It was very cute!