What a whirlwind these past 4 weeks have been! I can't believe that Samantha is almost a month old, it truly is crazy to think how fast these past few weeks have gone!
Samantha's birth story:
We went into the hospital Wednesday evening to start the induction process as Samantha still hadn't come on her own. It took a while to get checked in, get the IV placed, my stats taken, etc. I would say that it was about midnight before I received the cervix softener. I was to get another dose every 4 hours until noon on Thursday. I of course didn't sleep a wink between the nurses checking on us every few minutes (or so it seemed), the noise of the IV, and mostly the anticipation! By noon on Thursday, I was still only 1.5 cm dilated, so they went ahead and gave me the Pitocin. Our nurse pretty much told us that we were in for the long haul seeing that I hadn't progressed much in the previous 12 hours. Much to our pleasant surprise, when the doctor came in to check my progress around 1:30, I was already 4.5 cm! Since I wasn't in too much pain yet, we decided to wait a little while before I got the epidural. By 3:00 or so, I was really starting to feel strong contractions, as I was about 6 cm by this time. I gave the OK for the epidural (which was painless by the way) and by 5:00 we were ready to push... holy cow, I was not expecting that! Well so much for the short early labor, the active labor lasted 2 LONG hours. Stephen was such a trooper and was right there with me the entire time, he kept me calm and focused and saw a lot more than he probably ever wanted to, but didn't say a word.
At exactly 7:00 PM our entire world changed - Samantha was born!! All 7lbs and 20.5in of her wonderful little self. She came out with her arm up around her head and the cord wrapped around her neck and arm (I didn't know this, but Stephen saw when he was cutting it). After she was out, it was a blur; a lot of nurses rushed in, Samantha was taken to be cleaned up and checked and Stephen went out to let our families know the good news. I really just sat there in awe of everything that just happened, I had given birth to our baby girl!
The next two days in the hospital went very quickly - we had plenty of friends and family that came to meet Samantha and between the nurses check-ups and trying to get breast feeding down, Saturday, the day we would get to go home, was here before we knew it. Unfortunately Saturday morning they tested Samantha for jaundice and her bilirubin levels were too high. She was put on a biliblanket for the day and retested that evening before they would release us. No go, we had to stay overnight and Samantha was going to be put under a bililamp up in the NICU because there was no room in the regular nursery for her. They retested her in the morning and her levels were still too high. This went on until Monday evening and they finally let us go home! I can tell you that 5 nights in the hospital is like an eternity!
Tuesday morning we had to go to the doctors for Samantha's one week check up and he decided that she still looked pretty jaundice and we had to go back to the hospital to recheck her levels again. They came back too high and we had to have a biliblanket delivered to our house that night. Through the next 5 days poor Samantha had to be on the blanket 24 hours a day and go to the hospital to check her levels each day, her poor heals had so many prick marks and she had gotten so used to the prick that she didn't even cry anymore :(
The following Monday we went back for Samantha's 2 week check up and she finally had good levels and her skin looked much better. She was free from the blanket!!
My mom was kind enough to come down and stay with me for the first two weeks after we got home from the hospital. I can't say enough how much of a life saver she was. I was exhausted, and constantly second guessing myself about everything. Samantha was quite the crier and we weren't sure if she had colic, if she had a lactose allergy, or if she was just a screamer. My mom was there to take shifts with me, let me sleep and give me a mental break when I needed it. She even cooked and cleaned!
Stephen stayed home last week and once again, he was such a life saver! I have no idea how moms do it on their own in the first few weeks! It was a rough week for poor Samantha. We spend the majority of the week trying to calm her, and hold and rock her. We took turns with the night shift and getting comfortable being parents.
We are now getting into the swing of things and I can't even explain how much we love being parents. Samantha is the sweetest, most beautiful little baby (when she isn't crying :). We can't get enough of her, and we are so thankful for our little blessing. Below are just a few pictures from the past few weeks. I posted most of them on Facebook but want to capture them here as well.
What a great sport, changing her diaper for the first time!
You can kind of see the bililamp behind her head
The bililamp that Samantha had to be under for 48 hours
Her first car ride, going home from the hospital
A video of Samantha coming home for the first time:
Look at that little peanut!
Taking after mommy, already a thumb sucker!
None of her ND onsies fit yet(she is still in newborn),
but luckily the booties fit for her first ND game.
Uncle Shannon, Aunt Amie, Dominic and Miranda came to visit
Dominic being a proud cousin. You can see the cord of Samantha's lamp coming out from her back
Our first walk. It lasted all of 10 minutes, but you have to start somewhere!
A proud Grandma Chris
Stephen was called Steve-O on the ski team in college, so our friends Tom and Britney thought it would be cute to make a burp rag in his honor :)
Samantha's first bottle, thanks Grandma!
Her hands are always up in the air, she is most comfortable that way. We can't swaddle her hands or she will scream.
Our friend Lori and her mom Beth stopped by and we had a triple diaper change session with her two little girls:)
Uncle Adam and Aunt Sarah came down with Lucas and Eli - being sweet cousins!
Aunt Amy and Uncle Michael came the next day for a visit. Luke LOVES babies, and couldn't wait to hold Samantha!
Our first attempt at placing Samantha in her crib. She still sleeps in the bassinet in our room, but I have started naps in her room so she feels comfortable in the crib. She looks so tiny!
Oh you know, just posing as she sleeps :)
"Oh, is that a boob I see!?"
Neither look pleased to be by each other. They better get used to it!
