Before I forget the details of how our sweet girl arrived...
I had been having contractions on and off for a few weeks before I started actual labor, but nothing too regular. The night before Stella was born, I started having very intense contractions about 3 mins apart. They lasted for an hour or so then calmed down. That night, I continued to have more and more increasingly intense contractions, but still not three mins apart (they told me to come into labor and delivery when they were consistently three mins apart for at least two hours). I tried to get some sleep and figured it was just more of the same. That morning, I was lying in bed with Cole watching cartoons and I suspected that my water had broken, it was 8am. I stood up and it was just like the movies, no doubt that my water broke! I called Jeff upstairs and told him what had happened, and let him know he should call his mom to come get Cole, because I just knew that things were going to progress fast. I jumped into the shower and by 9am we had our bags packed and were off to the hospital. At the hospital they confirmed that my water broke and the contractions continued to be regular and increase with intensity.
The labor and delivery floor was very busy that day, so it took a bit to get a room. By the time we were settled into the delivery room things had really picked up and I was starting to enter transition. Within about 30 mins or so, I went from 4cm to 8cm dilated and was really struggling with managing the pain. It was so much more intense than my delivery with Cole and while I knew I was close to the end, I decided to opt for an epidural to get a little rest before pushing. I was so exhausted having been up a lot the night before with contractions and I was longing for a break. My sweet nurse warned me that if the anesthesiologist was busy I may not be able to get an epidural and kept providing me encouragement that I was so close, and that I could do it. I remember telling her "I know I
can do it, but I don't
want to do it!" Luckily, the anesthesiologist was able to get to me very quickly and I soon had some relief. Not long after that, my doctor showed up and I was ready to push. Just a few minutes of pushing and our sweet girl arrived! She was bright pink and we noticed all of her dark hair right away. She was put right on my chest and seemed to calm right down when she heard our voices and was close. Jeff was once again, a fantastic partner during my labor, encouraging me and supporting me in just the right ways through the whole thing. They did notice Stella had some wheezing and were concerned that she might be having a little trouble breathing so they took her away for a quick check with the NICU doctor. She checked out just fine!
After she had her first bath and we had spent some time with her, my parents showed up. I had called them when we were headed to the hospital and they jumped into their car and drove over from Bend. We then called Jeff's parents who had Cole, and let them know she was born and could come meet her. And that's when it all started...we found out Cole had just thrown up. We decided to wait an hour and see how he was doing. He had continued to throw up and so we knew that not only Cole, but Jeff's parents wouldn't be able to visit. Jeff eventually went home to take care of Cole who was very sick, and ended up going to the ER that night for fluids and anti-nausea meds. Stella and I spent our first few days alone at the hospital, which was a little lonely and tough considering I was still recovering. After Cole was better, Jeff came to visit the last night at the hospital and help me out a bit. Within a few hours of being there, he became sick with the same symptoms as Cole and also ended up in the ER. He stayed at Jeff's parents for a couple of days. Then Jeff's parents got sick. Then my mom got sick. And the last to get sick was my Dad. Of course we were worried that Stella would catch the bug but we were both protected.
Her first week was quite the whirlwind as we were all quarantined in different areas of the house and worked to sterilize every inch. We are grateful that Stella was spared the awful stomach virus and now everyone is back to feeling normal!
