Charlotte Rose Barge

She's here! Finally!

First kisses

Meeting my baby girl

New little family

He's only kind of excited :)

She always looks very concerned. I have a thinky baby

Stats:

Date: Born Tuesday December 13th, 2011
Time: 5:03 pm
Weight: 8 lbs 10 oz
Length: 20 1/4 inches

We went in at 9pm Monday night to be induced and everything started out fine. I got admitted and got my IV started. I was only 1cm dilated when we got there, so the doctor on call got some medicine to ripen my cervix. We started that process, and kept with it until 6am when my doctor got there. I had only dilated to 2 cm so we decided to start pitocin. So pitocin is a bitch! Omg my contractions went from "eh uncomfortable" to "omg I need an epidural NOW" in just an hour and a half. My nurse was fantastic and got anesthesia in there pronto and my epidural was started. Labor was cake after that :) I felt so weird after getting the epidural. It felt like my legs and back were asleep, but it was that in-between feeling when your legs fall asleep. You know, right before it starts to get tingly and hurt, but you can;t really feel anything? That's how it felt. My legs felt like they weighed a million pounds, but I didn't care b/c I couldn't feel anything. I progressed normally throughout the day. Early in the afternoon, around 1ish, Charlie's heart rate started to drop b/c my contractions were just way too strong. So my doctor decided to turn off the pitocin for a little but and just let my body naturally keep contracting. This plan worked until about 4.30 when they decided to re-start my pitocin on the lowest setting, and then things got tricky. Charlie's heart rate dropped into the 70's and wouldn't go back up. No matter how many times I flipped, and turned, and rolled, she just wasn't tolerating the contractions at all. So my doctor and his boss decided that an emergency c-section was needed immediately. I got all the way to 8cm and then ended up in an emergency c-section. I was totally freaking out. I started crying, and everyone around me was moving at a million miles an hour and Joe had already been kicked out to change and wait, so I was totally alone. That was the hardest part. The anesthesiologist was wonderful though. He kept talking to me, he'd let me know what was going on, and just reassure me. I got into the OR and within 5 mins of getting in there, she was born. It was so fast! I only got to see Joe for like 5 mins, b/c after they showed her to me, they wheeled her out to the nursery and he went with her. The putting me back together process took a lot longer than it did to take me apart. It took them about 45 mins to sew me back up. I fell asleep through most of it. I was exhausted and cold, and knowing that the baby was ok and that I was ok was my brains permission to just shut off. When they finally wheeled me back into my room, Joe was waiting with Charlie. I'm not gonna lie, I was a little freaked out and scared, but super excited too. Joe was so sweet! He wouldn't let anybody hold her until I had held her. He hadn't held her yet, and our moms kept encouraging him to hold her, but he refused. I cried when my mom told me that. It was so sweet that he did that for me! I have a wonderful husband!

So the birth experience wasn't what I was expecting, but I absolutely am not disappointed in any way. Joe was worried I would be disappointed that I didn't get the birth I had "planned" but I am totally fine with the way things happened! She is healthy, and I'm recovering great, so I am just fine with how everything went down! And she shares a birthday with Taylor Swift :) And yes, that picture of Tay and me from the last post is real. I have more if no one believes me. Lol