Alexa's Arrival

Alexa Nicole Fisher
7/9/09 at 4:46am
6lbs 1 oz
19 inches



Well it turns out I was right about those contractions! Brian and I didn't get to have our anniversary dinner afterall. As the day went on Wednesday my contractions ended up getting closer and closer together. By the time Brian got home from work they were about 5 minutes apart, but they were only lasting 35 to 45 seconds. I was thinking I wasn't really in labor because although I was having the contractions they really weren't painful. I decided to give my doctor a call anyways. She told me to go ahead and go to the hospital to have them check me out. Of course, after I got off the phone with my doctor the contractions were further apart so I felt dumb for even calling her! Brian said we should still go to the hospital anyways so off we went. This was at about 7:30 or 8pm. The whole way to the hospital I kept thinking how embarrassed I was going to be when they send me home. We pulled up to the hospital and Brian was going to drop me off at the emergency room but since I already felt silly about going I insisted he park in the garage and I'd walk myself in. We walked up to the labor and delivery floor (which I now realize was quite a long walk!). I'm pretty sure the nurses didn't believe I was actually in labor either. In fact when we were in the triage room they were saying that they'd probably have me walk around and may even send me home. But then they checked my dilation and to their surprise and mine I was already at 5 or 6cm! They couldn't believe it and of course admitted me right away.

We finally got settled in the labor and delivery room around 9:30pm. Since I was already dilated so much they thought I should go ahead and get the epidural. The contractions weren't really that bad and I was considering not even getting the epidural, but I was afraid they would probably get much worse. So I went ahead and got it around 10:30pm. Not much happened between 10:30pm and 2:30am. Around 2:30am they were monitoring Alexa's heartbeat and they noticed it would slow down everytime I had a contraction. This worried them as they were afraid she might have the cord wrapped around her. They continued to monitor it for a little bit and the nurse said if it didn't get better they might have to do a c-section. I started praying that wouldn't be the case.

Around 3:15am they checked my cervix again and I was fully dilated and ready to push. This was the hardest part but it still wasn't that bad. I pushed for about an hour and 15 minutes and then finally she made her debut at 4:46am! They put her on my chest right away and it was the most amazing feeling of excitement, relief, and happiness. Then they took her to the side to clean her and check her. That's what the video is.

She was breathing faster than normal and also had a slight temperature so they decided they needed to take her to the nursery for observation. Unfortunately I didn't get to hold her again for another 5 hours. That was extremely hard for me. Brian was able to see her in the nursery though and give me updates on how she was doing. Eventually she began breathing normally and they brought her in to see us.

We spent the next couple of days in the hospital and were released on Saturday morning. The nights in the hospital were pretty rough as Alexa wasn't sleeping much, which meant I wasn't either! Once we got home it was even worse. My milk hadn't come in yet so she wasn't getting enough to eat and she was not happy about it! Things are slowly starting to get better though and it will only continue to get better I'm sure. We are enjoying every minute of it though despite the lack of sleep. Brian has been such a good Daddy changing diapers, burping her, and being my gopher :-) We love her so much already and can just stare at her all day long! It was definitely worth every pain that pregnancy and labor brought!