.:Remi's Birth Story:.

It's about time I got around to posting Remi's birth story! We've been so lucky to have lots of family around this past week (that will be another post!) that I just haven't had time to sit down!

We had decided that we would set up an induction date in case Remi didn't come on her own. I had really been hoping to avoid that, but with family coming into town, I wanted to make sure that I was home from the hospital a few days before they came, and a little bit settled in. We got the call to go in and got to the hospital around 9:00ish. It was so weird leaving Reece and knowing that things were going to be so different for her - and us - when we next came home! We checked in at Labor and Delivery, and found out that someone had come in that was in natural labor, so they had to push us back about an hour. They gave us a food voucher, so we went and had breakfast at the cafeteria, and walked around the hospital. Josh showed me around to where he does clinicals, which was really interesting!

We went back around 10:30 and they were ready for us. The nurse got us into a room and I was hooked up to the pitocin by 11:30. It started the contractions right away, and they were coming about every 2-4 minutes. My nurse and doctor were excited about that. They really weren't bad at all at this point. My doctor kept coming in to check on me, and I wasn't dilating all that fast. When she checked me around 2:00, I was at a 3 or so, and she decided to break my water. That brought the contractions on strong and fast! They were coming about every 1-2 minutes and they were really intense. I lasted about an hour before I wanted to get my epidural.

The anesthesiologist came in to do my epidural, which brought some relief. It didn't really take all the way - I could still move my legs and toes - so they had me try pushing my button to up it. It still didn't work, so they had him come back to re-dose me. This happened two more times! After the second time, I was still only about a 6. It numbed me pretty good, although I could still move my toes and one of my legs. About a half hour to 45 minutes later, all of the sudden, it wore off a ton, and I could move both of my legs, wiggle my toes, and I was feeling the urge to push.

So I called my nurse in, and she checked me and said I was complete. She called my doctor, and I called Josh (he was at the cafeteria with his family) and told him that he better get back quick! The anesthesiologist came back in and tried to re-dose me a little bit more, but it never really ended up helping. I didn't mind though - it was nice to have some feeling and feel like I was a little bit in control of what was going on.

Once we had Josh back and my doctor there, I started pushing. It was seriously only about 8-10 minutes of pushing before Remi was out! Once her head was out, they could see that the umbilical cord was wrapped tightly around her neck. My doctor had to cut the cord at that point so that she could breathe. Remi's shoulders got stuck, so I had to do a bunch of huge pushes all towards the end because we just needed to get her out. They were concerned about it causing nerve damage and her not being able to use her one arm very well, but luckily that hasn't been a problem!

Remi came out very quiet and still. She was pale and a little bit blue, and they started working on her pretty quickly to get her to breathe. She had to have oxygen for awhile. The NICU nurses came in, and helped. She started to get her color back and do better breathing, but they still took her to the NICU for about a half hour to monitor her and make sure she was really okay. It was a scary half hour, and I was so relieved when they brought her back and I got to hold her.

Remi is such a good baby! She's been nursing like a champ from day one - which is SO different from how Reece was. She sleeps a lot, and while she likes to be held, she is also okay to be set down. She seems to have pretty alert wake time, and we've started working on tummy time as well. Even though it's only been just over a week, I just can't imagine our family without her!

Reece is being so sweet with her. She likes to pat Remi's head, give her kisses, and pat her on the back. She's also concerned with making sure Remi has her binky. :) It is really cute and sweet, and I am just loving having two precious little girls!

Here are some more pictures!