Felton Adventures: 34 Hours

Here's my baby bump at 36 weeks pregnant. Silly me, I thought it would still be growing for another four weeks.

A few days after this photo was taken I had a ultrasound appointment to check Adalyn's growth. The umbilical cord attached onto the side of the placenta resulting in a decreased amount of nutrition reaching the baby. So, needless to say she wasn't growing as rapidly as many other babies. I was devasted to find out that at this appointment they were not satisfied with the growth that she had made since my last ultrasound two weeks prior and that they felt it necessary to have me induced right away. I had spent my entire pregnancy preparing to have a natural childbirth with minimal medical intervention and now I no longer had this option. The doctors wanted to admit me right away that afternoon, but I was not in a good state of mind with the news I had just received and I was able to convince them to allow me to go home for the evening and return the next morning.

Here I am after admission to Tripler Army Medical Center at 10am on April 3rd in the room I will be spending plenty of time in. The first day went pretty smooth and I was able to have some visitors and watch TV. Around 2am though, the contractions really started to kick in and I was very happy to use some of the laboring methods I had learned in my Bradley Method classes. Of course the fetal monitor and IV really limited my mobility and made my body pretty sore. Shortly after that around 5am it was evident that the woman in the room next to me was about to deliver her baby when Erika, my birthing coach, and I were awaken by the loudest blood curdeling screams I had ever heard in my entire life. They really should make those rooms a little more sound proof.

Everything continuted to progress well and I was slowly having some progression. Around 4pm on April 4th my midwife informed me that I was at 4 centimeters dialated and that I would need to have my water broke to continue to progress. Between my water breaking and the pitocin my contractions became so unbelieveably strong I really had no control of my body because the pain was so out of control. At this point my midwife informed me that it would most likely take me another 6 to 8 hours before I would be ready for delivery. I was sweating buckets and I felt so out of control that I decided it would probably be best to take an epidural. Very shortly after that, about an hour, I was having pain very low in my torso and thought that it may be time to push. None of the nurses or my midwife believed me when I told them I thought that it was time and they didn't want to check again so soon to prevent infection. Finally my midwife gave in and was surprised to discover that I was at 10 centimeters and 100% effaced. She told me to go for it. I'm guessing that my body dialating so fast may have been partly to blame for the intense pain I had been feeling. I pushed for about 30 minutes and Adalyn Rae was born at 8:19pm, April 4th, 2010 I was very pleased to have had her on Easter day. She weighed 5lbs 9oz and measured 17.5 inches in length.

Proud mom and daughter after delivery.

Matthew was on deployment with the USS Reuben James. We were fortunate enough that the ship was in port in Japan, allowing him to call me in the hospital.

So, my mom caught a flight to Honolulu on Sunday and made it there just in time to hold her while she was only an hour old.

Hospital policy requires all first time mothers to stay in the hospital for 36 hours after delivery. That meant I stayed in total 3 nights in the hospital. Needless to say we were ready to head home that Tuesday morning. I recall thinking that all the newborn clothes I had shopped for looking so small. Well, they weren't small enough for this little peanut. She's wearing the dress I had picked out for her to come home in, but I think it just might be bigger than her.