Labor of Love and a Blood Patch

Ahh, who doesn't love a good labor story? It's been 16 weeks since mine....and the further down the road I go I have more and more blessings and great times that take away my thoughts about the scary stuff.
Let's just say I went into labor completely naive. But maybe that's a first time mom thing and perhaps that is the way it should be....but a series of unfortunate events led up to the greatest blessing I have ever known.
1) My water broke at home
2) I couldn't progress on my own and they started petocin about 6 hours after my water broke. 2 bags (!!) of petocin later and I still hadn't had a contraction.
3) Finally the 4th nurse figured out that my second water bag hadn't broken....I'm still a little confused about this. From what I've read it's as though the first layer broke but not the second. So the nurse broke the bag (that is a horror story in and of itself) and the contractions started IMMEDIATELY! 2 minutes apart 1 minute long. Ahhhh!!
4) So I requested the epidural - you know - the epidural I always said I would NEVER have. Well, the anesthesiologist came in and immediately afterwards said what you never want to hear "That wasn't a good stick". Great. Migraine started immediately.
5) Got medicine for the migraine and started vomiting shortly thereafter.
6) Got phenergan for the nausea and had an allergic reaction to it. Had NO idea I was allergic!
NOTHING IN MY MEMORY FOR THE NEXT SEVERAL HOURS
7) Woke up to my dr. pinching my hip. Passed out again.
8) Had a C-section (which I don't remember).
8) Woke up and saw my mom and dad and sister walk into the room and start crying as they saw Abby for the first time.
9) Woke up at some point in the early morning and saw my beautiful daughter next to me and wondered how she got there.
10) The next day I got a terrible Spinal Headache....worst headache of my life!! I tried to tell the nurses, but they just dismissed it.
11) For the next 4 days my head hurt so bad I was vomitting. It was the worse pain of my life.
11) 2 days after they sent me home Tony took me back to the ER and I got a blood patch from a wonderfully sweet anesthesiologist and within 12 hours - the headache was gone. What a blessing that blood patch was.

Now my daughter is almost 4 months old. I look at her and every pain...every scary memory....it is pushed aside. I have more than I ever could have imagined. I wish the labor would have gone differently, but in the end SHE is all that matters.

Most beautiful girl in the world!

We got these taken last Saturday. Isn't she beautiful?

Our first family photo:

Co-Sleeping

I originally thought that Tony and I would sleep with Abby in our room - her in her pack and play and us in bed. That didn't work out - but it did work out that she would sleep in her car seat. However, I didn't want to be so high up in the bed and her down in her car seat, so we put the car seat in her stroller and put it next to our  bed. Then when Tony went back to work when Abby was 2 weeks old, I put the car seat on the floor next to the couch and I slept there, so we wouldn't wake him up at night. But it was so uncomfortable, and I would end up putting her next to me to sleep by the middle of the night. Come to find out (I've been reading A LOT about sleep), that is a really bad idea to have the baby on the couch with you. So I moved to the guest bed with her about 4 or 5 weeks ago. And it's worked out so well! I love sleeping with her - it's so comforting to have to her next to me...and it has helped her to sleep better. Both of us have better nights. I have still been getting up to get in the rocker to nurse her, but I'm hoping soon I can nurse her in bed (she just wasn't big enough yet). I started to worry that it was going to create some dependency on both our parts, so I went to the library and checked out as many books as possible on the subject.
I can say the field is evenly divided on co-sleeping. Some books say that babies need to learn to sleep alone and in their own room - that it facilitates better sleeping and helps them later on. Other books say that "safe" co-sleeping is the best bet and others say that rooming in is best. I guess it just comes to doing what you feel is right. I know a lot of moms wouldn't be comfortable with their baby's right next to them because they are afraid they will hurt the baby in the night or that no one would sleep well. And I think for some moms that really could be the case. I sleep really well, yet I'm completely aware that she is next to me. From what I have read though it is good for the development of the baby to be in close proximity to their parents, most importantly their mother. You can address their needs right away. There has been a lot of professionals that have said that it is dangerous to have your babies in bed and it can lead to SIDS (by far the scariest thing I have ever read about or thought about in my life!), but other professionals have said that if you are doing it safely it can lower the risk of SIDS - that the CO2 that you exhale reminds your baby to breathe. Apparently all babies have a touch of sleep apnea (some worse than others), but it is lessened by your breathing next to them. I have noticed that Abby has a touch of sleep apnea....she will be breathing fine, then not breathe for a second. It doesn't happen often, but it does happen. But reading that it is common made me feel a lot better about it. Another reason is that Abby is a talker. She moans and groans all the time!! Although it is lessening for a while she would get so loud that she would wake herself up. But when I was sleeping next to her she wouldn't make the sounds at all, so I really feel like she was sleeping more soundly.
And honestly - I just love being that close to her at night. We are cuddling and I really feel like it has bonded us closer together. While I miss sleeping in bed with Tony - I know these days are precious and will go by too quickly, so I'll just take advantage of this while I can.
So I'm hoping that when I go back to work (a week from Tuesday) we can put her back in her pack and play in our room...that way when I go to work early she can stay sleeping in her own little cot.
This is such a divided subject and I really think that parents have to do what they feel is best for their child. All we really want is healthy and happy children, and at the end of the day only you know how to make that happen since every child is different.

7 weeks old

Abby is going to be 8 weeks old next Tuesday! I can't believe how quickly the weeks have gone by. Abby is going to get her vaccinations next week - so I know that will be a tough day. And I am dreading going back to work..necessary evil.

We have had a tough go of it. Abby has colic - so most nights we have had 3 to 4 hours of crying - from both of us. :) I took her to the doctor last Friday to see if he could help and he gave her some drops that relieve abdominal cramping - and so far they seem to help!! She is sleeping a little better too. 3 to 4 hours for the first part of the night and about 2 hours apart for the rest. She is smiling now and everyday has more time that she is cooing and looking around. I still cry nearly everyother day at how blessed I am.