Baby Bridget is here!

On Friday, August 19 our sweet little Bridget Elayne Jorgensen was born. She came into the world at 1:37 pm, just in time for us to get some lunch! She weighed 7 pounds 14.5 ounces, making her our biggest baby. She was 20.5 inches long and has very dark, almost black, hair. She’s gorgeous and mellow and we love her to death. Birth story: I asked my doctor if I could be induced with Bridget, since I have a history of very quick labors. And let’s face it, I’m not very big into surprises. I’d much rather have a calm, planned delivery than a middle-of-the-night, what-on-earth-am-I-supposed-to-do-with-my-other-three-children delivery. It also made it very easy for Connie to book tickets to come and help us out. I had had three other uneventful inductions and I was already dilated at my 37 week appointment, so my doctor didn’t have any problem with inducing me at 39ish weeks. I was told to be at the hospital at 6am on Friday morning. Of course I didn’t really get any sleep the night before, so having to get up at 4:45 was pretty painful. Not surprisingly, getting things set up at the hospital took forever. For some reason they didn’t have any of my records (no explanation was given for why this was the case), so they had to draw my blood and do my blood work before they could get the pitocin started. It was well after 8 before they got everything sorted (why was I there at 6??) and past 9 before labor began. As soon as contractions were regular, but not very painful, I asked for my epidural. When the nurse asked me what my pain level was, I was sure to tell her that I wasn’t interested in being in severe pain before I had anesthesia. Why would I go through more pain than necessary? I have nothing to prove to myself. I did it naturally (not intentionally, of course) with Paul, and I can say very confidently that I MUCH prefer the epidural. No pain = good. The epidural was administered without any issues. Apparently I have the perfect spine for administering epidurals. I’ve been told this now by 2 anesthesiologists. After everything was good and numb, it was getting close to lunch time and I was dilated to 5 cm. We were just waiting for the doctor to come in and break my water. I told Aaron that since nothing was happening at the moment, he ought to go and get some lunch. Bad idea. My family knows that sending Dad out to lunch because “nothing is happening” means that SOMETHING is going to happen. With my mom, it meant that Kiera was born without anyone in the family there, including my dad. For me, it was slightly less dramatic, but dramatic nonetheless. After Aaron left, the nurse left as well, leaving me all along in the room. I was happily watching HGTV (yay for cable!) when I had an itch on my shoulder. I reached over to scratch it, and when I pulled my hand away, one of the many lines coming off me caught and I disconnected my epidural line from the IV. This is a bad thing. I knew that the nurses needed to see to it right away, so I reached for the call button. But there was no call button. I searched everywhere for the remote, but I couldn’t find it. And of course I couldn’t get off the bed to look for it, because the bottom half of my body was completely useless. At this point, I must have been panicking, because the alarm for my heart rate started going off. The nurses have no way of hearing the mother’s monitors, just the baby’s, so not only was I freaking out with an open epidural line, but the alarm was going incessantly and driving me crazy. I tried to call Aaron several times, but there was no answer. He eventually saw that I had called multiple times, so he came back as quickly as he could. Apparently at some time during the administration of the epidural someone had place the remote with the call button on a shelf behind me and above my head, several feet out of my reach. Aaron paged the nurses, and one came in to inform me that yes, that was my epidural line and the whole thing had to come out. Um, no. That’s not what I wanted to hear. However, after I was told that the open line could introduce an infection into my spine if it was reconnected, I thought that perhaps they were right and that shouldn’t be risked. The nurse anesthetist came in right away, and they sat me up to remove the old epidural and put in a new one. Bad idea. From the way they explained it to me, when you have an epidural, most of your blood flow is in your feet and legs, which is why you have to lay down the whole time you have an epidural. When they sat me up, my heart rate and blood pressure plummeted. It was strange how immediately I felt “wrong.” I had had blood pressure issues after an eipdural before, but this was completely different. The nurses had to stop putting in the epidural because they were holding me upright since I was on the verge of passing out. They administered extra oxygen for the baby and had to give me three shots of epinephrine to speed up my heart rate and prevent cardiac arrest. Fortunately, I have that perfect spine, so they were able to get the epidural in very quickly and get me lying back down. Within 15 minutes I felt completely fine and they were able to turn the pitocin back on. After they were sure everything was stable and that there were going to be no issues, the doctor came in to break my water. She told me that she expected to be seeing me in two to three hours. Aaron and I just looked at each other and smirked. I had heard that one before. No one seemed to really believe me when I told them that my labor went QUICKLY after my water was broken. Sure enough, I progressed from a 5 to a 9 in about 15 minutes. After they got everything set up, I gave a few good pushes and out she came. She was big, beautiful, and purple (which was such a shock when I had my first baby). Every time I have a baby I’m amazed that a child that large fit inside of me. She must have been so uncomfortable! Her head was a bit bruised from her fast entry into the world, but other than that, she was completely perfect. Every time we have a baby I’m so amazed at how beautiful and perfect they are. Every detail is there, from the wrinkles on her fingers to nearly invisible lashes. Katie, Paul, and Averi have reacted so well to having Bridget around. Katie is our little mother, and loves to be useful. She always wants to help pick out her clothes and is the first to inform me if she’s crying. Paul adores babies. He is always running in to have a peek at her and is constantly asking to hold her. He has such a tender spot when it comes to littler ones. Averi isn’t quite sure what to think of her, but she’s warming up. It’s always been her personality to stand back and observe until she’s completely comfortable. When they came to the hospital to visit, she asked to hold Bridget. I sat her down in the chair and put the baby in her arms, then I turned to go get my camera. Immediately she started panicking. “Mom, I’m done. I’m done, Mom. Mom! Mom, I’m done!” I told her, “Averi, I haven’t even turned the camera on. Please just wait until I can get a picture.” She sat still long enough for me to get one good picture, and then she was out of there as fast as I could take the baby. Now, however, she frequently asks if she can hold her, even if it is just for a minute. She’s always sighing about how adorable she is, and she loves to kiss her little wrinkled feet. Bridget really has been a dreamy baby so far. She’s been a champion nurser, which is such a welcome change after Averi and Paul. She got the hang of things right away, and we haven’t had any issues with eating. She finally coming out of that newborn stupor, but she’s still extremely calm and not fussy at all. Aaron’s mom was here for a week to watch the kids and help us out, and I’ve loved being able to just sit and cuddle with Bridget. I really love this newborn phase. Even though the sleepless nights get hard, infants are just such a joy to have around. When I look at her, I think, “I could have a dozen babies!” I have to remind myself that they do grow up, and that’s the hard part. I’m telling myself that I’m just going to enjoy this stage and savor it, since it passes by so quickly. That’s something that does not come naturally to me. I always find myself looking for the next milestone, the next big thing. Having a new baby is such a good reminder to take things slowly and really live in the moment.