500th Post :)

So we are at a milestone on our blog... the 500th post! Derek and I had talked about starting a blog for Della and may still go ahead and do it but until then, we'll try to get pictures up on here of her.

Parenthood has been challenging so far but it sure is rewarding holding our precious baby and have her cuddle up before falling asleep. Della is pretty much the cutest thing ever and Derek and I both are absolutely smitten with her.

I know everyone (almost) knows the labor story but I thought i would document it briefly here for safekeeping and for memory sake.

Early labor started at about 2 am on Wednesday June 9th. We had seen the doctor the day before and learned I was dilated to 2 cm and he had said he seriously doubted she would come anytime soon so we scheduled an appointment to monitor her on Friday and then discuss induction options for the following Tuesday. When the contractions started, I kind of wrote them off and tried to fall back asleep. Around 5 am, I woke up again with contractions and timed them for a bit but decided to fall back asleep which I did. We woke up for the day around 8 am with contractions continuing so I suggested that Derek take the day off and we called our doula, Amanda, and she said she thought we were definately in early labor. We called Pake and Beppe at this time to put them on alert. We found out that Pake stabbed his hand with a pitchfork so they had a tetanus shot to get before they could head to Grass Valley.

Derek and I spent the morning packing boxes, going on a walk in the Penn Valley park with Dutch, and we took our car and car seat to a fire station, hoping that they would be able to help us install it properly.

After our walk in the park, the contractions were getting stronger, to the point that I would need to walk a little slower or stop completely to focus on pain relief. We got back to the house and I used the restroom only to find a bloody show (mucus plug). This was a cause for concern on my part and we decided to eat lunch and then head to the hospital. We called our doula at this time so she could meet us at the hospital. Our bag was packed already so we were ready.

At the hospital, they checked me out around 3:30 pm and found I was dilated 3.5 cm and told me to walk around and labor in the room to see if I would dilate further or if they should send me home. Around 6 pm, after many laps around the hospital courtyard and contractions spent on the exercise ball, they checked me again and I was dilated to about a 7cm. This meant they would keep me and not send me home (yay!!). Labor was getting more intense and the Dr (Dr. Goddard) suggested possibly breaking my water to speed labor up. I didn't want to do this as we were waiting for Pake and Beppe to arrive so we decided to get in the jacuzzi to see if it would progress labor. The jacuzzi sure did progress labor and after I got out, the nurses checked me and my water broke spontaneously. That is about when the pain got pretty intense and I decided that I needed some type of pain medication (about 9:30pm) so I got a shot of Nubain which is a relaxant type drug. This helped me cope with the contractions better as before the pain meds, my breathing was getting a little frantic once transition started. Not too long after that, Pake and Beppe arrived and I got to start pushing. The nurses found that I was dilated to a 10 cm but there was some sort of lip that was not dilating properly so they ran a catheter to drain my bladder (which did not make the lip go away); they then told me I would just need to push through the lip. Apparantly, pushing was not going as well as the doctor would have like as I was not stretching enough for Della to come out so he gave me a series of local relaxant shots to help the muscles be less tense. After this, Della was able to make her presentation at 11:17 pm. Beppe was there and even got to cut the umbilical cord. It was such a wonderful thing to hear our baby cry after an hour or so of pushing. Della scored an 8/9 on the Apgar test and her color was great after about 15 minutes. She was given to me right away for skin to skin contact and she even started nursing with a perfect latch. Overall labor was not so bad looking back but I clearly remember in the midst of transition labor thinking that I would never do this again. How funny how our memory let's us forget those moments.

The next day, Derek and I signed documents in the hospital to purchase a new house in Grass Valley. We officially closed on the house on Friday, the day we came home from the hospital, and we enlisted friends and family to help us move that night. Della came home to a new house and we all got to stay in the house our first night together. It was a tough first week with so much to do (and a bladder infection and intestinal issues to contend with on my part) but we are so glad to be in our new home with our new baby.

Thanks for all the support and love that has been sent our way (especially the words of encouragement - new moms need so much of that!!). I love you all:)

Sharon Rose