Penelope's Here!! Born 8/30/2009

WE

ARE PROUD NEW OWNER'S OF ONE OF THESE...




Saturday night John-Charles and I decided it would be fun to dress up and go on a date. We first went to Thanksgiving Pointe for Metta Oswald's wedding reception and ate some yummy desserts and then we went to Chili's to eat with the intention/hope that we would be eating our, or I guess just my, 'last meal' before the birth. If it's the last meal, it's gotta be good right? We stuffed our faces with their queso dip and chips, mashed potatoes and pepper gravy, grilled shrimp, etc. Man was it delicious and we were stuffed. We both waddled out of the restaurant in happy pain. Why were we thinking that this would be our last meal? Well, on Thursday we went into the hospital because I was having contractions every 3-4 minutes for 4 hours. Being the novices that we are, or should I say 'were' now that we have gone through it?, at labor and delivery we went to Orem Community Hospital hoping that Penny would show her cute little face then. Alas, it was a false alarm but I was dilated to 2 cm and 70% effaced. So we knew it was coming soon. Plus, I had been walking everyday with my dog Cami (she visited Utah on her way to live with Cindy in Washington), so I was bound to progress more since Thursday. The third part of our exciting date was stopping by the local grocery store for some magic potion. Yes, we picked up some castor oil with the hopes that it would help me progress more quickly. Can you tell we wanted the baby to come? Well, around 9:30 pm I drank about 2 fl oz of castor oil and at about 9:45 as we sat down to watch Bourne Identity and some major contractions started coming. At that point I was thinking that I was probably going to poo my pants because of the nasty oil and just waited for the 'runs' to make their appearance but they didn't until I was in full on labor (more on that later). The contractions kept getting closer and closer, stronger and stronger, and finally we decided that a trip the hospital was in order. Orem Community Hospital is about a half hour away from the house and let me tell ya the drive was BRUTAL. I was wailing/grimmacing in pain by the time we walked into L&D. They hurried and hooked me up to the machines for observation before they would admit me and told us to hang out for an hour to see how things would progress. There was no hanging out, there was me screaming in pain, squeezing poor John-Charles hand until it turned purple, and lots and lots of trips to the restroom. Thankfully, twenty minutes later the nurse came back and checked me and I had gone from 70% effaced to 90%!!! Blessed day. They admitted me right there and then. As they wheeled me to the delivery room, the tears just started flowing. I was so nervous, excited, and anxious about going through labor. I WAS GOING TO MEET MY BABY TONIGHT!! I couldn't believe it. I had wanted this moment for so long and the time had finally arrived. It was about 12:45 am and they called in the man with the good stuff....THE EPIDURAL. (ladies, when you give birth, get one...they are a blessing from the heavens above). Before I had gone into labor I had been terrified of the monstrously long needle they administer the epidural with, but once those strong contractions started coming every minute, all the fear was gone gone gone. I couldn't wait for the relief of it. John-Charles braced me by standing between my legs and I wrapped my arms around is neck/head as they told me I couldn't move otherwise I could become a vegetable if the doctor hit the wrong nerves...so, I bore down and squoze John-Charles as hard as I could as my contractions came on. I had about 10 long excruiciatingly painful ones that came in the time that it took to give me the epidural. By the time the medication started working and I could let go of John-Charles, John-Charles was sweating and looked like he'd been through the ring of fire. Poor guy. He was so good to let me squeeze him and then be so nice and say "Honey, you're doing amazing!" "You can do this" "You're doing great!" What an amazing husband I have. Finally, my toes started to tingle and the wonderful pain relief came. I was in a happy place. They hooked me up with the IV, heart monitor, fetal monitor, etc. and told us to get some rest. We turned off the lights and tried to sleep, but for me it was impossible. I was so excited and happy to know that I would soon meet my baby girl. As I lay there, contractions kept coming, they weren't nearly as painful as before but they were still there and highly uncomfortable. At one point, I started to feel like I hadn't had an epidural and as I laid in my bed started to pray for help. All of the sudden I felt someone squeeze my hand, but John-Charles was across the room asleep on the pull-out bed. I opened up my eyes and saw no one, and then I got the distinct impresssion that it was my dad holding my hand, comforting me, telling me I could get through this. It was one dang cool experience. I love you Dad. The nurse came in shortly after and checked my progress, I was at 5 cm. She left and told me to try to sleep again. GRRRR. The pressure kept coming, getting more and more intense by the second. At around 3:30 I shifted my position a little and I felt a POP and then a GUSH and it was as if the flood gates had opened. My water was EVERYWHERE. I paged the nurse and she came in and low and behold I WAS COMPLETE!!!! WOOO. She left again and told me that she would call the doctor to come in around 6 am and then we would start pushing. I could hardly wait for 6 am to come. I kept looking at the clock counting as the seconds ticked by. Penny was almost here! Finally, the nurse came in along with the anesthesiologist (spelling?) and they gave me a second round of the epidural. I felt good again! Again, epidurals are amazing and totally worth the risks. Then we started pushing. It wasn't nearly as hard as I thought it would be (I hadn't taken any birthing classes) aside from the nasty diarrhea that I had because of the dang castor oil. I was so embarressed! I probably pooed in my bed like 20 times thanks to that raunchy oil. Those poor nurses, they had to keep changing my sheets on my bed, but were so polite about it. But still it's just gross. Don't recommend it. However, we think it got Penny here so I can't really complain. :). I pushed till about 6:55 when the doctor came in and then he had me push three more times, got the baby to crown, and pulled her out with forceps to minimize tearing. Beautiful Penelope was here! She came at 6:58 a.m., with a full head of dark hair weighing 7 lbs 12 oz (not nearly the giant baby we all thought...just had lots of fluid and a big placenta), and was 20 inches long. I started to tear horizontally and so he gave me an episiotomy--much to my chagrin. However, the healing hasn't been bad and has been far easier than I would have expected. Penny is wonderful and has such a sweet spirit. You can feel how special she is. I thank Heavenly Father in every prayer for her. It's amazing how your heart opens up to love in such a deep way. Suddenly life has taken on a whole new meaning and I couldn't be happier about it. I love you John-Charles and Penny. Families are forever.




3 DAYS BEFORE SHE WAS BORN

I did it!
7 lbs 12 oz!
Minutes after her birth...
Can you tell I am tired?
The Happy Family

Grandma Terry and Penny's cousin's Abby and Collin
So sleepy
On the way home from the hospital...her first outfit! Thanks Car. :)
Aunty Cindy flew in today to help us
Snug as a bug