Hanging with Mommy
Monday, June 4, 2012
Harlow: 1 month
Harlow's first month was filled with ups and downs. The first 2 weeks were hard because I had no clue what cry meant what and had yet to establish a routine. Slowly but surely, we got her into a great routine and I can proudly say she's pretty good at putting herself to sleep whenever we put her down to nap.... with her paci and tightly in a swaddle that is. She loves to be swaddled :)
Harlow's First Outing. 4 days old.
Harlow with Grandma!
Shopping with mommy at The Summit.
Harlow with Grandma Barbara
Harlow with cousin Riley
Harlow with Danna
1 month old
1 month old
1 month old
Hanging with Daddy
With Grandpa Tommy and Kathy
Harlow with great-Aunt Renessa
Harlow with cousin Jessie
Harlow with cousin Jerikah
With mommy on Mother's Day
Harlow with Uncle Kevin
Harlow with Aunt Amy and cousin Riley
Hanging out with Daddy at the pool for the first time. Memorial Weekend. 7 weeks
Sitting like a big girl in her chair. 7 weeks.
The arrival of Harlow Adriana
Now that Harlow is 2 months old, I finally have a little bit of time to update the blog about her arrival! I went to my last pre-natal appointment at 38 weeks, 2days and asked about being induced when my Doctor checked me and I had no change in the 3 weeks since I was checked the first time. We scheduled it for 39 weeks exactly on Saturday, April 7th. We were to be at UAB at 8am and had an induction scheduled for 10am.
The night before I made sure to have a nice big dinner... my last pregnant meal, since I couldn't eat or drink anything past midnight. Remembering how hungry I was during my delivery with Lyla, I was already dreading the lack of food to come and was already thinking about my post-delivery meal :)
We got checked in pretty quickly and I was 1 room over from the same room I delivered Lyla in. A lot of feelings started to come up as I remembered being wheeled through those same halls anticipating seeing my little girl that I carried for 32 weeks, keeping safe, even though I knew she was sick. As we approached the door of my delivery room this time, I flashed back to 10 months ago where there was a leaf cradling a teardrop emblem taped to the window, indicating we were experiencing a loss. This time, it was bare. Both feelings of joy- that we were about to meet our healthy baby girl, as well as sadness- a reminder that our first baby girl was gone, entered my heart. I part of me longed to be one room over, where we might have felt Lyla's presence as we brought her little sister into the world.
39 weeks and arriving at the hospital for our induction
Daddy-to-be arriving at the hospital
I got my IV put in and met with my first nurse of this hospital stay, Karla and she was great. I don't know what it is about UAB, but their nursing staff is fabulous. Next, it was then time for me to get the dreaded Foley bulb again to help me dilate. I was so nervous because last time, I was drugged pretty well and this time I wasn't at all, so I was scared about how I would experience it this time around. Luckily it didn't take too long to get inserted and I did fine.
Shortly after, we got the pitocin drip started and it was time to watch the clock and wait for our little girl to come. The hours ticked by and still no progress. One of our nurses from when we were in labor with Lyla, Jaimie, came by our room to say hi. She remembered us from just 10 months ago and during their morning meeting made sure I wasn't in the room next door in case it brought up too many raw feelings, which I thought was so nice of her, to remember me and then to take care of my feelings and try to keep this a joyous time for our family.
Finally, around 4 O'clock, 6 hours after getting the Foley bulb inserted... it came out and I was dilated at a 4! I'm not gonna lie, I honestly thought it would've come out a lot sooner. Karla was so bummed when her shift was ending and she knew she wouldn't be here to see Harlow be born. She joked that when she came back at 6am the following day. she better not see me still here and in labor. (She got a special treat when she came in for her shift the next day).
Unfortunately, I was stalled at a 4 for 9 hours. I was checked again at 1am and was still a 4. At that point I almost started to cry thinking I was going to have to have a C-Section. A few hours, lots of prayers and an upping of pitocin later, Dr. B came in to break my water to see if that would make me have some progress. The nurses told me that for some reason he was so resistant to break my water before I got the epidural because he didn't want me to be in pain (He knew the story of Lyla and was a good friend of my MFM Doctor and so he wanted this whole labor and delivery to be as smooth for me as possible, love him!). About 30 minutes after he broke my water, things got intense extremely fast and 19 hours into labor I gave in and got the epidural. Sweet relief! I was able to take about an hour nap and ended up going from a 4 to a 6 to a 9 in 2 hours. I was on my 2nd nurse, Vicki at that point and she was about to be off and told me she thought I was going to have my baby within the hour. She wanted so bad for me to have Harlow before her shift was over. But, once again I stalled for a bit and wasn't at a 10 and ready to push until another 3 hours later and Vicki had already gone home.
My 3rd nurse, Ashley, was so sweet and was probably just a few years older than me. She was from Florida and her husband was doing his residency at UAB as well. We bonded over not being from the area and joked about how different it was. 1030am came and it was time to push! I was so nervous but after my first few tries I understood what to do. Karla, my 1st nurse was back on shift and shocked I was still in labor, but excited because then she would be able to see Harlow. She was the C-Section nurse that day but ran back and forth between the surgery room and mine while I was pushing. 2 hours later I was in the home stretch and was in the worst pain of my life. I honestly didn't think I was going to make it through those last 15 minutes.
At 12.42pm, on April, 8th, 2012, Harlow Adriana Epperson came into the world weighing 7lb 8oz and was 19.5 inches long. Our little bunny was born on Easter :) She was so beautiful, I couldn't believe she was finally here. We had waited for this moment for a long time. While Adam watched them clean her up and give her a bath, I was left to get stitched up. I had a pretty big tear and I was in so much pain when they started stitching. They asked, "Does it feel like a sharp pain or lots of pressure?" I was like very very sharp!!! It turns out my epidural had totally worn off... which explains why I was in so much pain during the last 15 minutes of pushing!
The next day, my 2nd nurse Vicki came to visit us and see Harlow while we were in the mommy and baby recovery section.
We are so happy and overjoyed that Lyla's little sister Harlow is here and we're in awe of her beauty and resemblance to Lyla everyday :)
The night before I made sure to have a nice big dinner... my last pregnant meal, since I couldn't eat or drink anything past midnight. Remembering how hungry I was during my delivery with Lyla, I was already dreading the lack of food to come and was already thinking about my post-delivery meal :)
We got checked in pretty quickly and I was 1 room over from the same room I delivered Lyla in. A lot of feelings started to come up as I remembered being wheeled through those same halls anticipating seeing my little girl that I carried for 32 weeks, keeping safe, even though I knew she was sick. As we approached the door of my delivery room this time, I flashed back to 10 months ago where there was a leaf cradling a teardrop emblem taped to the window, indicating we were experiencing a loss. This time, it was bare. Both feelings of joy- that we were about to meet our healthy baby girl, as well as sadness- a reminder that our first baby girl was gone, entered my heart. I part of me longed to be one room over, where we might have felt Lyla's presence as we brought her little sister into the world.
I got my IV put in and met with my first nurse of this hospital stay, Karla and she was great. I don't know what it is about UAB, but their nursing staff is fabulous. Next, it was then time for me to get the dreaded Foley bulb again to help me dilate. I was so nervous because last time, I was drugged pretty well and this time I wasn't at all, so I was scared about how I would experience it this time around. Luckily it didn't take too long to get inserted and I did fine.
Shortly after, we got the pitocin drip started and it was time to watch the clock and wait for our little girl to come. The hours ticked by and still no progress. One of our nurses from when we were in labor with Lyla, Jaimie, came by our room to say hi. She remembered us from just 10 months ago and during their morning meeting made sure I wasn't in the room next door in case it brought up too many raw feelings, which I thought was so nice of her, to remember me and then to take care of my feelings and try to keep this a joyous time for our family.
Finally, around 4 O'clock, 6 hours after getting the Foley bulb inserted... it came out and I was dilated at a 4! I'm not gonna lie, I honestly thought it would've come out a lot sooner. Karla was so bummed when her shift was ending and she knew she wouldn't be here to see Harlow be born. She joked that when she came back at 6am the following day. she better not see me still here and in labor. (She got a special treat when she came in for her shift the next day).
Unfortunately, I was stalled at a 4 for 9 hours. I was checked again at 1am and was still a 4. At that point I almost started to cry thinking I was going to have to have a C-Section. A few hours, lots of prayers and an upping of pitocin later, Dr. B came in to break my water to see if that would make me have some progress. The nurses told me that for some reason he was so resistant to break my water before I got the epidural because he didn't want me to be in pain (He knew the story of Lyla and was a good friend of my MFM Doctor and so he wanted this whole labor and delivery to be as smooth for me as possible, love him!). About 30 minutes after he broke my water, things got intense extremely fast and 19 hours into labor I gave in and got the epidural. Sweet relief! I was able to take about an hour nap and ended up going from a 4 to a 6 to a 9 in 2 hours. I was on my 2nd nurse, Vicki at that point and she was about to be off and told me she thought I was going to have my baby within the hour. She wanted so bad for me to have Harlow before her shift was over. But, once again I stalled for a bit and wasn't at a 10 and ready to push until another 3 hours later and Vicki had already gone home.
My 3rd nurse, Ashley, was so sweet and was probably just a few years older than me. She was from Florida and her husband was doing his residency at UAB as well. We bonded over not being from the area and joked about how different it was. 1030am came and it was time to push! I was so nervous but after my first few tries I understood what to do. Karla, my 1st nurse was back on shift and shocked I was still in labor, but excited because then she would be able to see Harlow. She was the C-Section nurse that day but ran back and forth between the surgery room and mine while I was pushing. 2 hours later I was in the home stretch and was in the worst pain of my life. I honestly didn't think I was going to make it through those last 15 minutes.
At 12.42pm, on April, 8th, 2012, Harlow Adriana Epperson came into the world weighing 7lb 8oz and was 19.5 inches long. Our little bunny was born on Easter :) She was so beautiful, I couldn't believe she was finally here. We had waited for this moment for a long time. While Adam watched them clean her up and give her a bath, I was left to get stitched up. I had a pretty big tear and I was in so much pain when they started stitching. They asked, "Does it feel like a sharp pain or lots of pressure?" I was like very very sharp!!! It turns out my epidural had totally worn off... which explains why I was in so much pain during the last 15 minutes of pushing!
The next day, my 2nd nurse Vicki came to visit us and see Harlow while we were in the mommy and baby recovery section.
We are so happy and overjoyed that Lyla's little sister Harlow is here and we're in awe of her beauty and resemblance to Lyla everyday :)
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