Details

I tried being fancy with my pictures and their captions.  I haven't used those options before.  So here are the details of Juliet's birth. 

I had an appointment on Wednesday, 8/1.  All along during this pregnancy I have wanted the least amount of medical intervention possible and I definitely didn't want to be induced.  Since my mom got here Tuesday and Trevor was able to take paternity leave I didn't want to go too much past my due date (8/9).  I asked my doctor about possibly inducing me if I didn't go into labor the weekend after the 9th.  She dropped the bombshell- she was going on vacation this week and could induce me on Friday, 8/3.  I was so bummed!  I changed my insurance so that I could deliver at the civilian hospital in town and so that I could see Dr. Hebard.  I specifically chose Kitsap Ob/Gyn so that I could see Kathy Hebard and she was going on vacation!

Trevor was able to be at this appointment with me, which was great since I was stressing out about the induction.  We went to lunch afterwards.  I finally decided that I would call the hospital Friday to see if there was room and if there wasn't I was going to forget about the induction.  There wasn't room for me Friday.  Saturday morning I got a call that they could get me in at 1pm.  That's what we did.  The weekend Juliet was born set record highs for the summer.  It was so hot.  I was looking forward to being the air conditioned hospital room (our house doesn't have A/C).

We got packed and ready to go.  I kissed the girls and Trevor gave me a blessing.  The induction started at 1:30.  At 8:30 the doctor came in and checked me and I was at a 3.  She broke my water and things really picked up after that.  That was a particularly painful procedure by the way, having my water broken.  Yikes.  At 9:30 I asked for an epidural.  The pitocin was cranked up pretty high the whole time I was in labor.  Finally at 10:30 I got the epidural.  The nurse checked me and I was at a 6.  This nurse was a bit confused.  She was constantly bumbling around and she made both me and Trevor nervous.  Fortunately the charge nurse was standing over her most of the time.  She checked me about a half an hour later and I was fully dilated and ready to push.  Dr. Hebard came in around 11:30 and got ready for Juliet's birth.  I pushed for 3 contractions and she was here!

The nurses noticed that during contrations Juliet's heart beat was dropping dangerously low.  They gave me an amnio infusion, which means they put fluids back inside.  They thought that since my water was broken and I lost the fluid so quickly any cushioning the cord had was gone.  They put a spout-ended thing back up inside and flushed saline solution into my uterus.  I'd never even heard of this procedure before.  Turns out the problem was the pitocin.  It was turned up to a 14 (it goes up to 30, I asked) and that was causing her heart rate to fluctuate.  Once the pit was turned off things were just fine.  The crazy nurse kept talking about a cord around her neck or shoulder.  That just freaked us out.  I got really upset thinking that Juliet wasn't going to be okay.

When we were moved to the recovery room, crazy nurse pushed me in the wheelchair.  She kept slamming on the breaks which jarred me and was really irritating.  Finally, the security guard took over and I think crazy ended up pushing the cart that had our stuff on it.

Five months into my pregnancy I started doing HypnoBabies.  It's a hypnobirthing program designed to help women have a natural childbirth experience.  Even though I didn't go natural I still enjoyed the program.  It helped me stay relaxed throughout my pregnancy.

I'm adjusting to having a newborn.  It's been great having my mom here and Trevor home.  I'm glad my mom is here for 2 more weeks because I've got the baby blues.  I'm just really emotional right now and it will be nice to have someone here to keep me company.  She's been really helpful with
Chloe and Scarlett.  Makes me a little sad to have Trevor go back into work on Monday.  For the next several months he will be gone a lot.  Life would be totally different if he had a more typical 9am-5pm job.  He'll be back and forth to sea a lot and I'll be doing things solo.

Juliet is so sweet.  She's spending more and more time each day being alert which is super cute.  Her sisters love her and are such big helpers.