Naina Joins Our Family!

No words can adequately describe the moment.  One minute I was a little scared, shaking from the exhaustion that comes from hours of labor, holding tightly onto Amit's hand, laying on the operating table, frustrated that I was ending up with a c-section, and praying that the baby would be ok through the long process we had just endured together.  

It only took a split second to wash away the fears and exhaustion.  Above the little curtain, the doctor held up our daughter for for us to see.  The whole world paused at that moment, as if it was just the 3 of us in that room, and there was nothing else that mattered except that we had a beautiful baby girl.

The moment I saw her, emotions took over and tears of joy replaced everything I had felt before.  Amit squeezed my hand tighter now, and when I looked up at him, I saw tears coming down his face, too.  He bent down, kissed me, and gave me some wonderful words of encouragement.  

We both reveled in the moment, letting our emotions overcome us, and staring at our beautiful daughter.  We couldn't believe it - after months of anticipation, the day was finally here.  Naina Ami Rele joined our family.    

How did we end up here, 3 weeks early?  Well, when I went in to see Dr White on Monday morning, we no longer had a choice about when to induce.  After seeing all my test results, she came in announcing that we needed to deliver immediately and sent me straight to the hospital to get induced.  

By 11am I was in my hospital gown - we were in Room 9 of the L&D aisle.  By noon, they had started the induction process.  By 3pm, I started having mild contractions, and by 5pm, labor was in full swing.  I was on the IV pain killer to take some of the edge off.  By 8pm I was 3 cm dilated.  And at midnight I was 7 cm and more than ready for the epidural.  At 3:30am, it was the moment I had been waiting for - time to push!  

Two hours and countless pushes later, the Dr Gretkowski came in to see what the holdup was. The baby's heartrate dropped whenever I pushed several times in a row, and her progress towards coming out had stopped for the last hour.  Well, looks like our little one was stuck, and the doc didn't feel like she could safely deliver her.  So off we went for a c-section to get her out. And you know the rest...our little Naina was born at 6:23 am on Tues July 7.  She weighed 5 lbs 7 oz., and was 17 inches long.

The Dreaded Bed Rest

They kept us overnight at the hospital yesterday to keep monitoring my blood pressure.  Finally Dr. Hill came by in the morning and presented the option of inducing today.  It's 1 day before 37 weeks, so she said if want to wait to see Dr. White on Monday, we can do that. But I'd be sent home with strict bedrest instructions.  Alternatively she said they could induce me today, and the baby would probably be ok, just 1 day before full term.  At this point she said she could still give us a choice and left it us to decide. 

Well, bedrest doesn't sound fun, but Dr White will be back from vacation on Monday, so we'd rather see her and go from there...  Either way, Dr. Hill said that they won't let the pregnancy continue more than a couple of days, so I could choose to induce today, or let Dr White pick a day when I see her on Monday. 

So... we came home.  This buys us a little more control over the situation - get my parents on a plane to San Jose instead of getting on their flight to Cozumel!, wait for Dr. White, and get a day to mentally prepare and know we're making the right decision to have our little one 3 weeks early.   I'm on bedrest till our appt with Dr White - Monday at 9:30am.  We'll know more then, but my BP is still really high.

4 Days Into Maternity Leave...

...and I'm in the hospital.  

We went to my regular OB appointment this morning and suddenly my blood pressure was really high.  They sent us straight to the hospital to get admitted into Labor & Delivery.  Yikes!  After my appointment, we had planned to go to Crate & Barrel, work on the baby's room, and then head over to Angad & Shilpi's for a July 4 BBQ.  But now here we are, sitting in Room 4 of Labor & Delivery.  The doc has been coming in and mentioned the possibility of inducing me this weekend, based on the results of some tests they're running!  Errr....this is unexpected to say the least.  Let's wait and see what happens.  But we're starting to think that we'll be going home with our baby girl a little earlier than expected!