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.