The Minneapolis McCues: Welcome Meredith Claire McCue!

Well, she finally arrived! And boy, if she isn't just the most beautiful thing I've seen, but I just may be biased. So, we've been home since late Friday evening and she is currently taking a little snooze in between feedings - so I thought I'd share how it all went down, how it's been since we've been home and a few pictures.

I was actually due on Saturday, Sept. 19th, but on Wednesday after coming home from a 12 hour shift at work I started noticing a few signs that led me to believe that I might just be going into labor soon. So, I played it cool and timed my contractions, which were 5 minutes apart, lasting about a minute and had been doing this for over an hour - but I was experiencing no pain and my water hadn't broke - so I decided I would just go to bed and see what happened.

I ended up waking up around midnight experiencing some painful contractions. Not that painful at first, but as I sat up timing the contractions - which were 2 to 3 minutes apart, I could tell that the contractions were getting stronger and more painful. So I called my doctor and woke Jon up and we headed to the hospital.

We arrived at the hospital around 2am and were admitted by 2:30am. The contractions were continuing to get stronger and I was feeling incredibly nauseated and crampy in between my contractions. But darn it anyway, when they checked me I was only 1.5 cm dilated (and I had already been 1 cm dilated at my last appointment!). I had hope that because of my symptoms and the pain involved, I would've been a bit further along than that. So, they made me hang out in the triage area for an hour to see if I would progress. The pain was getting pretty bad, so I basically told them, no matter what - I couldn't go home feeling like I was. The next time they checked me, I was 2 to 3 cm dilated, so they decided to admit me and give me a few drugs to help with the pain. I got some oral Zofran for the nausea, some oral Vistaril and 10mg of IM Morphine (which I think is a lot - I often give this amount and not a whole lot more to patient's undergoing major abdominal surgery!). And I got to tell you, I give Zofran to my patient's all the time, but have never had it myself - it works SO well. So, the Zofran helped with the nausea - but the morphine and vistaril allowed me to sleep between contractions - but the contractions were still pretty painful - maybe the drugs took the edge off a bit. I just got some very restless sleep until about 7 or 8 am when the docs and nurses finally came in to check me again.

Thank goodness, I had progressed and was now 4 to 5 cm dilated and was offered an epidural, which I took very willingly. The anesthesiologists came very promptly and placed my epidural by about 9:30am and within 5 to 10 minutes I was feeling absolutely nothing. Completely numb from my boobs to mid-thighs - AMAZING! Once again, I've placed epidurals, but have never enjoyed one myself and I tell you what - I am a true believer - what a miracle. But now that I had no pain, the vistaril and morphine were still hanging out in my system and made me very sleepy and groggy for the rest of the day. I basically slept all day long, while my body slowly did the work of my labor.

I dilated very slowly, my contractions were basically only every 7 minutes at this point (and really had slowed down like that since after the morphine and vistaril). So, after a dose of Penicillin (because I was GBS positive) they broke my water and noticed meconium - meaning that our little gal had pooped in the amniotic fluid. This just meant that NICU staff would have to be there for the delivery to possibly suctioned down her lungs to prevent that think tarry stool from sticking in her lungs and causing respiratory difficulties. Breaking my water sped my contractions up a little, like to every 5 minutes - but I was still progressing slowly (maybe I was 7 to 8 cm dilated by this time and it was about 4pm) - so they decided to start IV pitocin. As they increased this drug I eventually reached 9.5 cm dilation and like 90% effacement. At this point I decided to just try pushing a little and this finished the job and I was 10 cm, 100% effaced - yeah! But, I was told that often what they do is let mom's "labor down" for like an hour to decrease the time you have to push. This just means that I would be letting my body move the baby down further in the birth canal instead of pushing to do this by myself. After an hour, they said though the baby was moving down the birth canal, maybe they'd let me "labor down" for a while longer.

Well, I got to say it was getting pretty late in the evening and I hadn't eaten since the night before, so I was ready to get the show on the road. And Jon was ready for a little excitement as well, since all he had done all day was sit in my room and watch me sleep. My epidural was still running, but I was definitely feeling pressure and a slight urge to push - which was just amazing to me, considering how numb I was. But by about 20 minutes to 7pm I said that I would just like to start pushing and see what happened. I had never realized just how hard you actually end up pushing - but I had rested all day and was ready.

I was pushing for 10 minutes or so and I guess I was making progress when my mom and sister Emily showed up at the hospital. I thought I would be worried about my modesty - but maybe it was the drugs or just my state of being in labor - but I wanted them in there to coach me. They have both had children of there own (my sister only 4 weeks earlier) and they are both nurses who help in labor and delivery at the hospital in my hometown - so their expertise was very nice to have. With my team cheering me on, I worked hard for 40 to 45 minutes and then I finally got to meet my beautiful baby girl at 7:24pm. It was all very surreal. She came out and cried right away and was whisked off to be with the NICU team for evaluation, while I was being tended to. She was crying very well, so they didn't even have to suction her at all - which I was glad to hear. They weighed and measured her - she was 7 pounds, 1 ounce and was 19 inches long!

It all really didn't seem real to me. She was just beautiful and I still couldn't believe that she had come from me! My mom and sister hung out for the first hour or so after she was born. And we all cooed over her and held her, while we sent my poor husband out to get me some Davanni's for dinner!

Later, after my sis and mom left - Jon assisted with her first bath. Then we were packed up and sent on our was to the postpartum unit around 9:30pm. So, there we were - exhausted, it was pretty late at night and we were all alone with our beautiful daughter - who incidently didn't seem very happy about being born. When someone finally came in, I gave in and asked if she could spend the night in the nursery and be brought to me to attempt breastfeeding when she was hungry.

The next 24 hours were kind of frustration, though still very awesome as we got to know our daughter. The frustration was all related to breastfeeding, which I know if very common for new mothers. But for some reason, I hadn't given much thought to it except that I was going to breastfeed. Unfortunately, there was no lactation nurse on duty that day, so I just had the nurse taking care of me to help with it. I ended up getting a lot of advice, but no matter what - our little Meri just wouldn't latch on and I was spending an hour to 2 hours every feeding just to try different things to make this happen. I ended up starting to pump a little more than 24 hours after her birth and we did syringe feedings with her just so I knew she was getting what she needed, and I was assured that my milk would come in. We still were attempting to get her to feed at the breast, but was no longer spending 2 hours doing it - more like 40min to an hour.

Finally, on Friday morning there was a lactation specialist available and she immediately diagnosed the problem - our little Meri didn't know how to suck correctly (and also she was very sleepy) and recommended a nipple shield. When I started using that, we had the very first successful feeding with her almost 36 hours after she was born. Unfortunately, the next feeding - which I started at noon - did not go smoothly at all. After an hour and a half of frustration - I finally pumped again and fed her around 2pm. This was very upsetting to me because I had to be discharged that day - no later than 7:24pm (48 hours after her delivery is all that our insurance covers). Which meant I had only one more feeding to get advice and help before I was sent home to do this all by myself - very scary.

Around 5pm I decided to try feeding her by myself, using the nipple shield and guess what? It went beautifully!! I was ecstatic! I felt much better going home after this success. We ended up leaving the hospital around 6pm on Friday and did so in a bit of a rush because we decided at the last minute to bring our dog to a boarding facility for the first few days we were home - something that I hadn't really thought much of before having Meredith. I just didn't think I would be able to handle learning how to care for Meri as well as trying to incorporate our little puppy into the mix. We're going to pick her up Thursday morning - I'm sure I'll update my blog on how that all goes!

So, now we're home and I feel that things are going very well, more or less. The feedings have gone great. She's eating a ton (and still using the nipple shield), and consequently peeing and pooping a lot as well. She is also having a lot of burp ups, some small - some quite large. She hasn't been very fussy - just generally eats, feeds, poops and pees, though we did have a couple hours of frequent feedings and fussiness last evening. I'm feeling well, considering having gone through labor. The only complaint I have, as all nursing mothers do, is how painfully engorged I am. I have to say, I definitely am not having any problems with production. In fact, I'm pumping to relieve some of the engorgement and have to say I'm building up quite a supply already.

We had a home health nurse in today to check on me and the baby - and we passed with flying colors. Her jaundice is receiving and she's regained an ounce (left the hospital at 6lb 14 oz and is now 6lb 15oz)! The nurse is not concerned at all about her large burp ups (Jon and I were at first, but figured if she wasn't fussy and continued to eat, drink, pee and poop - that she was fine). She just thinks that when she first starts to nurse - it comes pretty fast and she ends up getting more than she really needs.

We've had a few visitors, which has been nice - but we've also had a lot of time just alone, hanging out by ourselves - and that has been nice too. We're sleeping during the night, in between feedings (which are about every 3 hours) and Jon is being very helpful with everything and loves to spend time with his little girl, too!

That's basically it! I can't think of much more to say. Tomorrow my mom, Gma, sister Jill and brother Justin will come up to spend the afternoon and Wednesday we have our first appointment with the pediatrician. Then we have a few other people planning on visiting. So, all in all - we're doing great and I want to thank everyone for their emails, phone calls, Facebook comments and visits! We feel very loved and grateful for all of you!

Jon has been working on a new blog/webpage and eventually I'll be transitioning to it, for now - I'll give the web address as it has many good photos on it: http://web.me.com/jdm51/Minneapolis_McCues/Welcome.html

I will also post some photos below. Sorry this blog entry has been so long, I just wanted to share my story for those who might be interested and figured those who weren't interested could simply look at the photos. I hope to write more soon!