The nurse finally got Eric and I into a regular room and shortly after that Amber showed up. Aunt Linda and Lynn came next followed by Aunt Loretta and my Dad. I was able to get an epidural right away. Eric asked Amber if she would stay with me through the epidural since she had gotten one before and thought she would be of more help than he. Getting the epidural was not that bad and once I had it I was almost totally relieved of my pain. I rested and dozed a little through the rest of the night. Dr. Waterbury, the doctor on call, came in to check on me and told me that Dr. Morgan would be on call for Saturday. I was super excited since he had been my doctor all along! I continued to progress throughout the night with dilating. I remember some of my nurses asking if I felt my water breaking at various times. Occasionally I felt like there was leakage but it was hard to tell with the epidural. In the morning Dr. Morgan came to see me and said that they were going to give me medicine to help me progress along and would be breaking my water. At about 10:00 a.m. on Saturday morning once I had reached 10 cm and Dr. Morgan had broken my water I began pushing. Exactly as I had wished for it to be, Eric and Amber were in the room. I was so amazed at how much they were able to be a part of the whole process. The nurses let each of the take a leg and coach me along through my pushes. We did lots of practice pushes and Eric and Amber lead the whole thing. At times they would have to tell me I was having a contraction because I didn’t even feel it. They would tell me to start pushing then they would count and give a few reminders. All the nurses that were in there with me were so nice. They were very patient and gave me gentle coaching the entire way. I pushed for about 3 hours. I remember the nurses reading the Birth Plan I had brought and really followed it to a tee. Dr. Morgan sat at the end of the bed and was such a fantastic doctor the entire time. I was swelling pretty badly with each push and I remember at times feeling like my head was going to pop off of my shoulders because I was pushing so hard. I kept my eyes closed for most of the entire process. The only time I would look up was to make eye contact with Eric for comfort. When the head was coming out I remember Eric saying that it looked like a ball of black yarn. I remember it hurting pretty badly when the baby was finally coming out but by the last three pushes I kind of out of it. I do remember finally when Baby Thames made her appearance in the world at 1:27 p.m. I looked down and Dr. Morgan had turned the baby over on her side and laid her on my stomach. Right then Eric looked at me with tears in his eyes and said it was a girl! We were so excited and just couldn’t believe it. The part that hurt just as much as the last pushes was getting sewn up. At that point though I was relieved that I had seen my beautiful baby girl with all her fingers and toes and had heard her cry. They took her over to the warmer to check her all out and I had to finish the stitching up process. Once that was over I was just overwhelmed with joy and tears as the nurse held my baby up to see me. Words cannot describe these moments. I remember Dr. Morgan saying that had she been any bigger I would have had to have a C-section because I was swelling very badly. We were also very surprised it was a girl since everyone thought I was having a boy. I guess somehow Eric and I subconsciously knew we were having a girl because that was the only name we had ready!
Our little Annaliese Naomi Thames weighed in at 5 pounds 3.6 ounces, 18.5 inches long and was just adorable!
Even though she was small everything seemed to be working properly and she didn’t have to go to the nursery at all. She was a preemie by size (being under 6 pounds) but was considered a late preterm baby by being 3 weeks early. She did a fantastic job of latching on and was eating right away.
The waiting room was full of family and friends waiting to see our baby girl. As I held my sweet angel Eric and Amber went out with the video camera to share the news. There were at total of 29 people in the waiting room and boy were they excited. The nurses in the hospital said that it was the largest group of family and friends for one child that they had ever seen. The groups had to come in shifts to see the baby. Many of the people that were supposed to be at the shower came to the hospital instead. The rest of the day was spent visiting with family.
The first night we kept Annaliese with us in the room. I was feeding her every 2 hours anyway so she just stayed with us. She had lots of tests to do at certain times throughout the night so she was in and out of the room. At one point they thought she might be a little jaundice but her levels checked out fine and she was not. One time in the middle of the night I awoke to see Eric just holding Annaliese and staring at her. What a most beautiful sight. I asked him if everything was okay and he said he had been staring at her as she slept for the past two hours. I turned over and nodded peacefully back off to sleep…I was happier than words can express!
