It’s been almost a month since this little girl came into our family. The last few weeks have been a blur with little sleep, Jeff studying for the boards, and my recovery. The delivery went smoothly and I was induced the night of my due date. I had a pregnancy rash called PUPPPS that starts on your belly and spreads like crazy. Since it’s a hormonal rash you can’t do anything about it and only goes away after the baby comes out. I was basically going crazy trying not to itch. My doctor was nice enough to stop my suffering and was able to talk the hospital into admitting me even though they said they had no empty beds. We went in at midnight and sat in a waiting room with some very interesting people also waiting to be induced. Somehow they made room and we scored a very nice room with a couch that folded out into a bed for Jeff. At least one of us got some sleep that night. They gave me two rounds of Cytotec and in the morning started me on oxytocin. After a couple hours I got my epidural. I think that was my favorite part of the labor. It was almost instant relief from the intense pain of the contractions and all I wanted to do was take a nap. My doctor left for a couple hours to do a surgery at another hospital, which wasn’t a problem because I was only dilated to a three. He was planning on coming back and breaking my water to speed up the process. When he returned he was surprised to see that I was fully dilated and impressed with Jane’s full head of hair. They let me labor down for an hour and I started pushing around 4:30. After about ten contractions she came right out at 4:53 and was placed on me. It was amazing! All I could say was how weird it all was. She was 7 pounds 3 ounces and felt impossibly huge to have fit inside of me. I couldn’t believe she was actually my baby, especially with all that hair! Both our families have had nearly hairless babies and if I hadn’t seen her come out of me I wouldn’t have believed she was mine.
It was a lot of fun to have my mom and Melanie come visit. Melanie took the train from Chicago all night and stayed for a few days. I was lucky enough to have my mom come for almost two weeks. She was a ton of help and I was so sad to see her leave.
Jeff takes his big test on Friday, which will determine what specialties he can go into and where he can apply for residencies. We have a little over two weeks to find a place to live in Pittsburgh and pack up and move. Needless to say, life has been a little crazy.
