Holland Grace Martin arrived Monday, February 27, 2017 at 5:12 pm. She weighed 8lb 13 oz, was 20 1/2 inches long, and absolutely perfect!
I woke up at 4:45 am on the 27th to light contractions and some bloody show. I was too anxious to go back to sleep, so that's how my day started. Evie woke up at the same time, but she was able to fall back asleep at my feet.
Since I hate being the watched pot that never boils, Daniel went to work and my Mom went to town to go shopping and run errands. I had contractions all morning, but nothing that really hurt or progressed. Mom came home at lunch time, and I told Daniel to come home as well, just in case. I went to take a nap about 1 pm. I woke up a little before 2 pm to a decidedly more painful contraction. I started timing them and could tell there was a big difference. They were getting stronger and more regular. Daniel was on a conference call, so as soon as he got done I told him it was just about that time. I also told Corinne she better come on out. I went and woke my Mom up and told her we were going to go to hospital. Things were progressing quickly enough that I almost left before Corinne arrived, but we did leave as soon as she got to the house. It was the longest , but fastest, drive to Tupelo ever! We were both nervous about not making it to the hospital in time. Modern technology- you can see all the contractions I was tracking from the time I got up to the time we arrived at the hospital at about 3:15pm.
When we got to the hospital and in to triage, the very young doctor insisted on an ultrasound to make sure she was still head down since she had previously been breech. She was head down and I was about 5 cm dilated. We waited for a delivery room to be prepared, and probably got in there at about 4pm. My doctor was not on call, so I met Dr. Kellum who would be my doctor. My contractions were so strong and one on top of the other. I felt like pushing or like my body was pushing pretty much as soon as I was settled in the delivery room. When the nurse checked me I was at 7 cm, which disappointed me since I was ready to be DONE! Corinne encouraged me to get out of the bed to see if that helped things along. HOLY COW I was in pain after that! Daniel helped provide some counter pressure on my lower back while I labored a bit standing up leaning over the bed. After a few contractions, my water broke. There was merconium in the water, so Corinne alerted the nurses. They decided to go ahead and have the Nicu on stand by just in case. I heard all this going on, but truthfully, I was too out of it to really care or be worried- I had other things on my mind. A few more contractions standing up and I told Corinne my body felt like it was pushing. I got back in bed and they called the nurse in to check me again. She said it was go time, so they got the bed all set up, got my legs in the stirrups- had me push once. They called the doctor....but he was next door delivering a baby! So, they had me take my legs out of the stirrups and not push...HA! There was no not pushing at this point. I remember Corinne telling the nurse basically that one of them better get a doctor or get ready to catch a baby. Thankfully another doctor, Dr. Webb, arrived from the clinic. He ran in and said, "it's me or the janitor". I think 2 pushes later and baby girl was here. I didn't actually meet Dr. Webb or know who he was until after the baby was delivered. Once again I was able to deliver without any tears, and baby girl was in great shape and had no need for NICU services. I would like to say I will not be having a natural, vaginal delivery again. I don't plan on any more babies, but if something crazy should happen, I want drugs next time. I'm officially out of super woman delivery powers.
The day after delivery my regular doctor came by and said she looked at the chart that showed I came in at 3:15 pm and had a baby less than 2 hours later, and she wanted to know, "what had happened?!". Dr. Kellum had called her to apologize that he didn't get time to call her to tell her I was there in labor because things went too fast and then he was in another room delivering when I was ready.
I had a lot of tailbone pain after this delivery, and definitely didn't feel like I bounced back quite as quickly as before. Age and way bigger baby I suppose.
Holland is doing great. She had gone from 8lb 7 oz (leaving hospital weight) up to 10lbs at her 2 week appointment. We are still working on getting a consistently good latch, but she's having no problems eating! She eats every 2 to 3 hours during the day and usually wants to eat several times before bedtime. Most nights she goes down about 9 pm and sleeps a 5 hour stretch, eats again and sleeps for another 3 hours. This is the first sleeping baby I've had and it's wonderful! There is a negative side effect of a sleeping baby though...engorgement. I had my first ever bout of mastitis on Sunday and it was horrible. Just like having the flu except you have to keep taking care of a baby! I went to urgent care and got antibiotics and my mom drove back to help while I recovered. Mastitis is no joke, but i'm not really sure how to avoid with a sleeping baby. If i pump to relieve engorgement, I'm encouraging my body to make more milk. Hopefully, we will get things regulated soon enough.
Evie, and Sullivan (especially) are totally smitten with their new sister. Sullivan frequently wants to hold her and runs in to wash his hands as soon as he gets home from school, so he can go love on her. They have been a big help and other than a little extra clinginess from Evie, the transition in that regard has been easy. I have no idea how we will ever get all 5 of us out the door and on time anywhere, but I'll cross that bridge when I have to.
