Linnea is here!!!

We now have a new member of the family! Linnea Merline was born May 27th 2009 at 11:09 pm. She weighed 7 pounds 12.4 ounces and was 20.5 inches long.

I went in for my Pre-Op appointment on the 26th (my due date) to talk about my C-Section that was scheduled for yesterday. My doctor checked me and I was still a 2 and 70% effaced and Linnea was a -3 station. I asked him if he could induce me thinking that it would be Friday or Saturday before it would happen. He called the hospital and they said it was the next morning or nothing. I freaked out a little bit. So Dr. Anderson told me if I wanted him to come and deliver the baby that he would be there. I told him that I would really like that. I go to a clinic where there are 7 doctors and Dr. Anderson wasn't on call that day. He's in my ward over here so I was very glad to have a familiar face and one that I knew had the same faith that I did.

I went in at 7 am to be induced. Since I was attempting a VBAC I couldn't eat or drink anything. I didn't realize this until I got there and had only eaten a yogurt since dinner the night before. Needless to say I was hungry. I was so nervous going in that the nurse couldn't find a vein to stick my IV into.

I was given Pitocin at 9 am and slept for a couple hours until I started feeling little contractions. The doctor that was on call came in and went over the risks of a VBAC with me and asked if I would still like to continue. I told him that I would. This would be one of many times where he would come in and make sure that I still wanted to go through with it and listing all the dangers of doing so. The risk of uterine rupture I was told was 1-5% which just isn't a big number. He also told me that since I had to be induced the likely hood of me pulling off a successful VBAC was not good.

My water was broke later that afternoon and I endured 2 hours more of contractions before I decided that enough was enough and I wanted an epidural. The anaesthesiologist was amazing! He had such a calming effect when he walked into the room. He talked to me like I was his daughter and I felt so relaxed which helped a lot to get me through those last few contractions that I would feel. After I was given the epidural I was a 2 and 80% effaced. I was told that if nothing had progressed by 10 that evening that they were going do a C-section. I was fine with that because that would mean 13 hours of labor.

A while later I woke up because I felt something change so I had the nurse check me and I was a 6 and 80% effaced and Linnea had dropped into my pelvis. A couple hours after that I was a 10 and 100% effaced and Linnea was almost ready to come out. The nurse told me that she thought I should wait to push and let my body bring down the baby on its own (to decrease the amount and time of stress I would be putting on my uterus to push). An hour later I was ready to push and I pushed for 1/2 and hour and Linnea was born. What a wonderful experience it was! I felt so good afterwards and so energized (I had slept ever since I had gotten the epidural) I thought I could go again right then.

Now it's been a week with Linnea in our family and she fits right in. She's eating every 4 hours and is so laid back. She's so much easier than Emma was which I didn't think was at all possible. We finally decided on a middle name right before we left the hospital and went with Merline. Merline is Jacob's grandmother's name and she lives in California. So now Emma (Jeanne) and Linnea are both named after their grandmothers that were alive at the time of their birth.

Emma is smitten with her little sister. She's very protective of her and is such a big helper getting me diapers and wipes and blankets. I have noticed that she is more emotional about things and makes a big deal out of nothing which she didn't use to do. I think I would be a little mad too if someone I didn't know (or in her case fully understand) was coming and was going to stay at my house and snuggle with my mommy just showed up one day. But, we will move on and try and make Emma's transition into being a big sister easier.