Labor of Love

March 30th was supposed to be my baby shower.  Instead, my little girl decided to grace us with her presence a whole 6 weeks early.  Not even packed for the hospital, I threw things into a duffle bag for me, threw things into a backpack for Ryland and figured Ryan would just have to fend for himself.  I felt very calm for some reason.  I think I just thought that the hospital would turn me away and say, "lady, you're not in labor.  Go home."  Even after dropping Ryland off at my sister's, I still had every intention on being back there later on for my baby shower.  We arrived at Sharp Mary Birch around 10:00 am.  I felt no contractions and was leaking very little if at all.  After a quick test of the stuff I was leaking, the nurse determined it really was amniotic fluid and that's when I knew I was for sure going to miss my own baby shower.  They made me sit on a bed pan to try and collect enough of the "a" fluid to test to see if her lungs were mature enough to be delivered today.  I sat on that thing for 5 hours and collected absolutely nothing.  Finally they decided to go in and collect it themselves.  After that, the contractions began and fentenol became my friend.  I labored for couple of hours just waiting for the test results on her lungs to come back.  It never came and my contractions were now less than 2 mins apart.  So, it was time.  Another c-section.  I wasn't worried.  I had one with Ryland and recovered great.  Instead of an epidural, they gave me a spinal block.  What a huge difference that made.  Note to self...  spinal block is NOT the same as an epidural.  Vomiting for a day and a half.  Itching all over, nauseous, sleepy...  the list goes on.  If I ever get pregnant again, request for the epidural.  At 8:51 pm, Josselyn was born.  She weighed in at 4 lbs 9 oz, was 17.96 inches long and came out screaming.  =)  Her lungs were still a little immature, so she was admitted into NICU.  On day 1 she had an oxygen mask.  On day 2 she downgraded to a nasal cannual.  It's now day 10 and she's off the nasal cannual and as of yesterday moved to the "step down" side of NICU.  They're still telling me that she'll be there until it gets closer to her original due date (which was either May 3rd or 10th depending on which method you use).  I don't mind.  I know she's in excellent hands and I just want her to get stronger.  She's bottle/breastfed every other feeding and feeding tube fed the other feedings.  She gets so tired bottle/breastfeeding that she ends up falling asleep before finishing the feed.  The good news is that she's digesting most of her feeds and pooping and peeing normally.  I wish I could see her more.  It's tough not being able to drive yet.  I'm so dependent on Ryan, my sister and even Jocelle in taking me to or picking me up from the hospital.  Come Monday, it'll be so much easier.  I'll be able to see her anytime I want.  =)