Well, since Kayleigh is 6 weeks old today, I thought it was probably time to update the blog with her birth story. It seems like a lifetime ago, but I'll do my best to remember. This will just be a very shortened version, maybe someday I'll have the time to write the full version.
We (Lance and myself plus my mom) headed to the hospital on Wed, Nov 24th at 10 am for an induction. It took awhile for some preliminary things to be done, but I think we started the Pitocin before noon.
The Pitocin is started and it didn't take long for the contractions to start. They were pretty erratic in the beginning but then they came regularly every 3-5 mins. Oh, and take note of the lovely gowns they give you. :) 
This is after one of MANY walks around the Labor and Delivery floor. I'm guessing this was sometime on Wed because I still cared about trying to look good for pictures. But by Thursday, I didn't care much about what I looked like. Thursday night we celebrated Thanksgiving in this room and thanks to Brenda we had a small Thanksgiving meal (turkey, mashed potatoes, rolls and cranberry sauce). But I have to admit, I didn't really feel like eating much. By this time, I'd been having contractions for about 36 hours. My constant prayer was that at each check I would be at 3 cm. (3 cm was the magic number for the wonderful world of pain relief--an epidural.) But each exam would have the same result: 1 lousy cm. I think by Friday morning the doctor told me I was barely 2 cm. But after 48 hours of torture, I begged the doctor for a c-section. 
This picture really makes me laugh. At this point, I have had the spinal tap, and I'm really feeling the effects. One of which was constant gagging. I wasn't actually throwing up, but it was the weirdest sensation. It was like I was fake gagging. And after every "gag" I would start giggling uncontrollably because it just felt weird--and I'm sure it looked pretty silly. Eventually that stopped and the surgery began. Technically in Taiwan, the husband isn't allowed in the operating room, but our doctor pulled some strings and let him be there. I was SO grateful Lance could be there with me to experience Kayleigh's birth. 
This is my first look at my daughter. What an amazing moment. Lance was able to hold her and I was so jealous! I was desperate to reach out and touch her. Thankfully, before they took her away, the nurse rubbed her face against mine. I remember the tears streaming down my cheeks. What a beautiful thing, to touch your baby for the first time. 
Kayleigh ended up having some breathing difficulties because of "wet lungs." Sometimes when babies are born via cesarean, they have fluid on their lungs. Most babies when delivered naturally, the fluid in their lungs is squeezed out as they travel through the birth canal. But since Kayleigh was born via c-section, her lungs didn't have the opportunity to get rid of the extra fluid. 
Just before they wheeled me off to the Recovery Room, my doctor told me they were taking Kayleigh to the NICU. Then I was whisked away without knowing the details of what was wrong. I'm not sure how long I was in Recovery, but it seemed like days. This was actually worse than the 48 hours of labor. I was so anxious to get back to Lance and find out how Kayleigh was. I actually wasn't even able to see her again that day. The NICU visiting hours were twice a day for 30 mins. That evening, Lance and my mom went to see her, but I couldn't go because I was still recovering from the surgery. This was also a low point. I had to stay and wait in my room while they got to go see our baby. It was a long half hour wait. But they brought back good reports from the dr and some pictures and videos for me to see. This was all the motivation I needed to get up out of bed and start moving around. I NEEDED to see my baby at the next visiting hours the following morning. 
So at 10:30 am, 24 hours later, I was finally able to hold my baby girl. And by now, she wasn't even on round the clock oxygen. She was already improving. 
The next day, Kayleigh was moved to the Sick Baby Room, a step down from the NICU. But the visiting hours were the same, twice a day for 30 mins. Although I was able to go down and feed Kayleigh several times a day while she was in the SBR. But each time we had to leave her and go back to my room, it was really sad. This is one of my favorite pictures, here Lance is saying goodbye for now. 
Thirty minutes just goes by too quickly! By Sunday, Kayleigh was doing great. Her doctors said that whenever I was released she could go home too. So I begged the doctor to release me early. (In Taiwan, after a c-section, the mother stays in the hospital for 7 days.) On Monday, my doctor gave me the ok to go home. We were so excited to spend more than an hour a day with our baby! 
As excited as we were, she was just content to sleep! 
Yay! We're FINALLY home! 