Annabella Marie's Story

Hey Folks,
Our little Belle joined us Thursday March 24th, 2011 at 7:37pm after a rousing adventure!! I will try to recap best that my sleep lacked brain can remember.

Wednesday 3/23:
Went to the hospital at 5:30am to start my induction. Day was pretty good, little pains here and there, really just boring. By the end of the day I had made it only to a 2 and baby was still pretty high, went to sleep a little bummed, but really tired.

Thursday 3/24:
Doctor was finally able to bounce Annabella's head up enough to break my water and I went to 4 and then the labor pains kicked in! I had an epidural, but that only took to my left leg so they took it out and gave be another one that was pointless and did nothing else. I was pretty miserable all day because I couldn't rest, get up and by hour 34 I was an emotional wreck! I cried for what felt like hours! I kept saying "I'm done, get her out!! I wish Jeff was here!" yeah, it was pretty bad. At 7 the anastesoligst came in and was able to give me lidocaine and I thought he was my saving grace!! Almost immediately I got numb and was pretty happy! I have to explain the doctor situation. Since we're military I have 5 OB/GYNs and anyone of them could be on call. Well that night Dr. Perfilio was on call and I'm very comfortable with her, now when Dr. P isn't working for Uncle Sam in the Air Force she does roller derby. Thursday night she was at practice over 30 mins. away so Dr. Masters took all her pages. Dr. Masters just happened to stop by the hospital and check on me to see how I was doing. I told her I was ok, had a slight headache was hoping to get some sleep.

CRAZY TIME:
About 5 mins. after Dr. Masters left my room I noticed my nurse started frantically messing with my IVs(I think I had 5 going at one time) and then next thing I know there's another nurse on my other side telling me to roll. I think eventually there were about 7 nurses, the anasteilogist, and Dr. Masters all in my room. We're still not sure what happened (I had already had the Lidocaine before so we're pretty sure it wasn't the drugs), but my blood pressure dropped super low and babies heart rate dropped into the 60s. They told me to roll every which way, I had to get on my hands and knees too, now mind you I'm completely numb, yeah they had to move me because I couldn't do it. Next thing I remember is laying on my left side and hearing "OR STAT!" This all happened within 5 minutes and I'm VERY impressed with the service that I got, I think I had every nurse in labor & delivery, plus the only anetheoligst in the hospital wheeling me down the hall. I remember barely seeing my mom and mother in law in the waiting room because they didn't want them in the room while they were messing with my epidural. I remember going through the surgery doors and my mom yelling "Calla I love you!". Once we got into the OR all hands were on deck, they got me moved over, asked if I could feel a prick on my stomach and I could next thing I know I'm being told to take 3 deep breathes into an oxygen mask. What seemed 5 seconds later I remember hearing "Calla your in room 211 now instead of 206 and everything is fine. We're going to get your baby in a little bit for you" I barely remember opening my eyes and seeing Dr. Masters and Dr. P standing next to each other and me saying "Sorry Dr. P I couldn't wait for you to get back." (She "threatened" me not to have the baby while Masters was covering for her). About 10:30 that night I was finally able to meet my daughter and we both looked at each other like "what the heck just happened?!?!?".

Recovery:
We are both doing great. Annabella is now 6lbs 6oz and I'm trying to breastfeed, but all the meds and fluids I was on is making that hard. Baby is borderline jaundice, which is normal so we are working on trying to get her to poop. It's amazing how my conversations have gone from music and what to eat to how many diapers have I had to change and how much has she ate today, almost overnight! I wouldn't change it for the World though.

I did get to talk to Jeff the night she was born, but I was really groggy and could barely talk because my throat was sore from the tubing. Jeff did get to meet is daughter via Skype on Friday and he's pretty smitten:-)

I think that's it! Now we're off to me recovering from an emergancy c-section with staples (YAY!) and Annabella bringing her jaundice numbers down and eating and then pooping! :-D

Love,
The Hines Family
Calla, Jeff, lil' Annabella

HUGE thank you to my mom for staying at the hospital sleeping on the couch and taking care of baby while I slept, and my in laws for bringing me anything I needed! Also to my aunt and cousin for taking care of things on the homefront...My family rocks!!:-D