Diana's Finally Here!

After all this time, my baby finally made it into the world on Friday, February 26th @ 6:49 pm, and I couldn't be happier!!
So, I went in for my planned induction on Thursday afternoon and was excited and nervous, but mostly ready to have this all over with and have her here. They started my labor at a little before 5 pm on Thursday and my contractions started RIGHT AWAY. And boy, were they PAINFUL! The nurse was impressed because I reacted to quickly to the medicine that's supposed to dialate my cervix and start up labor. She said usually it takes until the second dose for women to get contractions, but mine started immediately and were 2-4 minutes apart. Thankfully, you can get pain meds put into your IV while you're waiting to get to a 4 (since you can't get an epidural until you're atleast at 4 cm), and I DEFINITELY took advantage of those pain meds right away, because my contractions became unbearable almost immediately. They were SO strong, it was shocking! After several hours, when my contractions had gotten to 1-3 minutes apart, they checked my cervix for progress....no such luck, I was exactly where I had started; at 1 cm dilated, 50% effaced. Great. I tried not to get too depressed though, since they said it would take 12 hours before I'd get to where they wanted me..the medicine works to slowly dilate and prepare the cervix. Well, come 5 the next morning I was in the same spot. I was starting to get REALLY annoyed. At 7 am, the shifts switched and our new nurse came. Before she came in and checked on me, I noticed I had lost my plug and got excited because I new I was finally making progress. When the nurse came in, she introduced herself as "Lety" and started getting ready to check my cervix. I looked at her name tag and notcied what it said: "Leticia" - the very name we were using as Diana's middle name! I got excited and told the nurse this and she thought it was an awesome coincidence. A few seconds later, she gave me the good news, I was dilated to a 2-3 and she was ready to break my water! I told her she was my angel nurse. Ironically, after she came things started to get rolling. I was soon at a 4 and ready to receive my epidural. Epidurals are AWESOME and TOTALLY painless...I don't understand why everyone doesn't get them! After the epidural, my doctor came in and said it should only be a matter of hours before the baby would come, and if I didn't progress by 1 cm every 1.5 hours AT THE SLOWEST, that he would have to do an emergency c-section because that would be a sign that my baby just couldn't come the regular way. I had been progressing so well that I didn't think that would happen. Yeah right. I got to barely a 5 a stalled. I started getting frustrated and scared. I hadn't eaten since 2 pm the day before and I was ready to have the baby and eat something other than ice. Well, after a few hours of being stuck at an almost 5, the nurse came in to check one last time, saying the doctor was on the phone pressing to find out my progress...I could tell he and she were nervous that I wasn't progressing. She checked me, I held my breath, but no such luck... I hadn't budged a bit. She left the room and after a minute, returned to say they were going to take me to have an emergency c-section. She left to go get the stuff to prepare me and I broke down crying. I was scared, hungry, and tired of all the labor. Mike reminded me that the c-section was a good thing, that this meant the labor was over and soon our princess would be here, and then he gave me a blessing. They doubled my epidural, prepped me, and wheeled me back to the operating room, and about a half-hour later, I had my beautiful baby girl, Diana Leticia Steadman, 7 lbs 9 oz, 19" long and such a beautiful angel! When the doctors pulled her out, I was anxious to see her face, though I couldn't because of the curtain; but the moment I heard her tiny cry I burst into tears. I couldn't have been more proud or happy than I was at that very moment. Her cry was beautiful, and everyone in the room kept telling me how very beautiful she was. It was the best feeling in the world, I can't even describe it.
Turns out, c-sections aren't bad at all, and it sure beats having to push a baby out a tiny hole! :) The only part I didn't like was the really bad shaking at the end, but I hear that can happen in vaginal deliveries too, so, I guess it's not so bad. It was nice to be able to lay back and have everyone else do the work, literally. :)
So, they released us Sunday night and I'm currently home recovering and caring for my angel. Mike has been home taking good care of me, it's been like a dream come true!! I love him so much, he's been so good to me. He's done ALL the housework, gets up with Diana in the night to change her diaper, takes time to hold her and love on her during the day, and makes and serves me all my meals in my room. Oh yes, he's confined me to the upstairs so that I'll recover quicker. If I need anything, he takes care of it. All I'm allowed to do is be lazy and enjoy the time with my baby. Oh darn! ;) He's a wonderful husband, I couldn't have asked for a better, more perfect man to spend eternity with!
I love my new little baby and I'm so glad to be home with my little family. I'm so glad she's finally here!