This is the story of Ashley Elizabeth Fagan's arrival. It certainly wasn't all fun and games but it was definitely worth it...
On February 17th, we met with our doctor for what turned out to be our last pre-delivery appointment. Thanks to the expected size of our little girl and the swelling in my feet, she recommended that we get induced the following week. I was already at 39 weeks so our doctor got us on the hospitals induction list for Tuesday, February 22nd.
So we spent the weekend preparing for her arrival. My mom and I got manicures and pedicures on Saturday, Eric and I made sure the car seat was installed properly and that our hospital bags were packed. I spent two days lounging in bed in an attempt to reduce the amount of swelling in my feet and hands.
Tuesday rolled around and we didn't get a call from the hospital. Wednesday rolled around and we still hadn't received a call. Apparently it was a popular week to go into labor because all of the beds at Scottsdale Shea were full. We had pretty much given up hope on being called in to be induced. Well, 3am on Thursday morning we got a call from the hospital. They were finally ready for us!
We arrived at the hospital at 4am and got checked in. We went to triage where they got me all set up with an IV, antibiotics and pitocin. We got a brief nap before they moved us into a labor and delivery room around 7:30am. We got another little nap in before family started arriving around 10am. Little did they know that they were in for a long wait!
I was having contractions but didn't feel a thing until they broke my water around noon. At that point, I definitely started feeling the contractions. I lasted abouat 45 minutes before I decided it was time for the epidural. I was only at 4 centimeters but what's the point in suffering if I don't have to, right? The epidural went well and we got in another little nap. After about 2 hours, the pain medication started to wear off so the nurse pushed the magic little button to give me more (for some reason, they wouldn't let me push the button when I felt I needed it. What's the point of having access to the magic little pain med button then?). So another nap and another 2 hours pass and I needed more medication. By around 6pm, I was at 7 centimeters. Unfortunately, the epidural medicine was no longer working. Not sure if I just built up a tolerance to it or what but it just wasn't working. After an hour or so, they decided they needed the anestheiologist to administer a different type of pain medication. Thankfully they caught him before he went into a surgery and I was blissfully pain-free again.
My doctor showed up later in the evening and made a few discoveries. One - I was still at 7 centimeters, I was stalled. Two - my contractions were "inadequate". Little did I know, that would be a lingering issue that would make things way more difficult. Three - she was sunny-side up and we had to try to turn her over so she would be face down. That turned into a 2 hour process but at least it worked.
Finally I hit 10 centimeters and she's face down. Awesome, right? Well, those inadequate contractions were still an issue. They had me push for about an hour but soon realized that the epidural was doing too good of a job and they needed it to wear off some. So the doctor disappears, the epidural finally wears off and the nurse has me push for another hour. I was exhausted and there's nothing worse than hearing that all that pushing hadn't moved her an inch. The doctor came back, I pushed some more and she finally admited that she was still not budging. She was very encouraging but recommended going in for a c-section. I agreed and in for the c-section we went.
Ashley arrived into this world at 3:32am and Eric did a fantastic job taking pictures and video of the event. She weighed in at 9 pounds 15.4 ounces and 21.5 inches long. Unfortunately mommy had some complications at that point and ended up losing about 3 times as much blood as 'normal' during a c-section. After being in labor for almost 24 hours and then being pumped full of pain medication and drugs to help stop the bleeding, I ended up sleeping through the majority of the c-section. I tried desperately to stay awake but my eyes kept slamming shut. When I finally woke up in the recovery room an hour or so later, I got to hold our little angel for the first time and it was love at first sight (though I was terrified that I was going to fall asleep and drop her).
My recovery in the hospital was a little on the slow side. Eric was a natural at taking care of Ashley and did the majority of the work in the hospital since I wasn't able to get out of bed until Saturday afternoon. After a few days, we were going stir-crazy in that little hospital room so we were happy when we finally got the okay to go home on Monday, February 28th.
We've gotten settled in at home. She has a pattern of eating about every 3 hours so it's pretty predictable. She rarely cries, which is a blessing so far. She's gotten a clean bill of health from the pediatrician and is up to 10 pounds, 1 ounce. Mommy is almost fully recovered (though the saga of the inadequate contractions continued) and is feeling much better.
We created this beautiful little girl and can't imagine our life without her. Everyone says that looking at your child for the first time will change your life - that you can't imagine how much love you will have for them. And it's true. Words can't truly describe how we feel. We love our little angel so much. We adore being parents and look forward to watching her grow and learn.
