On Tuesday I went in for my weekly appointment, a little more swollen than usual, and spilling a little protein (I was 1+). My blood pressure however was 140/108 in one arm, so I asked her to check the other arm to be sure (it was almost normal at my NST on Saturday... that arm was 180/118. So, my OB told me to call Jason and go to L&D, where they'd do labs, and depending on how everything looked, they might keep me -- so, nothing to eat or drink just in case. Over in L&D my BP was just as high, and I was now spilling 3+ protein. So, my OB consulted with the perinatologist I'd been seeing, and they decided to go ahead and deliver her since I'm showing pre-e signs and I'd hit 37 weeks.

So, I was prepped for a repeat c-section. The ironic part was, while I was laying there waiting for them to get me ready for the c-section, I started having my first contractions. They were very steady, at 2 1/2 minutes on the nose. They weren't terribly strong, and most likely brought on by nerves though (in my opinion). It was just so funny to lay there watching them on the monitor. Meanwhile, Jason was dropping Grant off at our place and meeting our friend Lisa, who ditched her plans at the last minute to help us out.

As soon as Jason got back, I walked down to the OR and met the anesthesiologist. The very first thing I said to her was "I'd REALLY like to be awake for this one", and she said she'd do her very best. I was very swollen at this point, and she was having a lot of trouble locating parts and pieces of my spine, so doing her best meant trying to insert the spinal 4 or 5 times before giving up on that -- at which point my OB pokes his head in the room and says "If you can't get it, you can't get it..." The anesthesiologist told him to give her another minute and tried an epidural instead. That took 3 tries, but she finally got it in there. At this point I was kind of freaking out, because my only frame of reference for a c-section had been one where I'd been put asleep because I could still feel stuff. I was so afraid they'd start cutting and I'd suddenly feel it. They finally let Jason in and got underway. Having them push on my upper stomach/rib cage to get her out felt like they were dropping a house on my chest. Then we heard her crying, and they told Jason to stand up and look at her.

Her Apgar's were 9 at 1 minute and 9 at 5 minutes, and she was pissed. They took her and Jason to the recovery room to clean her up and wait for me. Meanwhile, the nice anesthesiologist gave me a shot of a narcotic in my IV, and I got nice and loopy and dosed while they finished with me. I was able to try to breastfeed her in the recovery room, and she latched on like it was her job. Once, I was able to move my legs and stuff, they took her to the nursery and me back to a room in L&D for 24 hours on Magnesium Sulfate. They brought her to me once during that time, but sitting up to try to feed her made my blood pressure go so high that they couldn't bring her again. I only got to see her when Jason was in there with me. The rest of the time I was sitting in the dark with no noise/tv/etc. with fire water pumping into my arm. When they finally moved me to postpartum I was sooooo ready for a shower. They moved Marley in with me when she woke this morning, and she latched on again as soon as she got here. The pediatrician released her this morning, so it looks like the only reason we're still stuck in the hospital is me and my pre-e. I've been up and moving and on no pain meds since about 8am... I'm ready to go home now!

So, that is how Marley made her way into the world. She was born on March 11th at 9pm (on the dot), weighs 7lbs 2oz, and is 20 inches long. She looks like a little brunette Grant. Grant is unimpressed.

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