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7/23/12

Baby Alison

Our sweet baby Alison was born on July 3rd.   She is named after my grandma Alice Goodwin.  A wonderful, beautiful lady.

Once again we greatly anticipated the baby's arrival.  Being hugely pregnant is not my favorite thing.  I was on bed rest again during the last month of the pregnancy.  Thankfully we had hired my sister to help out with anything and everything.   We were able to keep our sanity and Alison came eleven days early! 

We had a few scares during the last month and we spent a few nights in labor and delivery getting checked out.  A few days before she was born Brian and I were on a date.  It was so fun to get out and be together.  We went to dinner and joked about how I couldn't move much and how no one was looking at my face, only my huge belly.   After dinner we went to get some new sandals at "The Shoe Carnival" (Eve's favorite store) and then we didn't have anything else to do.  There aren't many options when you can't stand up for any length of time and there were no appealing movies playing.

I jokingly said that we should just go to the hospital and get checked out because I had been contracting every five minutes for the last few hours.  The idea of not returning to the babysitter before our four kids were in bed, getting checked out, and watching Storage Wars sounded good to Brian.  He talked me into it and we enjoyed the rest of our date....and they gave me pain medicine that helped stop the contractions.  Also it was good to wait a few more days until our doctor was back in town.  That's right, Marshall Willis delivered all five of our kids. :)  I'm quite happy about that and feel quite blessed to have had such great care.

Those nights in the triage rooms are pretty much the time I had with Brian before Alison was born.  The real night she was born was so fast.   We went in at midnight and I was all hooked up by 3 a.m.  Brian slept from 3-4 while I just rested and enjoyed the last hour of pregnancy.

At four o'clock our Dr came and broke my water and said, "Well now that I've made a mess, lets have a baby."  Love our doctor. :)  Fifteen minutes later and three hard contractions she was here.  It was so unreal.  I couldn't believe how fast and how easy the labor was.  Seriously, three hard contractions?!   The doctor said I deserved it after having so many kids.  And she was so small!  Only 6 lbs 8 oz.

But it all didn't go so smooth.  It couldn't right?!  It was just too easy.  After the anethesieologist gave me the epidural he told me I would most likely be one of the lucky 1% who gets a spinal headache because of a leak in spinal fluid from the epidural 'knicking' something it shouldn't.  But hey, what's so bad about a headache right? 

We got some sleep and the kids came to meet their new sister.  It was so sweet and I loved having all 5 of my kids together.   We were able to see the start of a huge fire out our hospital window also.  It made for great conversation while they were "trying" to get me hooked up to another iv so they could fix my headache problem.

That night, after other attempts did nothing, we opted to do a blood patch to fix the hole.  And it fixed it....for one day.  That day was fun.  Brian and I enjoyed our time in the hospital celebrating the 4th of July.  Alison was adorable and we were able to watch some great 4th of July movies.  We were even able to see some fireworks out our window.

That night I stood up and the terrible headache was back.  I was so sad.  The blood patch is so not fun and they had already taken out my iv and I did not want them tapping my arm again for 20 minutes trying to find a vein that would work. 

The blood patch had failed and we were on our way home anyway.

I love bringing our little babies home and getting into a non-pregnant rhythm.  I have had great recoveries with all of my kids except for Heber.  This one would have been SO easy!

When I told Brian my headache was back he looked like he was going to cry.  He kept that look on his face for the next few days until I got mad at him because it was making it harder for me.  On Sunday night we ended up in the emergency room to get a second blood patch.

They put me on bed rest for the next three days just to make sure the clot would hold and my back could heal.  Luckily it did.  It was the worst recovery of all five pregnancies because of this.  I have never been in so much pain.  The odds of me getting it the first place were like 1 in 300 and then 98% of the time the first blood patch works.  Gotta love our odds with this one.

However, Alison has been amazing.  She is sleeping well, eating well, and is a joy.  It has been rough getting our kids here so quick.  But back 7 years ago when I found out so much was wrong with my reproductiveness, I felt like I needed to get them here and get them here quick.   I didn't really know what that meant at the time, but they are here and I only almost died a few times.  haha.  Time to let my body heal and let these beautiful little ones grow.


These pictures were taken by my wonderfully, beautiful sister-in-law Marni Kleinnman.  So cute!

2 comments:

Christensen family said...

She is so cute! I'm glad your headaches are gone. I'm glad your 5 kids are here, they are all great!

Isaac and Taniel said...

She is beautiful! We are so happy she is here. Sorry about all that headache ordeal. what a pain. So glad it is all over now.