Photos of Hannah! And the nitty gritty of the labor and delivery.

So, here are some photos of baby Hannah Theresa Cardin, born 1/21/08 at 5:09 pm. She weighed 8 pounds, 5 ounces, and was 22 inches long!











My labor was relatively short, I guess - 15 hours. I woke up at 2am with contractions, but basically just dealt with them at home until around 6, when I finally woke John up and said "Either I'm really sick, or I'm in labor!" I called the on call doctor, who told me to wait and go in at 8am to see my doctor at my appointment (which had been previously scheduled, so I had to go in anyway). So I layed in bed for a while longer while John got up and started getting some things done around the house. I told him we better prepare to go to the hospital just in case. I called my parents to tell them to stay close to the phone, and then finally got in the shower (which felt really good, and I didn't want to get out!). We headed to my appointment - running only 5 minutes late - pretty good for a woman in labor! As soon as we got to the office, they hooked me up to a baby monitor, and the nurse was like "Oh, yeah, look at that - you're definitely contracting!" The doctor came in to check me, and she was like "Yep, you're 4 cm dilated and 100% effaced. Let's get you upstairs!" So off I was rushed (wheel chair and all) to the Child Birth unit. John did a fantastic job getting me through the day, and I stayed really quite calm through the whole thing. None of the yelling and screaming you would have imagined from what you see on TV! Every time I'd have a contraction, I'd just close my eyes and breath really deeply. The nurses were floored that I wasn't a hypnobirthing patient! Yet, I managed to do the whole thing naturally - no medication, not even an epidural! I don't remember most of the day, because I spent it in and out of "sleep." I put sleep in quotes, because I was definitely not sleeping, but I also don't remember most of the day. I spent a lot of the day with my eyes closed. At 3:15, the doctor came up and had to actually break my water, since that didn't seem to want to happen on it's own. Once that happened, the contractions got much stronger, and until about 4:45 (I think), hurt a whole lot more. But, as soon as I was on the verge of asking for pain meds - there it was: The urge to push. I didn't realize how strong that urge was going to be, but all of a sudden, you just feel like you need to. So the nurses said okay, but that the doctor wasn't on the floor yet. They ran to call her, because I think they knew this baby was coming soon! Dr. MacVittie was on the floor in no time flat, and after just 1/2 an hour of pushing (which really is hard, and I won't lie - hurts like hell!) out came my perfect little daughter - round head, 10 fingers, 10 toes and all. I had a small bit of tearing, but I guess it wasn't that bad. I have a few stitches now, and I'm unbelievably sore though...
I don't remember a whole lot about the day. It's true, what they say, that you don't really remember the pain of child birth once you see your baby. John said he teared up a little when he saw her come out!
All in all - it was the most amazing day of my life. I would say the second most amazing day (only to getting married), but when you see this tiny person that you have spent 9 months creating, you realize, it really is the most amazing day of your life.