Sophie Victoria Whittall is here!

May I introduce you to our daughter…

 

Sophie Victoria was born Friday, June 25th at 9:50pm. 

She weighed 6lbs 5oz and is 19 inches long.

I went in to the hospital at 8:30am Thursday morning to be induced.  After being admitted and getting some initial checks done they started the process at 10am.

It was a very long day.  I was given prostin which is a hormone tablet that is supposed to soften your cervix and start contractions off.  It didn’t work overly well.  I did start having contractions during the day on Thursday.  They weren’t overly painful and I was able to manage them quite well.  Despite this I was really upset to find out at 3am Friday morning that I had only dilated to 2cms. 

I was given a mild pain killer to help me sleep for a little while because we knew that it could be hours before things started to really get going and I needed to rest.  When I woke up around 8am I had stopped contracting altogether and was told that things had stopped moving, which was again frustrating but I was determined that I was going to have our baby that day.  I was hooked up to monitors so that they could track her heart rate to make sure she was not in any sort of distress and she did completely fine the entire time.  Later that morning, there was some discussion between Drs and midwives about whether or not to give me another dose of prostin or to break my water.  Whilst discussions were being had, Steve and I went walking around the hospital around 11am and this was when my body decided to take matters into it’s own hands. I started having contractions; they started off mildly but then started to get more and more painful as time went on.  About 1:30pm my water broke on it’s own. 

At this point I was so happy that my body was starting labour again without the help of more drugs or having my water broken by a midwife.  I knew once my water broke that things could start to get intense.  I used a birthing ball, which by the way is God’s gift to women in labour- it took the pressure off and helped me get through each contraction which were now about 6-10 mins apart.  By about 7pm I had started to get into a lot more pain.  I had a contraction that left me bawling and I told my midwife that I was going to need some pain relief.  She started me on the gas and air and I was monitored on the machines again (to check Sophie’s heart rate – this was done several times during the day).  As I was laying in bed the pain was so hard to deal with.  The birthing ball helped me manage them so much easier!  Being upright rather than laying down is really the way to be.  At 8pm I told the midwife that I wanted an epidural, she offered me pethadine instead until the Dr could come and administer the epi.  Pethadine took the edge off big time, but it made me feel a little loopy.  All of a sudden by 8:15pm I started feeling the urge to push.  I told the midwife I’m going to have this baby! She checked me and sure enough I was 8cm dilated.  No wonder I felt the urge to push, I was almost there!  There was NO time for an epidural.  I realized at this point that I was going to have to do this naturally.  By 9pm I was pushing.  What an experience.  I wish I could give details on how much pain, and how unbelievably difficult and trying this was for me but a lot of it is a blur.  I just got through it, pushed when my body told me to, listened to the two midwives and Steve who were all coaching me through it.  Steve was even pushing with me, it was so encouraging.  He rubbed my back (I had some awful back labour) and told me how well I was doing. 

At 9:50pm our daughter came into the world.

Eyes open and ready to meet her Mommy & Daddy.

We wished her a Happy Birthday and told her over and over how beautiful she is.  We just love her.

She was weighed and measured and slept as I can imagine she was exhausted.

I was able to start feeding her almost immediately after her birth and she has been nursing so well ever since.  I truly believe in skin to skin contact following the birth and I think it really helped us connect right away.

We were moved up to the maternity ward at about 3am where we all slept until the morning.

I was surprised to find out around 9am that after some medical checks and paper work they were going to let us go home!!  Sophie passed everything with flying colours.  She is a perfectly healthy little girl. 

By 12 noon we had her in her going home outfit.

 

And we were on our way.

 

Were home, and doing well.  Steve and I just sat and stared at her for most of the day yesterday.  We had a few visitors and gave her a tour around her new home.

We couldn’t be happier!

Today she is wearing her England dress as we watch the game.  Were hoping for a win, but I don’t think she’s really all that bothered

Thank you to everyone for your emails, messages and tweets of support throughout the last few days!  Steve and I both really appreciate it

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