Little Miss M - Madelyn Jayne Gerges, 11/1/11

It's been (almost) 3 weeks since her arrival, we're long overdue for an offiical post and introduction of our little girl! 3 weeks ago today, on Halloween, we checked into the hospital - scared, anxious and very excited for the birth of Baby GG :) Some of the details are pretty fuzzy since I was in and out of sleep, and kept happy by the perfect cocktail of pain meds but here is my account of what happened:

Monday 10/31
6:15pm - Check in to Stamford Hospital - Labor and Delivery Room 11
- After 2 nurses with 3 failed attempts to get an IV in my hands/arms and LOTS of tears, a third nurse on her 2nd attempt was FINALLY able to get my IV in and we were ready to proceed.
9:00pm - I was induced with a dose of Cytotec

Tuesday, 11/1
Early morning hours - contractions started after midnight and kept us up in the early morning hours. I had back labor which was really painful so the nurses gave me some pain meds that helped me manage the contractions until I was able to get an epidural. Once I had the meds, we were both able to get some sleep!
6/7am - The good news was that I didn't need a 2nd dose of Cytotec, and I was ready for the pitocin
9am - 1 centimeter dilated... making very slow progress!
11am - I was 1 - 2 centimeters dilated and Dr. Turk agreed we were ready for the epidural
More sleep and rest as the epidural kicked in :)
2:30pm - I think I was woken up to be examined and we were excited to find out that I was 5 centimeters dilated! As the Dr. left the room he said something like "pretty sure we'll have this baby by the end of the day"
4:00pm - I woke up from a sound sleep, and woke Brian up too... I could feel a lot of pressure, and just felt different. We discussed pressing the call button to talk to nurse.
4:15pm - Upon being examined, the RN goes "oh my gosh.... your cervix is gone.... you are fully dilated! Wow... Are you ready? You are ready to push!"
4:30pm - They turned down my epidural so I could feel more of the contractions and we had a crash course in pushing... and then I started pushing!
6:01pm - Miss Madelyn Jayne was born and we were instantly filled with joy as she let out her first cry's on my chest :) She weighed 8lbs 9 oz and was 20 1/2 inches long.

The best day of our lives!!!!!