Wednesday, April 14, 2010

Welcome to the world Miss Maisy!

She's here!

Maisy Lauren Grandstaff was born Friday April 9th at 11:48am. Her birth story is pretty crazy (to me anyway). Thursday night I began feeling very crampy and had braxton hicks with some backache. It wasn't anything I was worried about and slept off and on all night. Friday morning I woke up and noticed I was bleeding very lightly so I called the doctor and they told me to go to Labor and Delivery to be checked and make sure nothing was wrong. The minute I got off the phone (it was 9am), the first real contraction hit me. Still not horrible, but it made me stop in my tracks. I woke Tadd up and told him to get in the shower. I quickly got ready and got Brogan fed. By 10:00am, I was super worried because the contractions hurt really bad. Tadd ran Brogan across the street to stay with Brandon until my dad could pick him up. My contractions continued to pick up in intensity and were about 4 minutes apart.

When we got to the hospital, I was checked and SHOCKED that I had already dilated 8cm!! (It took 15 hours to dilate that much with Brogan!) The nurse also noticed that the head was not the presenting body part so they did an ultrasound and discovered that Miss Maisy was breech. Since I was already so far into labor, they quickly rushed me into the surgery room for a C-section. Thank goodness for the spinal block because my contractions were beyond painful at this point.

I never in 9 months expected to have a C-section. I'm not sure why...it just never crossed my mind. I hadn't read about it or anything so I wasn't sure what to expect. With the spinal, I didn't feel too much pain, just that they were doing "something" to me and it caused a lot of pressure. I kept asking for more medicine though because I didn't want to run the risk of actually feeling it more that I should.

Apparently (and I didn't learn this until the next morning), the doctors performing the C-section had some difficulty getting Maisy out because I had a "Contraction Ring". The doctor explained it as my uterus had a "ring" or a grip around her head. It is very rare and can cause uterine rupture and life threatening complications to the baby. It is undetectable until labor begins and had we not known Maisy was Breech and we went ahead with vaginal delivery, her body would have gone through the birth canal and her head would have been stuck. Very scary. God was definitely watching over us!

Thankfully, Maisy is healthy and thriving! She was born 6lbs. even and 19.25in. long. Super tiny! Even though she wasn't a preemie (born only one day early), she's in preemie clothes. She came home from the hospital weighing 5lbs.10oz. and is already back up to 6lbs.2oz! She nurses like a champ and practically sleeps all day long. She wakes up 2-3 times during the night to eat and goes right back to sleep. This is all new to us because Mr. Brogan was quite the opposite!! Here are just a few pictures of the newest member of the Grandstaff family! She is so loved!!

My first time seeing my sweet baby girl

Sweetest little lips

Big brother Brogan and an unhappy little sister

Super tiny!

Brogan thinks Maisy is funny :)

Safe in Daddy's arms

Unsure of her first doctor's visit

Monday, April 5, 2010

39 Weeks!

*How far along?: 39 weeks 2 days

*Weight gain: still 23lbs.

*Sleep: between the pelvic pain and braxton hicks, not so much

*Stretch marks: none

*Best moment of this week: I have two:
1. Easter Sunday. It was so awesome worshiping in the NEW Pine Ridge Church building and listening to Tadd speak. There were 20 decisions for Christ!
2. Also, we went to Lowe's today to look at Swing sets for our back yard. Tadd told me that he wanted to use the money he's been saving for a new TV to buy Brogan this swing set. How awesome of a daddy is he?? This is why Brogan adores his Da-Da and says his name at least 300 times a day :)

*Movement: We like to think she's dancing to Funky Town...we start singing it when she starts moving :)

*Labor Signs: LOTS of braxton hicks and other lovely end of labor signs that are WAY TMI for a blog ;)

*Food cravings: Easter candy of course...and deviled eggs. I usually don't like them but for some reason they sounded (and tasted) SO good this week. Pregnancy is so strange sometimes. And Chickfila lemondade!

*What I miss most: just feeling "normal"...I feel so big and tired all the time

*What I'm looking forward to: (trying to look PAST the delivery)...seeing her for the first time, holding the tiny hands and feet that have kicked me for the past few months, dressing her in little pink dresses, seeing how much she weighs, comparing her features to Brogan's, announcing her name to the world, and introducing her to her big brother.

*Measuring: 34cm. as of last Wednesday (I go for my 39 week checkup tomorrow). The doctor said she's definitely dropped, which my bladder told me several weeks ago!

*Milestones: Your baby's waiting to greet the world! She continues to build a layer of fat to help control her body temperature after birth, but it's likely she already measures about 20 inches and weighs a bit over 7 pounds, a mini watermelon. (Boys tend to be slightly heavier than girls.) The outer layers of her skin are sloughing off as new skin forms underneath.(babycenter.com)