Hensleigh Chalyse White

Hensleigh Chalyse White
August 16, 2012
6 lbs. 5 oz. 19 1/2 in.

Our beautiful girl is here! It all started Wednesday August 15th around 1a.m. I woke up having my first real contractions. But they were about 45 minutes apart.  I would fall asleep but then get woken back up by another one. I finally got out of bed took a shower, blow dried my hair and even straightened it. By the time I fell back to sleep it was 4:30 a.m. Throughout that day I had contractions but they were very sporadic. I knew she would be here soon though. Treagan and I spent Wednesday night hanging out at our friends Luke and Allisons house. We stayed way too long and didn't get home til 11p.m. So I was already low on sleep when I was once again woken up at 1:00a.m on Thursday August 16th by contractions. This time though they were only 15 minutes apart. I stayed in bed for awhile just breathing through each contraction. They soon became 8 minutes apart and around then Treagan decided he wanted to shower real quick before it was time to go. By the time he got out of the shower I had had contractions as close as 1 minute apart. We got some last minute things put in the hospital bag and headed out the door. My contractions continued 3-4 minutes apart. Contractions suck!!! I seriously don't know how people have natural births. Even though I was really nervous about getting an epidural I was looking forward to it by this point.

We got there at 4:00 a.m. but the hospital was super busy and only had a triage room to put us in. We stayed in there for 2 hours still breathing through contractions. At this point I was only dilated to 3 cm. But the anesthesiologist came in and asked if I wanted an epidural. I told him yes and he said he was ready. We actually had to wait for the nurses to get me into a labor room and get me admitted before he could give me the epidural. We were moved to another room around 6:30 and around 6:45 he gave me the epidural. I was so nervous but Treagan just stayed by my side and I focused on staying very still. I think getting an IV hurts worse then an epidural and the resident that did my epidural did awesome. We did have a tiny complication with the epidural. I have a low heart rate because of being so active my whole life that towards the end of the epidural I almost passed out. I told the nurse I was going to throw up, then I said I'm going to pass out and my head fell forward and everything became very fuzzy.  My nurse was close to my face asking me if I could talk and I just made humming noises. The anesthesiologist hurried and put some ephedrine in my IV as well as a shot in my calf. The shot in my calf killed. But immediately I started to feel better and I could lift my head back up. After that I laid in bed for the next 7 1/2 hours without a single doctor coming to check my progress because they had a baby boom at the hospital and were swamped.

We had med students coming in to check on us and relay the message to the doctors and my nurse coming in to check on my monitors but other then that we just hung out. We played cards and watched the office while trying to get some sleep but with my blood pressure cuff going off every 15 minutes that made it pretty difficult to get some rest even though I was already sleep deprived. Treagan was able to get some good naps in though and I was happy about that. At 2:30 p.m. my water broke and I immediately could feel pressure from Hensleigh head pushing down. We called our nurse in and she just put some pads under me to soak up the water. At 3:00 the med student who had been checking up on us all day came in. When we told him my water broke he went to find the residents to come check me. She checked me and said we are going to have this baby right now. She even grabbed Hensleigh's hair and showed Treagan. The next time I felt pressure she asked me to push just so she could see what happened. Her head was right there and she told me to stop pushing so they could get everything ready to have a baby. Once everything was ready and they got a mirror for me to watch and I got in position to start pushing. I only pushed 6 times and there she was laying on my belly. I was a little shocked at what she looked like all covered in vernix. I don't know what I expected but I guess that wasn't it. I think I was in shock about that whole thing. I couldn't believe she was really here and that she was ours. She weighed 6lbs 5oz and 19 1/2 inches long.

We held her forever. Just kissing her and loving every second of it. We instantly fell in love with her and she stole our hearts. It's so amazing that you can love someone so much so quickly.  The whole day we just kept saying to each other I love her so much, she is so perfect, I can't get enough of her. And we still feel that way today. Each day we fall more in love with her and can't get enough of her. Sometimes we just lay next to her and watch her sleep. We feel so blessed that she is healthy and growing strong.

I am also so thankful for the most wonderful husband in the world for being the best nurse, dad and husband these past two weeks. I have been in a lot of pain and he has taken such great care of me and of Hensleigh. He has changed more diapers then I have:) And he continues to do so even though I'm feeling better. I have fallen more in love with him watching him take care of our daughter. I'm so blessed to have him in my life!

I'm also so thankful for all the wonderful friends we have that have brought us meals. That took so much stress off of me and Treagan. Thank you so much! You know who you are! 

We are learning so much about being parents and what works best for us and Hensleigh. We are loving watching her grow and look forward to the future with our beautiful girl. We love her!