Three Ts in a Pod: birthday!

Welcome Althea Jean Towler. She arrived Wednesday April 21st at 12:18pm. She was 18.5 inches long and 8 lbs 1 oz. She's got a heedful of dark brown soft fine hair. Her eyes are dark, which I expect they are brown, but we wont know for a while. She was born healthy and has been doing great.

Here's the story for her entrance to the world. I felt very tired Tuesday April 20th and just not real great. So I took it easy most of the day. Jason was home all day and helped me out. In the evening just after I got Elden to sleep, I started having contractions which were very close together and painful. I've been having lots of sporadic contractions so it didn't start to worry me until I had about 10 in a row.

Jason started timing them and they were about 3 - 5 minutes apart. Baby girl started pushing really hard on my belly with her feet. So much so that there was a huge raised spot on the left side of my belly. Within 20 minutes of our starting to time the contractions I felt my water break. I wasn't sure if it was my water or just losing the mucous plug as it was a very slow trickle. Anyway, we called the dr to find out what to do since the contractions were so close together. They asked us to come into the hospital. Later we decided that baby Althea had broken her own amniotic sac by pushing so hard with her feet. If this is an indication of her personality I would like to warn the world now.

We called my Dad and woke him up at 11:40 on 4/20. They said they would come meet us at the hospital. My contractions continued to grow in intensity and were still about 3 - 5 minutes apart. Jason was a champ getting the car all packed and Elden and I into it. Poor Elden woke up and was scared about Mommy's crying. When we got to the hospital and Jason got out of the car to get me some help inside. Elden was left in the car with mommy who was in serious pain. He kept telling me not to cry and that it would be ok. I was trying to explain to him that it was ok and I was fine but he was very worried.

They took me in for observation and assessment and quickly confirmed my water had broken, my contractions were strong and regular, and sadly I was still not very dilated (1.5 cm). They admitted me and when Jason and Elden arrived we talked and I opted for a narcotic pain med which helped me deal with the pain of the contractions. It took enough edge off that I could tolerate them, but still didn't allow me to sleep. Dad and Janice showed up after I got into a birthing room. They took Elden home to stay the night at our house.

Later I was given a 2nd dose of pain meds, but the second dose was not giving me any relief. At 6am I opted for the epidural as we'd both been up all night and I was still no more than 2 cm. Around 6am The nurse checked me and again no further dilating. however when she checked me my water broke again at a location much lower and when it did they found meconium in the fluid. They were concerned but still gave me an option to try to add pitocin to help speed up my contractions which had slowed when I got the epidural. It was try that or have a c section. I wanted to try that, so we did for 3 hours, but still no more dilating.

At this point 11am on 4/21, I was exhausted. I was given the option to try 1 more time with more pitocin for a few hours to see if I could get further along. Jason and I talked about it and decided to go ahead with the c section. I was so tired I feared I wouldn't be able to push if we ever got there. I had also started to get nauseous and had a terrible headache. I also had a fever which had been rising for the last hour and a half.

When we agreed to the c section, they said we'd go into surgery at 12pm. They acted very quickly, I was scared, but hardly had time to think much. We were moving very rapidly and there was no wait time at all. Once they got started and Jason could come in I felt much better. They invited Jason to watch the baby come out and he did. The look on his face scared me a little. I heard the tallking about the cord. I finally heard her cry and felt so much relief.

They finished up with me and the dr came and told me that a vaginal delivery would've been very traumatic as baby girl had the umbilical cord wrapped around her neck and she was still very high in the birth canal. It most likely would've ended in emergency c section.

It took a while to get to hold her afterwards as the ran a bunch of tests on her for fear of infection, meconium in her lungs, etc. I was so glad to meet her and hold her and nurse her. It was the best reward. She was so perfect. Nothing in her lungs, no infection, and healthy all around. We bonded instantly. I did want to let her go for anything.

We stayed in the hospital for 4 days recovering. We were glad to be going home as a family. The first night was rough. We are still figuring everything out. Jason's mom has been here and it has been a big help, especially with Elden. He's been sick with a stomach bug and of course feeling a little displaced by the new sibling.

Unfortunately Althea now has the stomach bug too and it can be very dangerous for a newborn to have diarrhea, so we are watching her. She's been nursing a lot, but seems tired. Of course all newborns are pretty tired so that is hard to discern if she's sick tired or just tired because she's supposed to be.

Both Jason and I are absolutely in love with her, even if we aren't getting a whole lot of sleep right now. She's beautiful and her arrival has made us so very contented. We are really happy to have our daughter join our pea pod!

Pictures of our newest T in a pod