4 Has Become 5

Skylyn Christine Dennington arrived today at 2:32 pm.

She weighed 4 lbs 13 oz and was 18 inches long.

She is perfectly healthy!!! PRAISE GOD AND THANKS FOR ALL OF YOUR PRAYERS!!!!!!! She took to feeding right away. The only reason she has to go to the nursery is to get warmed up again, but Aaris and Titus both had to do that as well.

The details:

After the paperwork, registration and getting general IV and other equipment in the room and ready, we started the pitocin at 8:00 am. It took until 10:30 for them to break my water and then the pain hit...FAST. Within 15 minutes the pain was unbearable and the contractions were back to back. It took about another 15 minutes for the anesthesiologist to show up, but it was well worth the wait. Once it was in the nurse checked me. Skylyn had dropped really well, but I was only 4 cm dilated. I was contracting on my own, so she turned my pitocin off. After 20 minutes, my contractions went away and she turned it back on, but at a low amount. It took about 45 minutes after increasing my pitocin for good contractions to start again. She checked me again at that point, but I was still at 4 cm. At this point I asked my family to says prayers that my labor didn't stall out. I also said a couple of prayers privately. It was now around 1:20 pm. They turned me to the other side where I got very relaxed and faded in and out of sleep. I did not sleep last night due to discomfort and excitement. I had let my epidural stay low enough to still feel cramping with each contraction. Around 2:00 another nurse came in to check my monitors since my nurse was now helping with another delivery. I had started to feel more sensation and pressure down low at this point, but nothing to think too much about or even mention. About 10 minutes later the same nurse came back to check my monitors again because she was seeing Skylyn's heart rate drop some due to compression again my pelvis. This was a good sign she said. About 5 minutes later, I suddenly got hit with pain! I instantly hit my epidural release button to try and help with the pain. I asked Hattie, my sister, to tell me when it had been 5 minutes because I knew I needed even more epidural relief and that was the earliest they would let me push the button again. By the time 5 minutes hit I was feeling a ton of pain and pressure and called the nurse. She came immediately. She checked me and said the baby's head was right there. I asked her how much I was dilated and she said I was complete and ready to push. What?!?!?! Only an hour ago I was 4 cm. Thank goodness my doctor had literally just stepped out of surgery and was able to come immediately. It took only 5 minutes from finding out that I was ready to go until I started pushing. The pain had started to go away because of my epidural releases so I was nervous about feeling when to push, but after 5 pushes Skylyn was here. I got to open my eyes at the very end and watch her come out. The first thing I thought was, "She is tiny!" But, the doctor and nurses said she looked great and sounded great. What a miracle!

We are at St. David's downtown in room 312 and if Skylyn can start to hold her temp well, she should be going home some time on Friday.