Announcing the Arrival of Caroline Elizabeth Tutor

It was a long journey, but worth every second to meet our daughter....Caroline Elizabeth Tutor. She arrived on February 8th at 10:35P. She weighed in at 7lbs 10ozs and was 20 inches long. But let me start at the beginning of our "laboring" journey...

I went into labor on Sunday morning around 645A. By 1030A contractions were 5-7 mins apart and my midwife said let's head to the hospital. After time in triage, I was checked into my labor room at 1p. We spent the next hour walking around to help the labor process along. After that I was 3.5 cm and they broke my water. Within the next half hour I moved to 4 cm and called in the anesthesiologist for the blessed epidural. To be honest, the labor pains were not that bad at this point but I was told they would get bad and fast so I opted out of feeling what "bad" felt like. I received the epidural around 4PM. By 9PM I was fully dilated, but they had me sit up for another 45 mins before pushing to help bring the baby down a little more.

Around 945P I started to push. Mom, Megan, and Jamey were all in the room with me. And I later found out that the whole family was on speak phone in the waiting room...and every time I pushed they all held their breaths and counted to 10 with me...only a few hernias to report from the rest of the family. Out popped baby Caroline at 10P:35P.

Shortly after she was born the nurses took her over the to baby station in the room and began to try and get her to cry. After continued work to try and suction her and get her to cough, they decided to take her to the nursery. Jamey went with her and the whole family watched from the the window in awe of our precious bundle. After continuing to work on her, they were unable to get her to stabilize with her own oxygen so they moved her to the Level II NICU. After a lung xray, they said her lungs were possibly aspirated, she had pneumonia, or fluid didn't squeeze out while she was in the birth canal. I was finally taken to see her at 2:30A and cried as the doctor explained to us that it would be a miracle if she would be able to go home with us in a few days. They said she would be fine, but to a mother and father, it was devastating news.

We hit our knees in prayer and friends, family, and strangers even joined us in prayer for our Sweet Caroline. With the power of prayer and the power of God, she progressively began to breathe on her own. And Tuesday morning xrays revealed that her lungs were clearing. We were finally able to hold our sweet angel and feed her. On Wednesday morning, our miracle happened and she was released from the NICU and hospital and we all came home.

Home life has been amazing. Thanks for the prayers...we are forever thankful for the love and support.

Here is a link to more pictures http://www.flickr.com/photos/tutorfamily/

39 Weeks & 2 Days...plus Bed Rest

Here we sit just 5 days away from my due date and it seems more like 5 weeks away. I am anxiously awaiting the pains and joys of labor. Bring it on! I am ready for it. And I have officially decided that I am going to be the last pregnant girl in the world. Do all women near their due date feel that way? I am sure they do. Yet, as I sit here, every one of my girlfriends who was due around the same time as me is sitting at home holding their baby. And I still sit here with my large and in charge preggo belly!

To help the time pass I did create and online baby pool where people get to guess her arrival date, weight, etc. It has been fun checking it out to see what people think. The largest number of guesses is for Feb 7th, so Saturday here we come. Yet, today is good for me too! And I should mention that there is a full moon on Monday and statistically there are a large number of babies who arrive during a full moon. So we shall see. And for those who guessed my her date of arrival after my due date and/or with a weight of well over 8lbs...YOUR OFFICIALLY ON MY BAD LIST! And forgiveness will require bribery :)

After yesterday's appointment I was officially put on bed rest for my final days of pregnancy. This is not due to my child, but my high blood pressure. I have had great blood pressure the entire time, but it was abnormally high during yesterdays appointment. After a bit at the office, they rechecked it and it was back to normal. So they decided not to send me straight to the hospital, but straight to bed...ugh! I personally think it was a total fluke, but I am no doctor so pajama world, days of tv watching, and Internet here I come. It has been 24 hours so far and I already fear tomorrow. I think I did everything I could think of while lounging on the couch today....what will tomorrow hold. Maybe a trip to the hospital and a baby?!?

I shall also throw in that they stripped my membranes at the appointment yesterday. That was the most painful thing I have ever experienced. Hopefully it will yield some results...if not, I do not recommend it at all. Although, even if it does produce results, I would still not be quick to recommend the process. It sucked that bad!

The next post WILL be about the arrival of the baby!!!!! Until then...