Paisley Claire

Well, I figured this would be the best place to start for my new blog. My name is Caroline. I am 28 years old, and I live in the beautiful state of South Carolina. I am married to the sweetest man on earth, and his name is Nathan. We were married on April 24, 2010. Now, the main focus of this blog! The picture you see is none other than our sweet and beautiful Paisley Claire. She was born via emergency c-section on October 10, 2013 at Lexington Medical Center. We found out on February 7, 2013 that we were expecting our first child. It was THE best day of our lives (prior to October 10th, of course!) From the moment I saw those two pink lines, I fell in love. I also had this deep down feeling that I was having a girl. We confirmed at 15.5 weeks that indeed, she was definitely a girl. She was NOT shy at all! After that, I just went absolutely crazy, I'll admit. That child's closet was overflowing with clothes that were ONLY sizes newborn and 0-3 months. I learned how to make hair bows, and she must have had 50 before she was even born. That's okay, though. I see NO wrong in spoiling a baby who doesn't even understand the concept of being spoiled yet. Close to the end of my pregnancy (36 weeks until she was born) I tried everything I could to get her out of me. Not because I was uncomfortable - in fact, my pregnancy was perfect. I never felt sick, never got morning sickness, never had a single moment of misery aside from the occasional foot in my ribs and the heartburn she gave me.- It was because I wanted to meet her SO badly. About those old wives tales: THEY. DON'T. WORK. At 39w1d, on October the 9th, I had a 3:30 appointment. I was 2cm and completely effaced, so I asked the doctor to strip my membranes. Not even two hours later, I started having contractions, which was about 5:30. I was actually grocery shopping for ingredients to make a Reese's pie at the time. (we had a dinner date with another married couple we are friends with. Their beautiful little girl, Fraser, is 8 weeks older than Paisley. How cute are little BFFs?!) . I came home and I made that darn pie, too! I was keeled over in pain every 5 minutes, but, that pie was going to be made if it was the last thing I ever did! Well, around 11:00, I was in real pain. I was cramping like crazy. After 2 false labor scares a month and a month and a half prior, I was extremely hesitant to step into that hospital until I was sure I was in labor. I tried a warm shower, and I tried to lie down, but those darn contractions kept getting more intense by the minute! Finally, I said to my husband, "I'm going to try and get some sleep." Well, that lasted all of 10 minutes. It was go time! We got to the hospital around 2:30am on the 10th, they hooked me up to the usual assessment monitors, checked my cervix, and in 11 hours, I had dilated 2 more centimeters. The nurse came in at 4:00am, unhooked me, and said "Walk. For 30 whole minutes, you walk around this wing, and hold onto the wall if you have to." (and boy, did I have to!) Well, our walk began at roughly 4:15. One lap in, and I was in even worse pain! (And wondering how is that even possible??) My contractions were 2 minutes apart, lasting about a minute and 15 seconds...giving me 45 seconds of relief between them. - Though, I find it amusing to this day that I was standing in front of their new baby board that had Paisley trim on it when I had my first "big girl" contraction. Coincidence? Maybe...but still, awesome! - I made it through those 30 minutes like a champ. Then I literally collapsed onto that hospital bed. At 4:48am, I felt that "did I just pee myself?" feeling that I had heard so much about. I just started laughing and crying at the same time out of pure excitement. MY WATER HAD BROKEN! I was having a baby that day! My husband and I just smiled for probably an hour straight. They wheeled me to the labor and delivery unit, and the first thing I asked was "Am I far enough to get the epidural yet?" Yep, sure was! I was up to 5cm by 5:30am. My active labor had began at 4:48. After my water broke, the contractions were almost unbearable. They were at maximum strength, off the charts. It took the anesthesiologist roughly an hour and a half to get to me....back to back contractions for 3 hours....ouch. To be honest, I don't even remember what they felt like. I just remember thinking how bad they hurt, and how I was soooo ready for that epi! The epi took 3 tries because I kept arching my back to the side. Around 7:30am, I started to shiver, and Paisley's heart rate spiked to 205. My heart rate had even spiked up to an unbelievable 185 (which is more than twice what it should be for an adult.) The nurse saw me shaking and convulsing. She kept telling me that shakes are normal from the epi. She called it "mommy shakes." It was more than any shaking I've ever felt before. I was shaking so hard, my bones and muscles were hurting. They told me that Paisley's heart rate was higher because I was probably running an internal temperature, and that I would probably show a fever soon. They were right. My fever jumped to 101 from 99 in about 20 minutes. Finally, I had heard enough "it's normal" crap. I asked for the doctor to come in. Low and behold, I was strep B positive (which I knew already), and she caught the infection before my antibiotic could even start to kick in. She was in the birth canal at 5cm. She had no business being in there yet! My labor had progressed SO quickly. He told me that we needed to get her out immediately. Within what felt like seconds, the nurses were running into the room while throwing on their gowns and hairnets. As they rolled me down that hallway, my husband and I were terrified, but we knew that we were having a baby...right now. She was born at 9:26am. Nathan and I shared happy tears, and they whisked her away to the nursery, sent Nathan out, and stitched me up. They put her on my chest for about 30 seconds after they cleaned her up, but I was so drugged that I don't remember it well. I was in recovery and they told me that Paisley was in the "special care" nursery. After I sent the entire hospital staff looking for my husband, he finally came into the recovery room and found me. He waited with me until a room opened. The second we got into my room, which was around noon by that point, I immediately asked him to go find and check on our baby, before he could even sit down. He came back and informed me of just what the "special care" nursery is. It's NICU to put it simply. My heart dropped. I felt like I had swallowed my tongue. Legally, they could not tell me "she will be just fine." All they could tell me was "She should be fine." From 9:26am until 5:00pm, I waited to meet my sweet Paisley. It felt like an eternity. I was crushed. Nothing could explain the feeling I felt, not even to this day. She was in the more "severe" side of the special care nursery, and I was so scared. I held her and fed her, and fell in love immediately. Nathan was afraid to hold her, so I did what any woman would do. I handed her to him anyway! That was all she wrote. He was comfortable from that moment on. The next day, they had moved her to the other side, where the less severe cases were. That was a relief, even though I was completely in the dark about her well-being, how long she would be there, and what needed to be done. Needless to say, on my third day, I was discharged home. Alone. Just me and Nathan. There are not many things sadder than walking out of that hospital without your baby. My husband and I cried as we walked to our car with our hospital bags, and the drive home was silent. We visited her every day until she was discharged at 8 days old. We stayed from about 10am until 6pm. She was hooked up to sensors, an IV, and had a spinal tap done at one point. She was only in the NICU to have 14 doses of twice daily antibiotics. Still, the doctors could not legally tell me everything was fine. After 8 days, we finally brought her home. We walked out of that hospital smiling smiles that you couldn't even slap off of us. We were the proudest parents on earth. After all, she is the prettiest baby to ever live. ;) All of the drama, almost losing her during my labor, and the NICU stay was just because she had caught an infection and needed her antibiotics that were only able to be administered intravenous by a nurse or physician. She is the happiest, sweetest, and most amazing baby on the face of the earth. She is our warrior, and I am head over heels for her. My husband is the best father a girl could have. Watching him with her makes me love him deeper than I did before. Deeper than I knew I could. This mommy gig has proven to be amazing, though tough at times already. I wouldn't trade it for my old party life any day. Being her mother is what I was meant to do.