Okay, so you'll have to bare with me as this is probably going to be a very long, somewhat sappy, emotional, and over detailed post! But I want to be able to have these posts to look back and remember what I was thinking and feeling at this time in my life! So here it goes!!!
Hadlie Elena Salcedo made her arrival on Friday, October 18th, 2013 at 1:18 in the morning. She weighed in at a tiny little 6 lbs 4 oz and 19 inches long! She's PERFECT! Her daddy and I could not be more thrilled!
So how did it happen you're wondering I bet...well, I was 5 days over my due date, on Thursday, the 17th. I felt like I had been doing everything to get this little girl to come, with the exception of taking castrol oil! :-/ But I had been walking, stair climbing, taking herbs, bouncing on a big inflatable ball, drinking tea...it seemed like I was doing a lot and still, little missy wasn't quite ready. So Thursday morning comes along and I decided I'd have my mom strip my membranes. What harm could come from it right? So that morning, she strips my membranes and I proceed to get ready and go to work. I had been feeling uncomfortable the whole day because of the striping, but I didn't think too much about it cuz that happened the other times I'd been stripped too. Anyways, after work, mom and I headed up to Salt Lake to pick Susan up who had a layover in Salt Lake for a few hours before she went on to St. Louis for work meetings. Liz and her 3 kids followed in their car and we met up at the airport and decided to head to the City Creek Mall to a play place for the kiddos!
OH MY GOSH....I forgot to tell you that Liz totally surprised me and flew in with her 3 kids all by herself to be here for my delivery! I was shocked when I saw her because I didn't think there was any way that she was going to be able to make it...I was thrilled to have her there! She and my mom and Juan made a wonderful team for me during my labor! Okay, so back to the story, so we head to City Creek and grab a bite to eat and as soon as we got to the mall, I started having some pretty uncomfortable feelings down there...I wasn't quite sure if it was contractions, so I didn't say anything, cuz I didn't want to get people all worked up for nothing. That was around 6:00-6:30ish....and we stayed there till about 7:15 when we had to drop Susan back off at the airport. This whole time I'm having contractions, but they're pretty spread out and not bad enough that you could tell I was even in labor...but I suspected that I was. I was even having contractions while driving on the way back home from the airport...that wasn't super comfortable either, but I still didn't want to say anything. We got back home around 8 and I immediately jumped into the shower...something about the hot water just made me feel more at ease. At this point, the contractions started coming a little more regularly and I stayed in the shower just rocking back and forth for about a half hour while my mom and Juan watched Harry Potter. LOL...they had a Harry Potter marathon going on! When I got out of the shower, I decided it was probably time that I said something about thinking I was in labor because at that point, the contractions were about 4-5 min apart and getting so I had to breath through them with a little more focus. So I got out of the shower and got dressed and came out to the living room and said, "well, I think I'm in labor..." to which they were like, "cool...." and kept watching their movie! LOL...at that point there really wasn't anything they could do, so i didn't mind. I walked around the apartment, bounced on the bouncy ball, laid on my bed, rocked in my glider chair and had Juan put some counter pressure on my back as I leaned over the ottoman....all while trying to stay calm and relaxed.
At this point, it's probably around 11 o'clock and I'm starting to have these contractions closer and closer. At this point, they're about 2-3 min apart and getting more intense. I really wanted to let my mom and Juan finish Harry Potter, but around 11:30, my mom decides that it's time to go and we head to the hospital. I had texted Liz earlier and told her I was in labor and so she met us in the parking lot of the hospital....timed it perfectly! We got up to labor and delivery, and they took us to a room and the nurse checked me and I was a 4! A 4! Are you kidding me!?! I was so bummed! After all that work and I was only a 4! Man, I'm not going to lie, I was pretty disheartened! The nurse then said, "well, we'll monitor her for an hour to see if we'll keep her here or if we'll send her home." Stupid nurse...I was in full blown labor and she wants to send me home....I wanted to wring her neck. Anyways, as soon as she left the room, I feel a gush of something down south and my mom tells me that my water has broken! Yup, definitely not going home now! Liz then turns to me and says, "now it's going to start getting intense!" Great! Cuz it wasn't intense before this is what I thought! LOL...she was right! For the next hour, Liz, mom and Juan, coached, breathed and helped me through the contractions as I desperately wanted to have this baby naturally and not get an epidural. An hour later, my mom told the nurse that she thought I should be checked and at first, the nurse said she didn't like checking patients that are going naturally too often cuz it really hurts them, but to be honest, not one check I'd ever gotten had hurt me, so I don't know what she was talking about. Needless to say, mom insisted and she checked me during a break in contractions...at this point, I turned to my mom and said, "If I'm only dilated 5 cm then I'm getting the epidural....there was no way that I had done that much work and focus over the last hour only to be dilated 1 more cm. My mom pointed out, much to my chagrin that it was normal to dilate only 1 cm an hour...:-( not what i wanted to hear! LOL...but alas, the nurse checked me at about 12:30 and I was a 7!!!! Yay! Woot! Woot! A 7! Man, those words were music to my ears!
At that point, I had a renewed sense of...."I can do this!" I had been laboring on my side, laying down in the hospital bed for that last hour and at this point, my mom had me get up and go sit on the toilet. I sat on the toilet during a rest period, but as soon as a contraction came, I'd get up and lean over Liz and Juan and they'd rock me back and forth and I'd try not to bite Juan's neck and pull Liz's hair! LOL...I tried really hard to stay focused, but I'm not going to lie, I lost it a few times! My team was incredibly patient and good with me though! About 20 min after being checked and told I was a 7, I started to make different sounds and I guess it was an indication to my mom that I needed to be checked again, because I was doing more of a grunt instead of just breathing. The nurse agreed cuz she could hear the change in my tone as well and promptly checked me. I was.....COMPLETE!!!!! Oh my gosh....MUSIC TO MY EARS!!!! I could not believe that I had gone from a 7cm to a 10cm in 20 min! Hallelujah!!! The nurse had me get back on the bed and everyone started getting prepped for me to push this baby out! After getting some coaching from my mom and the nurse, they had me push with the contractions and after 4 or 5 contractions and about 7 or 8 pushes....little Miss Hadlie was born! What an amazing feeling! I can't even describe how it feels to hold your child for the first time! The feeling of accomplishment was overwhelming! Something that I'd desperately wanted and set out to do, I had accomplished and I could not have been more proud! As my mom pointed out, I got everything I wanted. I didn't want to be induced, I wanted to labor at home, and I wanted to have this baby naturally! And I wanted her born on an even day! LOL...don't judge me! How blessed I am to have had such a wonderful labor and delivery! From start to finish, about 6 hours...Thanks mom for having quick labors too! I know I couldn't have done it without my amazing team and I'll forever be grateful to have had my mom, my sister Liz and of course my wonderful husband Juan there to work me through it all!
I had a 2nd degree tear and so while they stitched me up, they checked all of Hadlie's vitals and she looked really good. She was a tiny little thing for being 5 days over due....but perfectly healthy otherwise. They packed us up from the delivery room and wheeled us downstairs to our recovery room and Juan went with Hadlie to watch her be bathed and foot-printed and what not. As exhausted as I was, I couldn't sleep and my mind was going crazy! We have a daughter! I'm a mom! To a beautiful little girl! It still seems so surreal! I'm trying to think of anything I left out of my story, but nothing is coming to mind. I would post a whole bunch of pictures, but they're all on my mom's camera and I need to get them from her before I can post them! I'll get on that!
Our Little Angel Hadlie!
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