Paige has arrived!

Paige Ellen Sarr

June 14, 2010

7 lbs

20.5 inches

So here's the story.. (either skip this part, or get comfortable, because it's a bit of a story!)

I woke up Sunday morning (just 2 days past my due date) at 3 am to slightly uncomfortable and consistent contractions. I laid in bed and timed them for a while just to make sure it was the real thing, I figured I had nothing better to do since I was too excited to sleep anyway. They were coming about 7-ish minutes apart, so I finally got up to tell Matt and send a text to my mom so she and my dad could make the 2.5 hour drive over. We spent part of the day walking up and down Avila Beach and climbing stairs hoping it would make things progress more quickly. If I had know what I would be in for later, I would have spent this time sleeping! After some good walking and climbing, I decided it was time for a shower and a nap. Of course, after my shower I was refreshed (and still excited), so the nap never happened. Contractions were still good and consistent, but not too painful and about 5 to 6 minutes apart. My plan was to stay home as long as possible so I wouldn't have much laboring to do in the hospital. So we spent more time at home, ended up watching the Laker game with family and friends expecting to jump up and drive to the hospital at any moment (my dad predicted during the last 2 minutes of the game!). Well, we finished the Laker game and headed down to a late dinner at Paisano's in Grover Beach. I ate a little pasta and kept timing contractions. They were stronger now and closer to 4 minutes apart. We left the restaurant and headed to the hospital. The nurse check me, I was only 3 cm dilated. She suggested I walk around the hospital for an hour and come back to see if anything had progressed. When I came back (I believe it was 11:00 or midnight at this point) I was at 4 cm, so she went ahead and admitted me. I continued to walk the halls, stopping every so often to breath through the contractions, but smiling and chatting the rest of the time. I lost all track of time from this  point on, but basically the contractions got much stronger and pretty tough to breath through, yet I stayed dilated at 4 cm. Every time they checked I thought "These contractions have to be doing SOMETHING, right?" just to hear my midwife say "Well, you're still 4 centimeters." At some point they broke my water to see if that would help move things along. It didn't. I used the tub hoping it would ease some of the pain, I stood in a warm shower for 30 minutes feeling like the contractions couldn't possibly get any more intense. I ended up slumped over the back of the bed, up on my knees, puking into a bucket Matt was holding for me. Some time after that Lisa (my midwife) gave me a few options. She said I could either go home to see if I could get some rest, or they could give me Benedril to help me fall asleep for a while, or they could start Pitocin to make the contractions closer together. I didn't want to go home (since it's a good 25 minute drive away from the hospital), and I didn't want Benedril to make me totally drowsy for hours. I decided Pitocin would be the best option at this point to move things along, but I couldn't imagine the contractions getting any stronger, so I asked for an epidural first. To tell you the truth, at first I felt like I was failing. Like I had given in to something I didn't want to give in to. Like my body couldn't do what it was supposed to do, and I had to ask for help. I wanted to cry, but Matt was the most supportive coach I could have ever asked for. He helped me breath through every single contraction, even the one I had while they were putting the epidural in. He constantly reminded me that I was doing a great job and he thought I was so tough even when I was feeling my weakest. Once the epidural started working, I fell asleep for about an hour. When I woke up, Lisa checked me and said "Well, you went from 4 cm to almost 9 cm in that hour you were sleeping!" I couldn't believe it! All I needed to do was let my body relax. I don't know how I would have done that without sleep, and I don't know how I could have ever slept through that pain. I was so relieved. I rested some more and finally felt like I was ready to push. Lisa told me that with an epidural, pushing could take up to 3 hours and is usually pretty exhausting. I decided to hold off on pushing for another hour, just to let the contractions work the baby down into a better position. Finally, at 9:01 pm I started to push. At 9:15 Paige was giving us a sweet little cry. When her head came out, she was sideways looking straight at Matt. Then she let out a cry before her shoulders had even passed through! Matt reached down during the last push and pulled her up onto my belly. A little while later he ended up cutting the cord, too. I was amazed. We had talked about how involved he wanted to be, and I made sure he only did what he felt comfortable doing. He wasn't too interested in the idea of even cutting the cord, so when he reached down and DELIVERED our baby I was shocked! It was so amazing.

She was perfect, she was finally here, she was ours to keep.

All 42 hours of labor was well worth it!

Ok, if you read all that, you deserve a break.

Here are some pictures of our precious little bundle of joy.

Snoozing on Grandma's lap just hours after coming home from the hospital.

Those cheeks get lots and lots of kisses.

Hangin out, wearing her cute pj's from Grandma.

(see the bunny slippers?)

Pretty baby.

Almost a smile! Captured by Uncle Josh.

Probably my favorite photo of Paige and her daddy, my handsome hubby.

Calm and cozy after a bath.

Funny face!

Sleepy little girl wrapped up in the blanket made by her Great Grandma.

Nap time in Johnny's arms.

(Photo by Jen Foley)

Tiny!

(Photo by Jen Foley)

Meeting Uncle Davis, wondering if they have the same hair stylist ;)

Me and my baby girl during our first outing. We went to Joe Momma's coffee and enjoyed the ocean breeze with the Foley's. Paige had no idea she was even there, but I'm sure she was having sweet dreams!

Daddy giving her some love.

There she is! All 7 pounds of her!

Getting her first bath at the hospital.

And here's a fun little comparison. The one on the left is a picture of me that my mom took the day she brought me home from the hospital. The one on the right is Paige. See some similarities?

Ok, so hopefully I will get better at keeping you all updated on this sweet little girl.

So far she's doing great. Her pediatrician is pleased with her weight gain from last week, so she should be a chunky monkey in no time at all! Last night she slept for a stretch of 6 hours, here's to more nights like that :) She smiles and laughs in her sleep, I can't wait to see it while she's awake. Her hair gets curly when it's wet, but dries all poofy and stick straight like her daddy's. She has big blue eyes like her mama.

She's the most lovable little thing you'll ever meet.