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Welcome to the world, sweet Samantha!

It has officially been one week since I first laid eyes on our newest little family member. Its hard to believe how many kisses, tears, smiles and diapers you can have in one week! Let me take you back to the beginning... 

On April 8th I had a regular Doctor appointment (39 weeks) to check up on my pregnancy. I was preparing myself for an overdue pregnancy, due to the fact that many first babies are. My Doctor was delivering a baby during my appointment so I had to wait for an hour for her to get back. That morning I had some menstrual-like cramps and a backache, but I didn't think anything of it. 

While at the Doctor I started having moments of tightness in my belly and they started to become quite regular. I told the midwife and she hooked me up to a fetal monitor. After about 20 minutes she was able to confirm that I was in labor! My contractions were about 4-5 minutes apart, though they were not very strong. My Doctor finally got back and checked me, I was about 2.5 cm dilated. (Is it weird I am talking about my cervix on the world wide web)? She told me to go home, eat a good dinner, take a shower and to come back to the hospital when the pain was a little more strong. At this point (5pm) Peyton just happened to be coming home from work. The timing could not have been more perfect. 

I got home followed instructions and then tried to work through contractions. Our sweet home teacher Greg also came over to give me a blessing with Peyton. Peyton and I decided to take one last family picture together and we even made a pazookie to kill time!






We timed my contractions (theres an app for that!) and they were about 3-4 minutes apart. Even though the pain wasn't too bad, we decided to head to the hospital since we still had a 45 minute taxi ride to get there and they suggest coming to the hospital when you are about 5 minutes between contractions. 

We arrived at the hospital at 9:45 and they had a bed all ready for me. The Doctor came in and I was at 4 cm dilation. We decided to break my water to get the show on the road. Shortly after, they started my epidural which helped me not feel the contractions so much. (Side note: I was more nervous about getting an epidural than going through labor. I absolutely hate needles. Peyton and I watched some birthing videos and I usually couldn't even get past the epidural part without almost passing out.) After they put in the epidural, (which Peyton was intrigued and amazed by) I had about an hour where I felt good and relaxed... but then the epidural started to wear off. 

 By 6cm dilation I was feeling all of the contractions and was in a good amount of pain. I was frustrated that the epidural wasn't working but I kept dilating very fast. In a couple of hours, I was at a 9cm and very ready to push! I kept reminding the Doctor that the epidural wasn't working but it was too late to do anything about it. 

I remember watching my Doctor put on her robe and getting ready for the delivery thinking that we were minutes away from welcoming our little one. I turned to Peyton and kept saying how the time had finally come. I started pushing at 12:30, and five pushes later baby girl Samantha was born at 12:45. The delivery was so much faster than we had anticipated, and everything went smoothly (Minus the lack of pain meds.) Peyton decided prior that he wanted to "catch" the baby. It was neat for him to be involved and the Doctors were very impressed that he wanted to be so engaged.






The minute she was placed on my chest an overwhelming love and surreal appreciation came over me. She was a very quiet baby and very alert. Peyton brought her over to me after she was weighed and we sat on the bed for an hour just looking at her and admiring her beauty. We counted all her toes and fingers (all there!) and gave her enough kisses to last a lifetime. In a few short minutes our family had grown from 2 to 3. Even though the pregnancy felt long and uncomfortable and the delivery was painful, I was so thankful we were given this blessing, and it was completely worth every second of uncomfort and pain. I didn't sleep much that night because I kept looking into her bassinet seeing if she was breathing and just gazing at her. I wish someone had been keeping track of how many times Peyton and I said, "Shes so cute" to each other. It must have been at least 1,000 times. 





It has been a week of elation and learning. Peyton has been such a great helper and a very hands on Father. I am so lucky to have him as my partner. Even though we are getting used to running on 1/2 a tank of gas and getting adjusted, we are so happy she is finally here! 



Samantha loves being held by Daddy and is so extremely content while looking up at him for minutes at a time. I am convinced she recognizes our voices from the womb. 


Samantha Jane Buhler 
Born April 9th, 2014, 12:43 am 
6 lbs, 19 inches 







3 comments:

  1. Great story - and all's well that ends well as they say - or at least as William Shakespeare says!! I wish someone had suggested I write the birth stories down! I remember a lot of the details - but certainly not all of them!!

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  2. I love reading birth stories because they're so unique! I am quite jealous you were able to stay at the hospital at a 4. That's too bad your epidural wore off; I would die! Your baby girl is adorable and I love reading your blog. I hope you're getting more sleep than us hehe

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  3. Appreciaate your blog post

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