She is finally here! Harper Lynn Culotta joined the family on August 26th, 2015 at 11:15pm weighing in at 6 pounds 2 ounces and 18 inches long. Welcome to the world baby girl! We love you so much already.
Harper made it VERY clear through labor & delivery (and pregnancy) that she would do things her way. I was initially due the 24th of September which was changed to the 17th after an anatomy scan, then changed back to the 24th once we were in the hospital. Hello confusion. The night of August 24th I texted my best friend excited that some early labor signs were starting. I told myself if I could sleep through my timed "contractions" then they weren't real. Much to my dismay, I woke up the next morning after a full night's sleep. I spent that entire day food shopping and walking laps through the mall. Later that night I told Justin I was having the contractions again and kept telling him it might be time. After the disappointment the night before we decided not to tell anybody what was going on. Around 11 o'clock I headed to bed. 12 passed, then 1, 2, and before I knew it 4am had rolled around and the contractions clearly were not going to stop. Justin woke up for work at 6 and tried to show up for a little bit. After making it through a handful of more painful contractions, he made the decision to head home around 9. By that time we were 6-7 minutes apart. I called the Dr. on call who assured me that they were probably Braxton Hicks but that I could still come in to get checked. After all, I wasn't due for a month and first babies never come on time. Harpie thought differently.
After an hour and a half commute to the hospital (thanks, Penndot) we were finally in the ER. By the time we made it there contractions were 5 minutes and I was in a fair amount of pain, no longer able to talk through them. The first person to come in and check was a student on rounds. "Well..." she said, "You're 100% effaced and 6cm". 6cm! We were so excited. They sent in a second Dr. who immediately pooped on our parade and told us I was indeed, 100% effaced, but only 3cm. The Dr. who did the second check was not the OB on call through my office. The two met up and made the decision if I didn't progress within an hour I would be sent home. With preterm babies, I was 35 weeks 6 days, they won't induce, break water, or do a C-section unless it's an emergency. An hour later I was in the worst pain of my life crying like an idiot through each contraction which were only 2 minutes apart. The new nurse in triage saw the pain I was in, heard my husband's opinion loud and clear (thanks babe), and took it to the doctors responsible for the decision. Thank God she was convincing, they admitted me and moved us upstairs to labor and delivery.
Despite being admitted, we were still in a waiting period to see what the game plan would be. Our new, awesome, nurse hooked me up to IV pain meds which promptly made me profess my love to said nurse as she rolled me upstairs and I thumb uped everyone we passed. 2 bags of pain meds and a morphine shot to the behind later and nothing could touch the amount of pain I was in. Contractions had moved to 1 minute apart and my nurses convinced the new OB on call to administer an epidural and break my water. Within 2 hours I progressed from 3 to 6cm. And then a half hour later I called the nurses and told them "There's something down there and I need you to check again". They thought I was nuts. Sure enough I was at 10cm and she was right there. Who's crazy now, guys.
At 10pm we practiced pushing as the Dr. and nurses suited up. The entire night we had joked that I had to get her out before midnight when it was officially the 27th and Justin's birthday. At 11:05 he looked at me and said "you have 55 minutes". 10 minutes later the Dr. told me to back off pushing for a minute and we heard the most perfect little cry. The nurse popped her on my chest and there it was, our new family. I was so in love with this new little person until I turned to my left to see my husband falling head over heels for the same tiny human. Only then was my love for her surpassed.
We spent that night and the next in the hospital then headed home Friday morning. At her 1 week appointment the following Tuesday morning they were concerned with how jaundice she was and sent us for blood work to check her bilirubin levels. At a family picnic that night we got the call that she'd need to stay at the hospital to get light therapy. While there are many worse things to deal with, we were absolutely crushed. We'd just gotten our family home and now we had to leave our safe place. We spent 2 nights there in a tiny, 80 degree room on pleather couches. We were only allowed to take her out from under the lights to change and feed her. Feedings moved to every 2 hours to help flush out the bilirubin. Despite the circumstances, Harper was a happy little girl.
We were so excited to get the news Thursday morning that we could finally go home! We packed our bags and pretty much ran to the car. Since then we've been enjoying our time as a family of 3, living on little sleep and lots of coffee. Turns out things like cooking dinner, showering, and blogging are next to impossible with a newborn. But that's okay, we think we'll keep her :)
Thank you to everyone for following us through pregnancy, for all of the gifts, and all of the love you've shown us! We are truly blessed to be surrounded by you all as we do this thing called life. Until next time....
