Our precious baby GIRL made her appearance on December 28th, 2016. Hollis James Satterfield entered the world at 4:07pm weighing in a 7 pounds 6 oz and 19.5 inches long. She is absolutely perfect and we are so incredibly in love!
Hollis's birth story
Towards the end of my pregnancy, I had been having some blood pressure problems. My blood pressure would shoot up and stay there, but then would eventually come back down. On December 22, I had gone into the doctor's office for a blood pressure check, and it was high. I believe it was around 160/99. They were concerned and told me that I needed to go ahead and go to the hospital for monitoring. If my blood pressure did not come down, they were going to induce me that day. I was a little freaked out, but we drove over to the hospital and got all hooked up to the monitors and the first time they took my blood pressure, it was normal. They continued monitoring me for 2 hours and it continued to stay in the normal range so I was discharged but placed on bed rest. They decided to induce me the following Tuesday, December 27th.
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| Getting monitored |
That weekend was Christmas and Casey and I had a nice relaxing weekend at home, just the two of us. We exchanged gifts, watched movies, and spent quality time together before our little bundle was set to arrive.
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| Taking Murphy and Ruby to look at Christmas Lights |
On the day of induction, I went and got a manicure and pedicure, met Casey for lunch, and made sure that we had everything packed up and ready to go. We were set to arrive at the hospital at 7 that evening.
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| Final Belly Pic |
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| Last picture as a family of 2 |
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| All checked in and ready to get the party started |
They were going to start my cytotec that night which would thin out my cervix and hopefully help me dilate. After we got all checked in, they (attempted) to start my IV. They were able to get it on the second try, but ended up having to put it in the crease of my arm which was a pain. This was by far the worst part of the day. I felt myself getting super woozy and thought I was going to pass out, but was able to hold it together. They started my cytotec around 8:30 and came in every 4 hours to give me another dose. They told us to try to get some sleep and for the most part pretty much left us alone. I started to feel some minor cramping throughout the night and didn't get hardly any sleep. Those hospital beds are SOOO uncomfortable. Plus, the excitement and anticipation were too much to bare.
The next morning, my doctor came in to check me before she went to the clinic (she had been on call the night before). I was dilated to a 2.5 so she decided to break my water to see if I would continue progressing. This was around 8:15 that morning and Casey and I were both shocked. We didn't expect her to want to go ahead and break my water. About 5 minutes after she broke my water I felt my first MAJOR contraction. And holy crap! Those things are no joke. I had said from the beginning that I wasn't going to try to be a warrior and was planning on getting my epidural as soon as they would let me because let's be honest, I am a whimp. I don't handle pain well AT ALL. But I thought for sure I would make it a little while in active labor before I asked for it. My L&D nurse was amazing and she could tell I was uncomfortable, so she told me to just let her know when I wanted it. I told her I felt silly asking for it when I was only 2.5cm dilated, and she said "Well the anesthesiologist is right next door if you want me to get you on the list." I decided to go ahead and get in line for that magical drug.
The anesthesiologist came in about 45 minutes later and by that point I was doing everything I could to get through each contraction. They were coming about every minute and a half and lasting about 30 seconds. Casey was a saint during all of this and keeping me calm and reminding me to breathe through each one. And I will say, when the doctor walked in the room I freaked out inside a little. She looked like she was 12. Seriously. Like in middle school. I thought to myself "oh, wonderful. This teenager is going to be sticking a huge needle into my spine that could possibly paralyze me." But at that point, I was in so much pain, I was fine with it. Let's get the medicine flowing, lady! After I signed the consent forms and she got all set up, I was really feeling some pain. Case sat in front of me while she placed the epidural and was a great support system. The epidural being placed was a cake walk. I felt pressure in my back but it didn't hurt at all. They gave me a button to press when I needed it or felt pain. They also rechecked me at this point and I was dilated to a 4. In the beginning, the epidural was only working in my left side, so they turned me on my right side to lay and then I could feel the medicine slowly making its way to that side of my body. By about 10:15 I was completely comfortable and couldn't feel a thing. I tried to take a nap since I hadn't gotten much sleep the night before, but didn't have alot of luck. I let my parents and Casey's parents all come in and visit for a little while since we were all just sitting around and waiting.
Around 12:30, they checked me again and I was dilated to a 5 so labor definitely had slowed down after I got the epidural. They decided to start a low dose of pitocin to see if they could get things to speed up and make sure that labor didn't completely stall out. After they started the pitocin, I was able to take about an hour and a half nap. After I woke up from my nap, Case and I just watched some TV. I believe around 2 they checked me again and I was at a 7. The pitocin was working and that was such a relief. Around 3, a team of nurses came rushing in my room and said the baby's heart rate was dropping. They flipped me into a couple of different positions and put oxygen on me. They found one position that made her heart rate come back up and decided to keep me in that position while they checked me. My nurse told me I was dilated to 9.5cm! OH EM GEE! That was FAST! They went ahead and called my doctor to come to the hospital because we would be starting to push soon.
When Dr. Schneider got to the hospital, she checked me again and I was at a 10. And it was go time. They told me to leave my oxygen on because they didn't want to take any chances with the heart rate dropping again. The thing about this epidural, was I literally could not feel a thing. She told me that most people that have an epidural that is that effective, have a hard time pushing because they cant feel what they are supposed to be doing. She wanted me to do a "practice push" to see if we needed to turn the epidural off so I could regain a little more feeling. I did NOT want to feel a thing, so I pushed with everything I had. She said she was going to go ahead and suit up, and we were going to get this baby delivered.
I started pushing around 3:40. In the middle of pushing, they noticed the baby was face up. Dr Schneider said she was going to attempt to turn her during one of my contractions. She was able to successfully turn her so that she would be delivered face down. I pushed for about 25 minutes and at 4:07p.m. our precious little angel made her appearance into the world. I was adamant about wanting to do skin to skin as soon as the baby was born so Dr. Schneider immediately placed her on my chest. But she forgot the most important part! To tell us the sex of the baby! Lacy, our L&D nurse, said to her "what is it?" And she was like oh my gosh and picked her back up and announced "ITS A GIRL". Yall..... I couldn't believe it. I was CONVINCED we were having a boy. Casey and I were both crying tears of joy. I honestly cannot put into words that feeling. Waiting 10 months to find out if we had a son or daughter was one of the hardest and most rewarding things I have ever done. And I think it made me push harder because I was so excited. It truly was love at first sight. I have never in my life loved something so much.
While the doctor was finishing doing her stuff, we sat there and just cried and laughed and stared at our sweet baby girl. She peed on me twice before they got a diaper on her so I have a feeling she is going to be such a little firecracker! We had not decided on a girl name prior to the birth, so at that point we decided that we needed to decide on a name. Hollis was one of the names on our list and we both thought that it suited her so well. Her middle name (James) is my dad's name.
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| 7 Pounds 6oz, 19.5 inches long |
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| Daddy's first time to hold his baby girl |
The Labor and Delivery wing was full, so they wanted to get me moved to postpartum pretty quickly. After doing skin to skin for about 45 minutes, I was then able to breastfeed and use the bathroom and then they were wheeling me down to my next room. This was my only complaint about the hospital---this room was TINY!!! I mean so so small. It was hard for both of our families to fit in there.
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| Skin to skin while waiting on our families to come in |
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| Soaking it all in |
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| First pic as a family of 3 |
We had let our parents (who were anxiously waiting) know that the baby had arrived and that it was healthy but had not yet told them the gender or the name. I wanted to be a part of the announcement, so we waited until we were in our postpartum room to tell them. And it was such a special moment. Casey and I were both crying but I loved seeing the looks on their faces when we let them know that they had a granddaughter!
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| Meeting Paw |
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| Meeting Pop |
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| Meeting Lolly |
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| Meeting DeDe |
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| Proud Grandma's |
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| Meeting Uncle Josh |
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| First Dirty Diaper |
We stayed in the hospital two nights and then were able to go home that Friday. I will honestly say that I never knew I could love this much. Hollis James, you have filled a void in my heart that I never knew was there. I cannot wait to watch you grow up!
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| Headed Home |
