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Alexis Maryann Gallo Sex: girl Born: 03 September, 2009 Age: 2 years & 166 days Birthday in: 199 days Starsign: Virgo Development: See the 29 months page. Biggest achievement so far: Being mommy and daddy`s princess. Lexi can count to 10 and she also knows all of the letters of the alphabet by looking at them. She knows shapes too.

Birth details

Original due date: 9-10-09
Type of delivery: Vaginal (with failed pain relief)
Duration of labor: 27 hours
Weight @ birth: 7lbs 13oz
Length @ birth: 19 3/4 inches

Alexis-Maryann-Gallo`s birthstory

I went in on 9-2-09 at 7:30pm to be induced. I had my husband Joey and my mom with me. When I got there, they checked me and said I was still 1 cm dilated. I had to wait for a few hours for the cervadil to be placed. I still don`t remember why. I was put on the monitors and the baby`s heart rate was perfect. I was having contractions but they weren`t really strong. The doctor came in and checked me and still no change. The nurse placed the cervadil around 10:30 pm. About three hours later, the pain started. It was so uncomfortable. I started having really bad back pain and pressure on my tail bone. I found out it was due to the baby being what is called OP or occiput posterior, meaning the back of the baby`s head was against my tail bone and she was facing up. I couldn`t stop crying because it was so painful. The nurse gave me Stadol for pain and Vistaril to help me sleep so I could get through the next day. I ended up managing to sleep that night although I was waking up in pain. The morning of 9-3-09, the doctor came in and checked me around 7:30 and I had dilated to 3-4 cm. She then broke my water and about 20 minutes later, all hell broke loose. I started having really bad contractions and was in extreme pain. They told me I could get the epidural as soon as I wanted to at this point. I asked for it then. I was given the epidural about 30 minutes later around 8:00 am. It worked for all of a few hours and then the pain returned. The anesthesiologist came back in and gave me another dose of meds because my little PCA pump wasn`t helping. After about 30 minutes it still wasn`t working. This went on for a few hours and he kept giving me more but it wasn`t working. The doctor came in and said that the baby had turned around and was now facing OA or occiput anterior, which is the correct way so that when she comes out, she is looking at the floor. By this time I was 10 cm dilated by about 8:00pm but there was still a little bit of cervix that wouldn`t move out of the way. The anesthesiologist came back in and did a spinal along with the epidural. It worked a for about an hour. Then I started having severe pain again. He said he has never seen anything like me. He had given me more medicine than he gives a C-section patient and nothing was working. I was later told by the nurse that he felt aweful because I was in so much pain and he couldn`t do anything to help me. I really think he was in my room with me for a good few hours. I could feel to move my legs even though they were extremely heavy but if I would touch them, I couldn`t feel them. Then it was time to push. I pushed at least an hour. I was getting mad because I could see her head coming out but it wouldn`t come out. I pushed so hard. When the head finally came out, she was stuck.. The doctor had to reach in and turn her because she had shoulder dystocia. I ended up tearing up towards the urethra and at the vaginal opening. I also felt the stiching even after she numbed me. They then put this little baby on me and I was so drugged up on Stadol that I couldn`t even focus on her. I just kept thinking `oh, there`s a baby.` I was scared that something was wrong with her because she had this scary blank stare on her face when she was on my belly and she looked so gray. They took her over to the warmer and my husband said it took a while for her to cry even though I don`t remember it. After it was time to deliver the placenta. That hurt too! Especially when they have to massage the uterus to get it to contract. That wasn`t fun. I did get lucky and get the doctor that I like to deliver my baby. She was amazing and I couldn`t have asked for anyone else to deliver my baby. She told me that my baby is the biggest baby I can have vaginally and if the baby is any bigger, it will have to be a c-section.

It has been a week and 2 days since having my little one. She is perfect. She doesn`t like to sleep at night but that`s ok. We are working on it. She refuses to sleep in her crib. Even since the first night home. She screams like someone is killing her if we put her in it. I also had problems breast feeding because she wouldn`t latch right. My poor nipples looked like they went through a meat grinder. After talking with the lactation consultant and her telling me to pump and bottle feed for 24 hours, things are much better. I had to give her formula too because she eats every 30 minutes to an hour and I couldn`t keep up because it hurt so bad. I would do nothing but cry when I fed her and I felt terrible that I had to give her formula. Now I am ok with giving her formula even though I breast feed and pump and feed her that before the formula. I don`t feel bad for giving her formula because as long as she is full and happy, so am I.

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Harper Noelle Sex: girl Born: 19 August, 2011 Age: 0 years & 181 days Birthday in: 184 days Starsign: Leo Development: See the 6 months page. Biggest achievement so far: -

Birth details

Original due date: August 28, 2011
Type of delivery: Vaginal (with pain relief)
Duration of labor: 7.5 hours
Weight @ birth: 7lbs 8.4oz
Length @ birth: 20 inches

Harper-Noelle`s birthstory

On 8/18, I just wasn`t feeling quite right. I was extremely tired, very grumpy, and just not feeling like myself. I had very little patience to deal with my 2 year old and it seemed like she was doing everything in her power to tick me off. It`s never like that. I`m always able to deal with her `2 year oldness` but I just didn`t feel like I could. I had so little energy that I didn`t get off my couch all day unless it was to get my 2 year old something to eat, change her pull up, or to go to the bathroom. That night around 7:30 pm I started having contractions about 7-8 minutes apart again. This time they were getting more intense. I just had a feeling that this was the night I was going to go into labor. I was getting an aura almost when they would come. I started getting a really weird dizzy/buzzing feeling in my head a few seconds before the ctx would start. So about 8:30pm I decided to take my tylenol pm and lay on the couch for a while. I ended up falling asleep and my hubby woke me at 11:30 to go to bed. At this point the ctx had stopped. So I thought `go figure. Getting teased again.` So I went to bed and at 1:30a.m. exactly, I got hit with a ctx that woke me up. I couldn`t get back to sleep. They were coming every 5 minutes. Every ctx I had, I thought `I`ll wait and see if I have another one in 5 minutes and if so I`ll wake hubby.` They were getting really strong but still tolerable and I had to breathe through them. Well, I kept telling myself `1 more contraction then I`ll get him up` for an hour. at about 2:30 I woke hubby up and told him I thought I was in labor. I called the hospital and they said to come in. So hubby went to shower and I was making sure I had everything in my bags that I needed. Between contractions, I was completely fine. We left the house about 3 and dropped Lexi off at her grandma`s and made it to the hospital by 3:30. When we got to the hospital, the contractions were getting a lot stronger and were 4 minutes apart at this time. Still tolerable though. They checked me and I was already at 5cm dilated! I was ecstatic! i couldn`t believe I made it to 5cm with no pain meds so far. I was so proud of myself. I was then admitted and taken to my room. By 6am, I was at 6cm so I thought I still had a while to go. They came and did my epidural. The epidural was amazing! I couldn`t feel any pain. Just felt like BH contractions. I felt the squeeze but no pain. I could move my legs, I could feel Harper moving. I loved it! Joey called his parents and told them it would be closer to 11 probably so for them to take their time and we would update them. By 7:30, the doctor came in and broke my water and I was then 7-8cm. She said it would still be around 11. I started feeling a tiny bit of pressure at around 8am so the nurse checked me and said I was 10cm! Joey was playing on the laptop at that point and didn`t hear. So I told him I was 10cm and he was so excited! My mom was thrilled too! The nurse had me do a practice push. I did one and then she was like `Ok stop and close your legs!` She put me on my side and told me to keep my legs closed and whatever I do, don`t push! I didn`t even think I was pushing! Aparently I did too well though. Well, doc finally came in at around 8:30am and they were getting everything set up. I pushed 2 times. I couldn`t feel anything. Not even pressure. I was so amazed. I could see her head when I pushed the first time and couldn`t believe she was almost there. Then I pushed again and her head was out! I started screaming (happily) that her head was out and I couldn`t believe it! Doc then said, alright that`s it. You`re done pushing, I can do the rest. I felt bad, lol. I was thinking `well what do I do then? My job is to push! Then all of a sudden, she was out and laying on my chest~! She was amazing! I only had one very small tear by my urethra that required 1 stictch. My mom, hubby, and me were alll crying. I was hysterical! Harper was just laying on my and looking at me and she was just so calm. She had this look on her face like she had known me forever. She let out a little cry and just kept looking at me and blinking her eyes. They were cleaning her up and suctioning her. Then my hubby was holding her and brought her over to me and she was so calm and quiet. She seemed so peaceful! She started falling asleep while he was holding her and i was getting cleaned up. I finally got to hold her for a bit. The nurse then took her back and they had the NICU doctor come in. She had come out so fast that she wasn`t able to have all the fluid squeezed from her lungs so she was having problems keeping her oxygen levels stable. I cried and cried. I didn`t want them to take my baby girl from me. Even though I knew she was in the best possible hospital to be in a NICU at. We went to visit her earlier and she had been on oxygen for 4 hours and she was then put on room air. She`s in an open crib and doing great. She is still breathing a little fast at times but they are just monitoring her. I got to feed her a bottle. I`m pumping trying to get breast milk but having a hard time. I`m getting a few drops out so they are going to mix it with her formula. They are bottle feeding her right now to make sure her oxygen levels are ok while she eats. She is eating 40 mls, a little over an ounce and a half. They said I will probably get her back in the morning. I`m ok with that. After only getting 2 hours of sleep last night, I could use a full night`s sleep. I`m doing and feeling great! I really couldn`t have asked for a more incredible experience. I have this amazing since of `I did it` I`m so proud of myself. I am up and walking around like nothing happened. My tummy is almost back to normal. I just can`t believe how amazing this birth experience was compared to my first.

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