OUR NEW ADVENTURE

THE ADVENTURE BEGINS

MEET CHARLIZE D TIPPETTS

Born Friday, June 20th 2008 at 2:34 pm.

She weighed 6 pounds and 12 ounces, 19 1/2 inches.

Below is Charly's labor and deliver, intermingled with pictures. Scroll all the way down to see all the pictures I have posted--there is only a few for now!

Charly, as I like to call her, is the most incredible little love bug I have ever seen! She was born at the St. Joseph's Medical Center in Jackson, Wyoming. Ben and I went in Thursday night to get the fun rolling. I was given cervidel and some sleep medicine to help me sleep. Needless to say, I did not sleep due to the nervous gut I was experiencing. Ben was a hoot though, he was fooling around and being my own personal comic relief. He was attempting to set my brothers up on a date with my nurse while I was getting my IV--not a good time:) I have to say, it helped having him there to make lite of the situation.

Around 7 am the nurse started me on pitocin and boy did it kick in quick! My water was broke around 9 am, that was an experience. The contractions came quickly after that and I got a pain killer through my IV, which took the edge off the contractions. When that wore off, I patiently waited for my epidural, even ask Ben....

At about noon the anesthesiologist came in and gave me an epidural. He came in with an intern from Germany, his name was Johan, and I snapped. I was so scared that this intern was going to be putting that needle in my back. He didn't, and good thing because I was a laboring woman on the edge!

Life was good after I got the epidural. I layed there and watched TV and even dozed off for a bit. I have to say I have no idea why anyone would want to go natural after getting one of those babies! The only down side was my cervix was only dilated to a 2 or a 3 when I got the epidural and the baby was experiencing a little stress. I had a very slight chance of a c-section, very slight. Since the monitors were not efficient in telling the heart rate, the nurse was gung-ho on getting an accurate one to prevent a c-section. She worked on me around 1 pm and I was at a 5. She kept trying to insert a monitor on the babies head, but she had too much hair. She came in and gave it one more try and I had to interupt her to tell her my epidural was wearing off. I was feeling so much pain in my hips and back. She went ahead and tried to insert the monitor and was surprised to find me ready to push.

At 2 pm I was told DO NOT PUSH--YEAH RIGHT! She called the doctor over around 2:10 and the pushing began. I had the best labor coach in the whole world. Ben was there being very active in the whole delivery. He counted for me and helped me breath and even held my leg! What a trooper! Ben got so excited when the nurse said she could see hair. The baby was getting close now so the nurse called the Doctor over again. The Doctor sprinted to the hospital and was there in time to deliver my baby girl. Ben got to cut the umbilical cord which was surpirsing since he about passed out when I got my IV.

I have to say, giving birth was the most rewarding experience of my life! I am so blessed to have had a great labor and delivery. I am even more blessed to have a beautiful healthy girl!