Alexis (Lexi) Haley Biggs

Birthdate: Sunday March 9, 2008 at 10:50am

So when Samantha was approaching her 2nd birthday we decided it was time to start trying to have another. Of course it only took 1 month of actual trying. It was actually a surprise - I was going on a trip to Texas for work and I knew there is drinking involved at those things so I just wanted to check to make sure I wasn't pregnant before I went. So 2 days before my flight left I got Marty to pick up a home pregnancy test. Thinking it would be negative we were quite surprised to see positive! So to get it verified, I was able to get a blood test done and the results back the day before I left for the trip - yep, we're pregnant!

This pregnancy was a little easier and seemed much faster than the last one - I guess that's because I spent so much time focused on other things (Samantha) instead of just being pregnant. My morning sickness lasted from about 10 weeks to about 16 weeks and then went away. The bad thing was the medicine didn't seem to help it much at all this time, but the good thing is that I didn't feel nauseated at all after it went away (unlike last time).

Some differences in this pregnancy are that I started out a good 15 pounds lighter and only gained 7 pounds total during the pregnancy. After the baby was born and my weight neutralized I was about 19 pounds lighter than my pregnancy weight (12 pounds lighter than I started out). My blood pressure was much lower (last time it was fine but every time I went to the doctor it was just a little higher). And my iron was low this time and I had to take supplements. A couple of good things are that I passed my glucose test the first time and didn't have to go back for the disgusting 3-hour test, and also the amniotic fluid was more plentiful this time (based on the ultrasounds).

I was hoping that another difference would be that I would not need to be induced this time and that I could have the experience of that "mad rush" to the hospital. Well... it did happen that way! The doctors predicted that I would go early because I was 3-4 cm dilated and 75% effaced and the baby had dropped down very low about 3 weeks before my due date. I had also had quite a bit of false labor. In fact, on March 7th I had about an hour and a half of false labor (I could almost time the contractions at about 8 minutes apart). But that fizzled out into nothing.

So because of that episode on March 7th, on March 9th when the contractions actually did start I held out at home longer than I should have. It was Sunday, March 9th at about 5am... the time had changed at 2am so all the clocks in the house and car were incorrect, but I will use the correct times. Anyway, I was asleep and started feeling dull contractions again (like I had several times before). Half asleep, I rolled over to look at the clock in order to time them. They were erratic so I tried to go back to sleep. After about an hour they didn't go away and got a little harder (still erratic and hard to time). About 6:15am I got Marty up and said I needed help timing contractions.

After only a few that we timed at about 7 minutes apart I called the doctor. In a groggy voice she told me that if it is real labor it will progress (contractions will get harder and closer together). She told me to go ahead and get up and dressed and ready to go but not to wake Samantha yet. Marty wanted to go ahead and start the car to get it warmed up - I told him it could be an hour or two and I DIDN'T want to run out of gas on the way there!

After about 15 minutes they got closer together and harder (6 minutes apart approximately). So I called my Mom and told her to get on the road (they live in the mountains and had a 5 hour drive ahead of them) and Marty called his Mom and told her to get to the hospital (she was going to keep Sami in the waiting room while we had the baby).

By the time we got Samantha up and got into the car my contractions had gotten very consistent at 5 minutes apart and much harder intensity. Fortunately, that early on a Sunday morning there is no traffic on the road and it only took us about 20 minutes to get to the hospital (it seemed longer). By the time we got to the hospital the contractions had jumped to 3 minutes apart and much more intense!

I waited in the waiting room with Samantha while Marty parked the car. Fortunately his Mom was only about 5 minutes behind us and came running up (literally thank goodness) shortly after Marty came in from parking the car.

We went up to the birthing area and everything started (I changed clothes and they hooked me up to an IV and all that). I told them as soon as I changed clothes to go ahead and hook up the epidural (contractions were still about 3 minutes apart but were getting quite intense).

They began the process of getting an epidural in me (getting together all the people that needed to be there for that) but it took at least an hour or more to get the epidural started. I didn't like that - I wanted MEDS!!! Then began the problems with the epidural. First of all it took what seemed like FOREVER for them to get the needle in. They had to keep taking it out and trying again - they said I have a curved spine and they were having trouble finding the right spot. I (not very tactfully I'm sure) told them last time I had one it seemed to go very easily and only take about 5 minutes! So after several painful tries they finally got the right spot. But then it took a while for the medicine to actually kick in. For quite a while afterwards I could still feel the contractions in one little spot on my left side - that was kind of strange. Then a while after that it FINALLY was working right and I didn't feel them anymore - WHAT A RELIEF!!!

So, when I got to the hospital I was about 5 cm dilated - within an hour I was about 8 cm - and another hour or so (shortly after the epidural was working good) I was fully dilated at 10cm. When the nurse checked me, she told me NOT to push, that this baby was going to pop right out! About 5 minutes later my doctor came in and we got ready to push. When the next contraction came, they told me to take a deep breath and push - I did. They said the baby was crowning. Next contraction came and they told me to push again - I did and out popped the baby!! About 6 hours after contractions started and after only 2 pushes, Alexis Haley Biggs was born at 10:50am on March 9th, 2008 at 7 pounds 1 ounce and 20 inches long.

After that things got a little weird. Of course they cleaned up the baby and gave her to Marty - she was so pretty!! I bonded with her instantly!! However, they were not through with me yet so I didn't end up getting to hold her for at least another 3 hours!!

So the first thing they had to do is clean out the placenta of course - they did but my uterus would not begin contracting back up and the bleeding was not stopping. The doctor kept working and kept working and come to find out, the baby came out so fast, she kind of burst through the placenta and there were still pieces of it inside my uterus. So they had to scrape the insides of my uterus to get all the pieces out and then put some medication in there to make the bleeding stop. That seemed to take forever!

Also, although I didn't have to have an episiotomy this time, I did tear a little so they had to sew that up. And on top of that, the doctor discovered a dark spot on my cervix and wanted to do a biopsy, so they cut that piece out (before the epidural wore off). When they were all done they were happy with the results (dark spot ended up just being a bruise by the way). My uterus contracted back as it should and the bleeding stopped, but I lost a LOT of blood (I was really cold and they'd put tons of blankets on me). They did some tests and decided I did not need a transfusion yet.

They had taken the baby to the nursery to give her vitamins and weigh her and everything (Marty went with the baby and took the pictures). So I didn't actually get to hold her until we were actually getting ready to be moved to the post-partum room.

When they moved me to the hospital room where I would be for the next couple days, we passed by my parents and Marty's Mom (Marty's Dad was sick) and Samantha in the hallway. Of course they were all dying to see us - especially Samantha.

And the rest, as they say, is history...

As you can see from the following baby pictures (all taken at 3 months old), Lexi shares many features with both Marty and myself.

Chris	Marty	Lexi

Milestones:

3/9/2008 - Birth (10:50am)
4/9/2008 - 1 month old
5/9/2008 - 2 months old
5/16/2008 - Held herself up in sitting position
6/5/2008 - Rolled over (front to back)
6/9/2008 - 3 months old
6/10/2008 - Started sucking on her thumb
6/12/2008 - Started playing with toys
7/2/2008 - Started using both hands together
7/6/2008 - Started playing with her feet
7/9/2008 - 4 months old
7/9/2008 - Started eating 1 meal a day of rice cereal
8/8/2008 - Rolled over (back to front)
8/9/2008 - 5 months old
9/9/2008 - 6 months old
9/10/2008 - Started eating 1 meal a day of stage 1 baby food
10/9/2008 - 7 months old
10/13/2008 - Started waving
10/20/2008 - Started throwing things
10/22/2008 - Started walking while holding onto something
10/27/2008 - Started saying "mama", "dada", and "bobo"
10/31/2008 - Started saying "papa"
11/7/2008 - First teeth popped through (bottom two)
11/9/2008 - 8 months old
12/4/2008 - Started crawling
12/9/2008 - 9 months old
12/10/2008 - Started clapping
1/2/2009 - Started pointing
1/2/2009 - Started dancing
1/9/2009 - 10 months old
2/9/2009 - 11 months old
2/20/2009 - Started kissing
3/9/2009 - 1 YEAR OLD!!!
9/9/2009 - 18 months old
3/9/2010 - 2 YEARS OLD!!!
2/23/2011 - Gave up the paci
3/9/2011 - 3 YEARS OLD!!!
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