A Whirl-wind Week

Today my baby is a week old. That's right, she was born last Wednesday 14/10/09 at 3:01am. We've called her Wren and are still thinking about that middle name.
She was a few days late, but managed to arrive before her scheduled induction of 8am 14/10/09. Why was I scheduled for an induction just 4 days after my due date? Good question...they usually will let you go longer if everything is well. Unfortunately for me, I had hypertension and low platelets when I visited the midwife on the 8th which spurred worries of pre-eclampsia and HELLP syndrome. I went into hospital for observations and home twice before (3rd time's a charm) actually leaving with a baby.
My waters broke on Monday morning around 10am while coincidentally my midwife was here checking my blood pressure. This was all very well and good and exciting, but I wasn't in labour yet. I was told if things didn't get going - ie. if I didn't start contracting - I would have to go into hospital for antibiotics due to the risk of infection with ruptured membranes over 18 hours.
Well, I didn't manage to have any contractions all day Monday, just continued fluid leakage, so my husband drove me to hospital to stay the night and came home for his last good, long sleep in a while.
Tuesday morning, still no contractons so I had to have some prostoglandin gel to try and get things going. Still nothing. Artificial rupture of the fore-waters seemed to get things going a little better but still not true labour. As the day wore on, the contractions increased and I was coping rather well with the company of my husband and a TENS machine. My mother in law came a bit later in the day to support me as well. We went waking and did loads of stairs
An exam revealed I had dilated about 4-5cm in the early evening. The obsterician was consulted and ordered an oxytocin drip. This really got the contractions going and distraction wasn't cutting it. After this point I feel I decompensated rather quickly...used the gas, momentarily went in the water and then called for an epidural.
The epidural made all the difference in the world. I was calm, comfortable and coping. And able to get a much needed nap in. The fact was, during the 2 hours between starting the oxytocin and me calling for the epidural, I had not dilated any further despite the intense contractions. Four hours later, after a couple top-ups on the epidural, it was time to recheck progress and possibly schedule me for a ceaser if I'd not progressed to at least 8cm.
At 2am, I was fully dilated and effaced and it was time to start pushing. One hour, and a lot of pain later, we got our baby girl.
Wren is an absolute pro at being a baby. She eats well, she sleeps a lot, she makes funny faces, and she dirties a lot of nappies.
We didn't stay long at the hospital, opting instead to come out to the Helensville Birthing Center for a couple of nights support before venturing home on Friday afternoon. Since being home, we've had a few visitors but made no outings ourselves. Big sister came out for her usual weekend visit and began her journey of getting used to a new baby. Otherwise, we've been content getting to know each other and whiling awat the hours snuggling and knowing we are well from the check ups performed by the midwife which have proven how well our baby bird is getting along.

Coping Mechanisms

Only 5 days left until my due date. It's one of those assignments you can't ask for an extension on, either...and if you're told to hand it in early, you'd better be ready.
How am I dealing with this? In the usual way I handle stress and fear, with detachment and apathy. Things will be fine in the end. I did a bit of preparation a while ago and am mostly well-informed about what will happen so why worry?
Why worry? Because this time it's not a grade, or a class that needs to be passed, it's a human life that I will have to foster and protect. Knowing this doesn't seem to make much of a difference, however.
The babies things are not finished being set up in our room. I open my eyes each morning to an unorganized menagerie of furniture that seems like it can't fit in the space we have. I go shopping, hubs and Miss 3 in tow for storage solutions and can't manage to choose anything from the available options. We possibly need additional baby clothing but I've not the determination to go through everything we do have and check.
What I do have the passion for is sourcing cute nursing lingerie...hopefully the breastfeeding thing works out or else I'll be looking for ways to unload some high-end knickers and drop down bras...