New Addition

Sierra Riley Bernhardt

We have a new addition to the Bernhardt/Domschke family. Our daughter, Sierra Riley, was born on April 26th and so far everything has been wonderful and she is doing well.

We hope to update this blog on a regular basis so our friends and family who do not live nearby can share these special moments with us.

A Little History

Before I recount the labor story, here's a quick history on us. Dave and I had our first date on February 15, 2002 and we hit it off right away. He proposed in Lake Tahoe on December 19, 2004 and we got married on August 6, 2005, also in Lake Tahoe. In August 2006, we added the first family member, Pele, a Cherry Head Red-Footed tortoise. In August 2007, we moved in to our new house in San Jose and shortly after, we added a second family member, Byron, an English Bulldog.

We had talked about having a baby but something always came up. In the Summer of 2009 we finally decided to try and sure enough, one month later we found out I was pregnant.

The pregnancy went by rather quickly with no complications and so did the labor.....

The Labor Story

As the due date approached, I tried not to think about the labor. Since this was my first baby, I really had no idea what to expect and I had heard some horrible labor stories so I was a bit nervous.

On Saturday (April 24th) I started experiencing cramp-like pains but they weren't very strong and there wasn't a pattern. I was able to sleep most of the night and by Sunday morning, it was the same thing. I called my doctor and she told me if my water breaks or the labor becomes 5-1-1 (contractions coming every 5 mins, lasting 1 min for 1 hour) to come to the hospital but otherwise to stay home. Neither had happened so I went about my day. Dave picked up some Indian food for lunch and I think the spicy food helped jump start the labor. By 4 p.m. the contractions were 5-1-1 so we headed to the hospital. As Dave parked the car, he told me that everything will be fine and it won't be as bad as I am anticipating - so now I was worried it would be!

When we arrived at labor & delivery, my doctor was behind the desk with the nurses and I was relieved to see her. She did a quick exam and informed me that I was 3.5 cm dilated. The contractions still weren't very strong at this point and I was able to talk through them. The nurse asked about my birth plan and I still wasn't sure if I wanted an epidural so she scheduled the anesthesiologist to stop by to discuss my options. The nurse wanted Dave and I to walk around the hospital a bit before being admitted to help the labor progress. We agreed but about 30 minutes later, they decided to admit me.

The nurse took Dave and I to the delivery room and we began the waiting process. A couple of hours later the doctor checked again and I was still 3.5 cm. She gave me two options 1. have my water broken or 2. give me pitocin (a medicine to helped the labor progress). I went for option 1 and shortly after, the contractions became even stronger and more painful. Dave did a great job of keeping me calm and rubbing my back to help with the pain but it was getting more intense by the minute. The anesthesiologist had been delayed so when he finally stopped by I had made up my mind - I wanted drugs. The epidural was administered rather quickly and before long, the intense pain was gone. Dave and I were able to sleep for a bit and a couple hours later, I was 8 cm dilated.

By 11 p.m. I was at 10 cm (the magic number) and the nurse asked me to do a practice push, which apparently is something I am really good at so she told me not to push again until the doctor arrives. So of course, all I could think about was pushing. The doctor was also delayed so I had to wait a bit longer. Finally around midnight, the doctor arrived and at 12:15 am I started pushing, by 12:26 am our little Sierra was born. She was 6 lb 12 oz and 19.5" long and is a very healthy girl. So the whole process went very smoothly and like Dave said - I had nothing to worry about.

We have set up the following page with pictures of Sierra and the family:

http://picasaweb.google.com/dorea.bernhardt/Sierra