our family grace: A Birth Story

January 14th came and went. Baby Girl's due date. I woke up like every other morning, got dressed, and went to work. It's a good thing I did too, because there was a lot that I needed to get done. Of course, going to work on your due date comes with a lot of comments. I kept getting "You're still here?" and "When's your due date?" I just laughed at it all and walked around a lot. I was determined to get this baby here ASAP. I got home and had contractions here and there, but every time I thought something was getting started they just died down and disappeared. I was a little disappointed, I didn't really want to go to work the next day. But of course, that's what was in the cards.

January 15th comes around. I had a doctor's appointment at the end of the day. So I left work early, yes I was still at work, and went in for a check up. I finally let them check me and I was at 3 centimeters dilated. Progress! They also hooked me up to a monitor to check to see how Baby Girl was handling things. Everything seemed perfect. I was having contractions, and Baby Girl was doing just fine. They decided to strip my membranes in order to hopefully get something started, they also scheduled me an ultrasound for the 17th. You see, I was measuring 43 weeks at 40 weeks. A little big. So we scheduled it for Thursday morning so the hubs could go with me. Mom met me at the doctor's office and we decided to head to the mall to get things going even more. Still nothing happened...

January 16th was pretty much the same...I went to work, walked around, and told everyone "Hopefully I won't see y'all tomorrow." I had taken a half day already for the doctor's appointment, and I was kinda hoping they'd just tell me to head straight to the hospital.

The morning of January 17th comes and the hubs and I get ready to go and see the doctor. I suggest grabbing the bag just in case they send us on ahead, but the hubs said no. His logic was we can always stop by the house on the way to the hospital. So I agree and we head to go and see how our baby girl is fairing. We get there and I'm starting to get nervous. I just want to go to the hospital and have this baby! We get called back to the ultrasound room and get ready to see how big this baby girl really is. Turns out, she's perfect size, nothing to worry about in that sense...but we had another problem, her fluids were really low. The lowest fluids can get is 7, and that's where they were. The ultrasound tech said we would most likely be induced today...Okay, we say and we're walked to go meet with the doctor. She walks in and immediately says those magic words, "Head to the hospital." She didn't even check me, all she said was "I'll see you again in a little bit." I wasn't planning on being induced, but that's what baby needed and that was okay. I was ready to get baby girl here.

So the hubs and I head home to pick up the hospital bag and I grabbed something quick to eat. I knew I probably wouldn't get anything to eat once I got to the hospital. I called my mom to tell her the news. She then sent out the word to family. Next was to call work and tell them I wouldn't be coming in that day, or for the next 12 weeks for that matter.

We get to the hospital and check in. Mom beat us there and had already been up to the room to pray over it. It was perfect and I'm very thankful she got there before us to pray. There was a certain peace when we got there. They started me off on the lowest level of pitocin and my doctor came in to break my water (such a weird feeling!) and check me. I had already progressed to a 4 from when they last checked me. Progress! This was around 12:30.

Contractions started to pick up. It was kind of fun to watch them peak. Is that weird? We passed time by watching TV. I can't really remember what we watched. I do remember that the hubs tried to show me a youtube video during the middle of a contraction. I didn't really appreciate it at the moment.

Here's the video, to give him credit, it is actually quite hilarious...I just had to watch it again after the contractions were over.

Soon the contractions got really intense. I asked for some Demerol to help me out. I was able to take a little "nap". I say nap, really I just laid there with my eyes closed and breathed deeply. When I woke up I called the hubs over to talk about an epidural. I said I would go as long as I could without one and I felt that I had reached that point. Not only was I having contractions, but I was throwing up. I couldn't handle both. Epidural it was. So the anesthesiologist came and got me some medicine. But it didn't take fully. I felt everything on my left side.

Before I knew it, I was at 10 centimeters and it was time to start pushing.My little girl was here at 8:31pm. I was in labor for 7 hours and pushed for 1 hour. Clearly my little girl was ready to be here, she just needed a little push. I do feel like if we had waited one more day she would have decided to come on her own, but we did what was needed and I wouldn't change a thing! My baby girl is here and she's perfect.

I did tear, and there was a little meconium in the water, so it was another hour before I got to hold her. That about killed me. I wanted my little girl in my arms! But I had to get stitched up and she needed to be cleaned up and checked. After we were both deemed presentable, she was in my arms and nursing. It was perfect.