Happy 5th Birthday Sweet Girl! {and a birth story}

Delightful

Bright

Playful

Headstrong
Active

Imaginative

Feminine

Spirited

Thoughtful

Tender

Beautiful

 

 

 

 

After much patience and waiting, we decided to induce 11 days after your due date.  We were hoping that labor would begin on it’s own this time around, but I guess my body just didn’t want to let you go.  I think it was my body’s way of holding on since this may have been my last pregnancy, birth, and baby.  You were due on March 27^th, 2007, and you were born on April 7^th, 2007.  The closer we got to 42 weeks pregnant, the more at peace we became with the idea of being induced for the third time.  On April 2^nd (40 weeks and 6 days), we went ahead and scheduled the induction for April 7^that 7am.  Your safety and health was our number one priority, and if we were still pregnant on the 7^th, we had completely accepted that induction was the route we would take.

 

After my due date had come and gone, the doctor had me start going for non-stress tests and ultrasounds until you were born.  We had them done on March 29^thand April 3^rd and everything looked good.  Then we had one more on April 6^thand the nurse wasn’t completely satisfied with your heart rate strip.  So, she was ready to send me over to the hospital that morning, but when she called labor and delivery, they were really busy so they asked if I could come back that night at 7pm.  I went home and finished packing the hospital bag and getting the boys ready to go to Grandma and Papa’s for the weekend; I did some last minute cleaning and tried to get a nap in.

 

We got to the hospital at 7pm and got to our room at about 7:30pm.  The first few hours was mostly waiting; waiting for the nurse to get organized and waiting for the doctor to call with the orders.  In the meantime, I changed into my night shirt (it was so much more comfortable wearing my own clothes) and they put me on the monitors for awhile to see how you were doing, and Daddy and I just laid back and tried to get some rest.

 

At 10pm, a new nurse came on and they finally started getting things going.  She put in my IV and the pitocin finally started at 10:45pm.  Before coming into the hospital, I was 3cm and 50% effaced; I had been this way for at least a week.  Since I was already 3cm, we didn’t have to do any of the gel on my cervix like we did with Luke and Sam; we could go right to the pitocin since my cervix was favorable.  It took a couple hours of the pitocin running before the contractions began to bother me.  At this point they were becoming stronger, but they were manageable.  I had to get up and use the bathroom about every hour, and that was a chore in it’s self with everything they had hooked up to me.  At about midnight, after heading back from the bathroom, I decided I wanted to try and sit in the reclining chair.  It was nice to be out of bed and in a different position.  Aunt Heather came at about 1am and brought Daddy some food.  It was nice having her there; she was there when Luke and Sammy were born too.  After Heather arrived, I headed to the bathroom again with her help.  When we were in the bathroom, I remember telling her that I thought I might be able to do this without the epidural – at least the laboring part – it was the pain of pushing and delivery that worried me.  The pain from the contractions had to be more unbearable than the pain from getting the epidural before I would consider getting one, and I just wasn’t at that point…….yet!

 

It didn’t take long before I started thinking about the possibility of getting the epidural.  It was getting close to 2am at this point and a new nurse would be coming on soon.  I knew I could handle the pain a little longer, so I decided to at least wait until the new nurse came on before asking for the epidural.  At 2am, Camille, our new nurse came on.  I had prayed for a caring, kind, delivery nurse, and we got that in Camille.  I’m so thankful and happy that she was our nurse.  At 2:45am, I couldn’t take it any more.  The contractions were very strong and intense and right on top of each other.  I had barely any time to rest between them and I could no longer relax during them.  All I would do was tense up and moan through each contraction.  Camille came in to check me and I was 4-5cm and 70%, she then called the anesthesiologist.  It seemed like it took him forever to get there!!  When the anesthesiologist arrived, I was worried that I wouldn’t make it through the procedure because the contractions were so close together.  My biggest problem ended up being able to get into the position they needed me in to do the procedure.  I had to sit on the edge of the bed, but I couldn’t sit because I had so much pressure in my bottom that it was painful to sit down with my legs dangling over the side of the bed.  I did finally manage to sit down and lean on Jorge, and I managed to tolerate the contractions through the procedure.  Getting this epidural was more painful than I remembered from the previous two I had; at one point during the procedure I just yelled out, “Ow, Ow, Ow,” and Jorge asked if it was because of a contraction and I told him no.  It was the epidural that was painful.

 

After the epidural was finally in place, which was around 3:15am, it seemed that it took it about 15 minutes to take effect.  When it finally did, I was a whole new person.  The epidural gave me just the right amount of relief.  Jorge had to use the restroom, so he went down the hall, and Camille put in the urinary catheter.  For the next twenty minutes or so, Heather, Camille and I just hung out and talked about our kids; it was really relaxing and enjoyable.  When Jorge returned around 4am, we all settled in to get some rest; me in the bed (of course), Jorge in the roll-away bed that the previous nurse had brought in for him, and Heather in the recliner.  At 4:30am I was beginning to feel some pressure down there, but just a little.  I woke Heather up and, I debated on whether or not to call Camille because it really wasn’t a lot of pressure, but she had told me to call her if anything changed, so I did.  She came in and checked me and told me I was complete, but had a little lip left and that your head was right there.  I was in shock!!  I didn’t think Jorge was going to believe me when I woke him up to tell him.  Camille called the doctor but didn’t have me start pushing yet because this was my third baby and your head was so far down she figured we should wait until the doctor arrived.  My bag of water was still intact and when I started pushing it broke (I’m not sure if it broke on it’s own, or if the doctor broke it).  There was meconium in the fluid, so they called a NICU nurse to be there just in case.  Jorge was on one side of me and Heather was on the other and they were both cheering me on telling what a great job I was doing and telling me how close you were to entering this world.  Your hand was coming out next to your head, so I reached down and I could feel your little hand and fingers; it was amazing!  I pushed through two contractions and you were here.  I reached down and the doctor placed you on my chest.  After they dried you off I bit, I asked if you were a girl because I wanted to be sure!  I didn’t get to hold you very long because they wanted to check you over because of the meconium.  You were perfectly fine and had apgar scores of 8 and 9.  I couldn’t wait to nurse you, but they didn’t want me to right away because they didn’t want you to possibly inhale any of the meconium, but after a short time they let me because you were rooting around like crazy.  You latched on like a pro and nursed on both sides for quite awhile.  You are just natural at breastfeeding.  You were born at 5:02am and weighed 8lbs 9ozs and measured 21.5 inches.  I couldn’t have asked for a healthier pregnancy or a smoother, easier labor.  This birth experience was truly amazing and enjoyable and I was so ready to do it all over again because I just wanted to live that moment forever.  I’m so excited and blessed to have another baby and to have a daughter!!