Baby Girl's Birth Story

After a weekend full of spicy food, sleepless nights, and back massages, we woke up and walked around the block for the 100th time (I'll be honest, those walks together are my favorite memories of pregnancy; despite those painful Braxton Hicks). Just three days before Little Miss's grand arrival, the husband decides he's going to put in a new kitchen floor...Normally I'd be grateful for house updates...but the only thing this pregnant mama could think about was, "Why now? With our luck, the baby is going to come today and my parents stay with us in a house with an unfinished kitchen!" He promised he'd finish before the new addition to our family arrived (all I could do was awkwardly laugh and roll my eyes).

Anyways, a day and a half later, I was FINALLY having continuous contractions regardless if I was sitting, standing, walking, or lying on the couch. 10 minutes apart, 8 minutes apart, 6, 5, 4 minutes apart! By now the day had gone and it was close to midnight. Thinking this might just be what we have been waiting for; we packed our bags (for the second time). ... 8 minutes apart... Oh no that's not what we want. As my contractions slowed down just a bit, I decided to lie down and try to sleep (If your betting that Justin went into high gear putting in the kitchen floor boards at this time, you're right).

1:30am; I woke up in the most immense pain I have ever felt! Honey, get the car!! Originally I had planned on getting myself at least some-what decent before heading to the hospital. However, that was not happening. All I could think about was the continuous cycle of sharp cramps as I waited for Hubby to finish the last section of the floor.

Finally, we made it to the hospital. I can now check parking in front of the  "Expecting Mothers" sign off my to-do list. They informed us that I was dilated to a 3 and 80% effaced (I was quite proud considering four days earlier my doctor said I wasn't dilating or effaced at all). The nurse had us walk the halls for a half hour in hopes to speed up the process. I felt miserable (and if you’ve ever seen a pregnant woman in this situation, they are not happy campers and slower than turtles). I could barely breathe. Every contraction stopped me dead in my tracks. These contractions felt like menstrual cramps x1000 while at the same time dealing with chronic diarrhea... (well hello there pretty labor details).

Turns out I am a wimp and almost passed out in the hallway. Don't worry, I felt myself getting dizzy and had my man help me to the ground before everything went black. That cut our hall walking short but luckily it did the trick and the doctor said we could stay!

We waited until 4am to call my parents informing them that their granddaughter was on the way. When the nurse came in asking about the epidural, I was surprised it was offered so soon after my arrival. If I had known how long the preparation took to get the epidural, I wouldn’t have told the nurse to ask me later. I was quite nervous about the whole thing. I have read horror stories about things that could go wrong. I put my headphones in and turned up the volume (anything to take my mind off of the needle). In my opinion, it wasn’t as bad as I thought. The contractions prior to the epidural were much more painful than the actual shot. I immediately began feeling better (Hurray for modern medicine).

Things progressed quickly at that point. After breaking my water, the monitor indicated that I was contracting every 1.5 minutes. I couldn't feel a thing (Oh epidural how I love thee!!!).

However, I did lose all sensation in my legs which wasn't my favorite thing to experience. I kept picturing the Joker walking into my room wearing a nurse outfit while I lay there paralyzed. "Why so serious?"... Thankfully that didn't happen. But if it had, this baby’s daddy wouldn’t have known because he slept the whole time on the couch.

As the morning progressed, my nurse guessed that our little bundle of joy would arrive between 2pm and 4pm. I figured I could take it easy and closed my eyes for a few minutes. By 11:45am the nurse was surprised to see I had dilated quickly to a 9. The doctor was notified and before I knew it, it was time to push!

With only 12 or so pushes, our baby girl came into the world at 12:35 in the afternoon. She weighed a whopping 7lb 15oz and was 20in long (yep, this tiny body of mine gave birth to almost an 8lb baby! Be amazed)

In my opinion, the contractions I had while walking the hospital hallways were more painful than pushing (again, thank you drugs) but let's be honest, that was the scariest thing I have ever gone through. Here you are, last step before meeting the sweet spirit you've been fantasizing about over the last 40 weeks, life's about to change forever. And if that doesn't put you at the edge of your seat, your mind keeps racing in disbelief that a baby could possibly come out of you and you'll still be alive to tell the tail. 

But in the end, there she was. 

Sobbing tears of joy, holding our sweet baby girl for the first time, I was in heaven. Who cares that my epidural ran out right before the doctor arrived. Who cares if I had to endure every stitch after my episiotomy.  It was worth it!! SHE was worth it.

Welcome to the world Baby Girl. You are so loved already.