On Monday, September 26th, Bud & I ate our last dinner as a couple without children.
Friends of ours had invited us over.
In fact they had been wanting to invite us over for weeks, but had been so convinced that we were about to have the baby they kept post-poning. As it turns out they finally decided it was time to ask us and we were fortunate enough to be able to attend.
LA's Chicken Tortellini Soup is now famous in our house.
After dinner we enjoyed their company, all the while my Braxton Hicks were flaring up every 5 minutes.
I finally told Bud we might want to go home and call the nurse's line to see if we needed to do anything.
As we walked out the door I told LA that, "If I have this baby tonight I'm crediting the Chicken Tortellini Soup"!
However, as luck would have it, I didn't have a single BH on the 20 minute ride home.
We decided it was nothing, watched television, and retired for the night at 11pm.
At 2:15am, I woke to use the restroom, as I usually did around this time each night.
However, this time was different.
Meer moments after I finished what I had gone to accomplish I realized that something was happening.
My water was breaking!
I sat on the toilet waiting and assessing the situation, I wanted to be 100% sure.
It didn't take long and I knew in my heart that it was time.
At 2:30am I walked to Bud's side of the bed and ever so gently woke him.
I told him that my water broke and it was time to get ready to go to the hospital.
Calm as could be he said, "Okay, let's get ready to go".
We shuffled around the house packing a few last minute items.
Bud brought the dogs for a quick walk to hold them over.
When he returned he sat at the computer creating the playlist we thought we'd use during labor.
I ate a bowl of cereal.
We both made a few phone calls and sent out the mass text to notify everyone.
We finally left for the hospital at around 3:15am.
At 3:30am we were parked and signing admittance paperwork.
By 4am I was changed into a gown and it was confirmed that my water had in fact broken and I was dilated to 5cm.
Bud was ready to change into his scrubs that he bought solely for this day.
My mother-in-law who had been in town since September 19th met us at the hospital, she was actually there before we were.
We were moved to the birthing room and after getting my IV put in (YUCK!) I was allowed to move from the bed to my birthing ball.
I sat on my ball from 4-6am slowly working my way through some very mild contractions, eating ice chips, and sneaking quick bites of a protein bar between visits from the nurse (they said I wasn't supposed to eat anything once I was admitted).
Around 6am I decided I wanted to see how far I'd progressed, the nurse had me move back into the bed and informed me I was at 6cm.
Feeling rather queasy at this point I opted to stay in the bed.
Not much longer after the queasiness was becoming unbearable so Bud went to tell the nurse and she came back to give me something to combat my stomach whoas.
Around 7:30am the nurse decided we would check once more to see how I was progressing.
I was....still at 6cm.
UGH!
Around 8am I turned to Bud, who had been at my side the whole time helping me through contractions, and I told him how much pain I was in. He was as supportive as any husband could be and told me that whatever my decision was he would support it.
I started to tear up because I didn't want to use anything for this birthing experience, but I was in so much pain.
I finally told him that I'd like him to tell the nurse to administer a pain killer into my IV.
The Nubain set in rather quickly and as the nurse stated, it didn't actually take away the pain, but it did take the edge off.
I like to explain it in a sense that I could still feel all the same pain levels associated with each contraction, however, in between contractions I was able to relax enough to almost take a 1-2 minute nap.
By around 9:45am I was dilated to 10cm, the Nubain was out of my system, and it was almost time to push.
My midwife, Dee, arrived.
She is from Ireland and she was amazing!
By 10am the pushing had begun.
Although Bud and I had originally agreed that he would stay by my head the entire experience, plans changed.
Bud ended up helping the nurse, by bracing my right leg as she braced my left.
Each painful contraction I pushed with all my strength, my arms pulling against the bed handles, my legs pushing against the nurse and my husband, and my chin digging deep into my chest.
2 steps forward and 1 step back was how I progressed for the next hour and 45 minutes.
Dee kept saying how close I was and advising me to push push push.
We had a resident in the room with us who was learning all that he could about labor and delivery.
He asked Dee a lot of questions.
At one point in between contractions and pushes Dee asked both the nurse and Bud how they were doing, as they had been standing for around an hour bracing my legs.
Both of them answered that they were fine (Bud told me later, he wasn't about to complain in front of his laboring wife).
But guess who did complain....the resident.
He started to rub his lower back and ask if there was a stool he could sit on because his back was starting to hurt.
The nurse, Bud, and I (remember I was in between contractions and pushing) laughed.
Then clear as day I said to him, "I'm laughing AT you".
I don't think he got it...but really he complained about minor back pain in front of a laboring woman!!!
I was exhausted as 3 hrs and 15 minutes of sleep in not what you'd consider an adequate amount of rest before the biggest workout of your life.
Finally, the moment arrived when I made that last BIG effort to push as HARD as I possibly could.
At 11:56 it was official, I heard it.
The sound that changed Bud & I's life forever, the sound of our baby girl crying as she entered the world and breathed her first breath of air.
The placed her on my torso as quickly as she had emerged.
She laid there and I stared in disbelief.
I turned to look at Bud and saw the tears streaming down his cheeks.
That was the second most wonderful thing I saw that day.
Before we knew it, it was time for Bud to cut the cord and for Bitsy to be weighed and measured.
As soon as they took her, I used my final contractions to finish out the labor.
Dee informed me that there had been a tear (as to be expected) and that she was going to start stitches.
We had a 2nd degree tear, so after the local anesthetic she started in on all 6 stitches.
Before I knew it, it was all over.
The nurses announced that Bitsy was 8 lbs 4 oz, 20" long, and had a head circumference of 14-3/4"!
Bud and I were given our baby girl back...swaddled and clean and I felt like the Grinch at the end of the movie when they say that his, "heart grew three sizes that day".
....and then there were three.
As of today our baby girl is already 1 week old...
My oh my how the time flies.
As of today I'm feeling much more like my old self.
The stiffness and soreness are dissipating.
I have been blessed beyond belief with this beautiful baby girl.
I am so thankful to my husband for being my helpmate on this awesome journey.
I'm so thankful to our heavenly Father for this miracle of life.
This is proof that God exists....he's in the details!
I hope you all had a Blessed Tuesday!
Posts
