October 31st, 2011 was the best day of my life thus far, coming in just ahead of the day the Hubster proposed, our wedding day, the day we found out we were pregnant, and the day we found out we were having a sweet little girl. I am writing Emma Claire's birth story so that I will always remember the details of that day. I had an excellent experience and was blessed with a wonderful doctor and fantastic nursing staff. I had prayed about this for weeks leading up to my delivery and God truly answered my prayers. So here we go...I hope you enjoy her story!
Sunday October 30th the Hubster and I went to the hospital to be induced! I was originally supposed to go in on Monday October 31st but I hadn't progressed as much as my doctor wanted so she brought me in the night before to get things going. I had decided to induce on my due date if Emma Claire hadn't made her big arrival yet because the Hubster and I had both of our parents in town and we wanted them there when she was born. I am so glad we made this decision, I know induction isn't for everyone, but for us it worked out wonderfully!
After being admitted my doctor came by at 5:30 and put the Cytotec in place. For my induction I had a suppository and was supposed to take 2 pills orally. I was so glad to see my doctor because when I was admitted I was told that the on-call doctor would be doing the procedure. The nurse called my doctor to check and she came right up! I just love her!
This was the view out of our hospital room window...simply beautiful! As the sun set we got settled for a long night. We assumed that the induction process would take a while and we would get some sleep that night...boy were we wrong!
Once we were all situated the Grandparents came up for a visit! I was having contractions at this point but could only tell because my belly would get really tight and then we would see it register on the monitor.
The Hubster's Mom is a Doctor and had fun watching our vitals. We started calling her Doctor Grandma after that! We had a nice visit with our parents and then they went to dinner and wait for us to call when it got closer to time.
This is the last picture of our little family before it grew! This picture was taken right before my contractions got really intense. After our parents left the Hubster and I ate dinner and watched the Cowboys game...which they lost. :-(
HA! This picture cracks me up because we naively thought that we were going to get to sleep! I had just taken the first oral dose of the induction medicine and then my contractions became really intense shortly after finishing dinner. They weren't strong yet but they were very close together. The Hubster slept for about 30 minutes, if that.
Then all of the sudden my contractions became REALLY intense...as you can see above. They were still extremely close together. I was hardly having any rest time in between. The nurse came in to check on me and I was still dilated to one centimeter, however she was concerned as to how I was reacting to the contractions being so close together. She was worried that the stress would affect the baby so she called my doctor to see what she should do. It was decided that I would get a shot to slow down the contractions. I also wouldn't receive the next oral dose of the Cytotec. I was so relieved when they became a little less intense and there was more time in between.
After the shot I was able to rest for about 15 minutes. Then I started feeling like I needed to go to the bathroom (number one) so I prepared to get up in between contractions when a wave of nausea hit me. I told the Hubster to go grab the trashcan and he BARLEY made it when I got sick. We called the nurse in and she said that I got sick because of the medicine. I assumed that after that I would get to rest some more...but I was wrong. A few minutes after I got sick the contractions came back stronger and even more intense than before. The nurse came in to check on me around 2am and I dilated to 4 centimeters. She was almost positive that my body was in labor now all on it's own and asked if I wanted the epidural and I said YES! I am SO SO SO glad I asked for it when I did because it took AN HOUR to get it. By the time the anesthesiologist got there I wasn't sure if I was going to make it, but boy was I glad to see my nurse come in with a big thumbs up saying, "he's HERE!".
Now I had been told that inductions take forever and also that epidurals slow down labor so I was SURE I was going to get some rest after getting my epidural...I was wrong AGAIN! After I got my epidural I told my nurse my contractions had changed and I felt like I needed to push. Note I told her AFTER...I was terrified that if I mentioned that before that they wouldn't give me my epidural! HA! :-) Anyways, she checked me once everything was in place and was shocked to find that I was 10 centimeters dilated and fully effaced. I could NOT believe it, I was a four just an hour ago and now I was ready to go! She wasn't positive so she called in another nurse just to double check and she confirmed. Then something interesting happened...my water didn't break but part of the water sack came out. My nurse called my doctor who said not to break the bag of water and to see if it would happen on its own. All of the nurses couldn't believe it, they had never seen anything like it. It was about 3:30am now and the nurses said it could happen at ANY time, so we called the grandparents and they headed towards the hospital. On their way they actually got pulled over for speeding...in the hospital parking lot of all places! Needless to say they explained their situation and nothing happened!
At this point we literally sat and watched the monitor and waited for my water to break. There was also another reason that my doctor wanted me to wait and "labor down" or labor naturally as she called it...I was Strep B positive and my antibiotics were given to me at 2:30am and needed four hours to run completely through. So ideally my doctor wanted me to wait and deliver at 6:30am or later so that the penicillin could run completely through. So we waited. And waited. And waited. Finally 6:30 rolled around and my water still hadn't broken so my doctor was called in and things got moving! There was also a shift change at 6:30 and I got my new nurse, who I LOVED! I ran into her as I was being admitted and she knew she would most likely be my delivery nurse and was so excited! When she got to the hospital she told me that another nurse texted her that morning and told her to hurry up because I was about to deliver! How sweet is that?!
While we waited for my doctor to arrive the nurse got the board all ready for Emma Claire. At this point I could NOT believe I was about to have a baby...a mere 14 hours after getting to the hospital and after being in labor for only about 7ish hours (I'm counting "labor" as the contractions that hurt!) Around 7am the nurse kicked everybody out because it was time to have a baby! Deb (my nurse) and Missy (the certified nurses assistant) were AWESOME and I couldn't have asked for a better "team" to go through delivery with! Once everyone was kicked out they got all set up for me to push and at this point my doctor came in to check on me. My bag of water still hadn't broken and my doctor broke it.
Then to see how strong my epidural was I did a few practice pushes with the nurses and they were shocked to see that Emma Claire's head was RIGHT there and it wouldn't take but a few pushes to get her out. I did 2 sets of practice pushes with the nurses before they decided this baby was coming out and they broke the bed down and my doctor got in position. As she got ready she said, "Mallorie look up!" And for whatever reason I did...it turns out that when the delivery room lights are turned on the light fixture above me turns into a highly reflective surface. It was basically a mirror above me. I was able to see her little head! Something I had never thought I would want to see!
Then I pushed three times with my next contraction and her head was nearly out. Then with one more contraction I had two hard pushes and one little push and she was OUT! The Hubster took these pictures and then Missy grabbed the camera and took a bunch of the Hubster and I together, I am so grateful for these pictures!
The first thing I said when she came out was, "Is she still a girl?!" Everyone in the room cracked up and my doctor said, "Yes she is very much still a girl!"
The proud papa cutting the cord!
This may be my favorite picture ever. I just love the way the Hubster is looking at her! And as unhappy as she looks I promise that Emma Claire is happy to be joining our family! :-)
7 pounds 12 ounces (we rounded up) I just could not get over the fact that she was so big! I thought or sure she was going to be a six pounder! I was 6 pounds 10 and a half ounces and the Hubster was 6 pounds 10 ounces...so we thought the trend would continue!
Sweet baby was so alert and awake! The entire room couldn't get over how alert she was! When she came out she cried for just a few minutes and then was looking around and taking it all in.
While I was getting taken care of I just kept thinking, "I cannot believe she came out of me!" Birth was such a surreal moment for me.
My WONDERFUL doctor saying hi to Emma Claire after delivery! She grabbed her finger as she was talking to her!
Our little family enjoying some alone time before the Grandparents came in.
My sweet princess on the day we got to go home!
I am still in awe of how wonderful my experience was. I had a fantastic team of nurses who worked with me, my doctor was awesome as always, and having both sets of parents here for the birth was just perfect. I still can't get over the fact that I am a Mom to the most beautiful baby I have ever seen. I have loved every moment of the past week...even the stressful ones ;-) I just never thought it was possible to love a person you just met so much.
"The moment a child is born, the mother is also born. She never existed before. The woman existed, but the mother, never. A mother is something absolutely new." Rajneesh
