"The Birth Story"

This blog post may be very scattered because it was such a long day and I have so much I want to tell. However, I will try to keep it simple and to the point. I went to the doctor on the morning of Wednesday, December 21st and as you can read in the previous blog post, I had my membranes stripped that morning and started having contractions. I basically went home and waited for them to get stronger and closer together. Finally, at about 9:30 pm, I decided that it was time to go to the hospital because my contractions were strong enough and were staying close enough together. It was nice that it happened this way because Tra and I got to shower and get ready before we left because we knew it would probably be a long night. I got checked into triage and got hooked up to the fetal monitor for about 30 minutes. Then, Dr. Gower came by and said that I was dilated to 4 and that my contractions were close enough together and that they were going to go ahead and admit me. I can't even tell you how excited I was because I REALLY didn't want to be sent back home. Before they sent me to my labor and delivery room the nurse stripped my membranes a little more to help speed things along a bit. The first time it didn't really hurt, but this time it was terrible! As soon as she stripped my membranes again, my contractions started hurting really bad. By the time I got all checked in and moved to my labor and delivery room it was about 11:00 or 11:30. My contractions were getting terrible at this point, but I was trying to wait it out to get my epidural. I had a fear or it wearing off for some reason and wanted to wait as long as I could to get it. At about 1:30 in the morning I was dilated to a 5 and my contractions were right on top of one another. Seriously, I was getting like a 30 second break between them and I could barely breathe through them. The nurse even said they were really bad on the monitor. My mom told me that there wasn't any point in me being in that much pain and that I should go ahead and get my epidural. I agreed and decided that I would go ahead and get it. Thankfully, the anesthesiologist was up in my room in about 10 minutes. I got the first epidural and they said that it could take up to 15 minutes to work. Well, 15 minutes later I could still feel everything! There was about a soccer ball size spot in my right leg that was numb, but that was it. After about another 10 minutes they decided that they were going to have to re-do it. I was really upset because the epidural hurt really bad, but was willing to do anything to get the contractions to stop. Luckily the second epidural took almost immediately! It was so nice to not be in pain anymore! I felt like a new person! I have to admit, not to scare anyone, but the epidural does hurt. However, it is soooo worth it! You pretty much feel nothing after it takes! I'm not sure of the times, but at some point in the middle of the night I stalled out after getting the epidural and was making no progress with dilation. Dr. Gower told me that they would start me on pitocin at about 6:00 am if I had made no more progress. So, around 6:00 I was still at a 5 and they started me on pitocin. At about 10:30 there had already been a shift change and Dr. Demosthenes came in and checked me and I was dilated to a 7. She went ahead and broke my water and said she'd be back in a bit to check on me. About an hour later, around 11:30, the nurse came in and checked me and said I was dilated to 10. She told me they'd be back around 12:00 pm to start pushing. Well, I guess Dr. D got held up somewhere because they didn't show up until about 2:00. It was just the nurse, Betty, who is phenomenal by the way. I hope that everyone has her when they deliver. She was the best nurse, ever! Anyway, I pushed with just Betty in the room for about 45 minutes. Apparently Anderson was never very far down in birth canal so I had to push her down and through there. Once I started crowning they called Dr. D and the whole crew in and it wasn't but just a couple of pushes and she was here. She was born at 3:05 pm. For those of you who are pregnant, don't worry, although pushing is a lot of hard work, it doesn't hurt. I think some people confuse pressure and pain. There is a lot of pressure that you can feel that could be confused as pain, but it doesn't actually hurt. I think it's good to feel that pressure though, because you can push easier when you feel that pressure.

Giving birth is the most amazing thing ever! I expected that it would be, but it's even more amazing than you can ever imagine! Tra, myself and my mom were all crying. As soon as she was out, they put her on my stomach and she pooped every where! At least it wasn't inside me, I guess, because that can be really dangerous to the baby. They took her and checked her out and finished up with me and then gave her back to me. GHS has something called magic hour where everyone leaves and gives baby, mom and dad an hour of uninterrupted time. She was so alert. She just quietly looked around for the whole hour and never even cried. It's a feeling I could never explain holding your baby for the first time. It's almost like an out of body experience. All I could do was stare at her and thank God over and over for such a perfect little gift. Finally, after about 30 minutes we let the family come in to look at her while I held her. Shortly after that I got moved to my regular room. Here are a few pictures of the whole experience. Sorry if they are a little too much for some of you!

Tra and I once I got checked in and situated!



My sweet mom.

Dr. D when Anderson first arrived!

See the poop on her face? We all had to be cleaned up!

A picture the nurse got of Tra!

Anderson getting checked out.

Right when I got her back.

She was so alert.





Looking at mommy!





Tra holding Anderson the next day!

Me and my baby girl!

Finally getting to go home!

First car ride!

Hopefully I included all of the details of the birth. It was such a long and exciting day that it's hard to remember everything. I spared some details that I thought everyone might not want to hear. It really is the most amazing experience you can ever imagine. Take what you think it will be like and multiply it by 100 and that's what it's really like. Tra and my mom were both so amazing to me and I'm so glad to have had them in the room. Also, I can't say enough about my nurses at GHS. Leigh and Betty were my nurses in labor and delivery and I had Robin and Mary once I got moved to my new room. I can honestly say they were all a God send because I couldn't have done it without them. They were so great!

I'll do more posts soon about all that's been going on since we've been home! It's hard to find the time to blog when she's eating every 3 hours though! Give me another couple of weeks and we'll be back to regular blog posts, I promise!