Blaire's Birth Story

Here is the story of sweet Blaire's arrival on March 17, 2014.

 

Our baby girl's due date was March 6, 2014. Considering how every single weekly appointment we had that last month leading up to the due date went the exact same: "No dilation, no soft cervix!", we had a big feeling she might be coming past her due date. But to us, "coming past her due date", we figured meant maybe 2-3 days after the due date; we never prepared to be 11 days late! On her actual due date of March 6th I had gone in for an appointment and my doctor told me she was unfortunately leaving for vacation in two days - for a WEEK. I was bummed BUT not down and out; I knew I'd be in good hands with the other doctors in the practice. She told me she'd "put me on the books" for an induction on Monday, March 17th, should it come to that. I laughed it off and thought, "Pfft! Really funny, lady!". Hubby of course got excited because that meant it could be a St. Patrick's Day baby...and WHAT could be better than that, right?! Wrong. I was not a happy camper but knew that me and the baby were extremely healthy and that she would come when she was ready. I couldn't help but growl at him when I could see his eyes beaming and hear him telling anyone he could, "we are having a ST. PATTY'S DAY BABY!" I tried sweetly to tell him that's not what we were HOPING for, just a mere possibility. Too late! His hopes were already set. ;)

A week came and went from my due date and to say I was ready was an understatement. I think I did pretty good for the most part but it was getting a wee bit uncomfortable and I was just so ready to meet our little girl. I had two or three appointments that week (when you're past a week over your due date they monitor you pretty closely to make sure the baby is still doing OK in there) and they made a couple attempts to push the process along and have me go into labor on my own...but no such luck. One of the doctors was SURE that I was going to go into labor on my own the weekend before my scheduled induction...but again, no such luck.

Before we knew it, it was Sunday night, March 16th, and we were instructed to come into the hospital that night so they could give me Cervadyl and then we'd stay the night so they could monitor me. The Cervadyl is taken in hopes to get labor started on your own so that you won't have to be induced; I had heard many stories of that sending friends of mine into labor within hours. So Jason and I took the obligatory "last time leaving the house as just the two of us" photos and packed up the car and headed to the hospital.

We got there and they immediately had me change to the hospital attire and then they hooked me up to the IV. This was not my favorite thing in the world; needles don't even really bother me but for some reason this was extremely uncomfortable for me for a few hours. They also hooked me up to two monitors: one for my heart rate and one to monitor my contractions. Apparently I was having them every 10 minutes, I just wasn't feeling them. I don't know why but I felt pretty cool when the nurses looked at me a little funny when they asked, "you're not feeling them?!" Jason and I were alone for a little while and then my family came to see us and bring us dinner (what would be my "last meal" I was allowed to eat; I think was allowed to snack until midnight). We all sat around chatting and made our "predictions" of what our baby girl would be and look like. It was hysterical and definitely helped to ease my nerves. :) I had never been in a hospital except to visit someone else having a baby, so as I prepped for my first of three nights in a hospital room, it was extremely comforting to have my wonderful support team with me.

 

After my family left it was just Hubby and me to get a few hours of sleep; they told me if I didn't go into labor on my own overnight that they would wake me at 5am to start the fluids and then administer the Pitocin by 6am. Sure enough, when they woke me up I had not made much progress so they got the fluids started and came back and started the Pitocin. My parents showed up not too much later with breakfast for Hubby and only thing I could honestly think about was how hungry I was and how bad I wanted a bite of his tacos! How was I ever going to make this day without FOOD?!   

 

 

 The nurses let me know that if my water didn't break on its own in a few hours, my doctor would be here to do so. And sure enough, when my doctor showed up at 9am there was no water breakage and she went ahead and did so. To me this was the worst part of the whole process. Not being dilated but 1cm, I think that's why it hurt me a bit more than others. I have the kindest and gentlest doctor so we chatted the whole time so I wouldn't know it was coming, but it didn't matter...still hurt like hell.

Official baby watch: 9am and Mama is at 1cm dilated.

 

 I would say after she broke my water was when I started to feel the contractions a bit; for me they felt like flu/period-like crampiness. Nothing TOO horrible, but it definitely didn't feel good. My nurse Pam came in at 10:30am and offered me the epidural and I jumped on it! She said, "why not get it now before the contractions get bad?!" I'm IN! I got the epidural at 11:15am from a phenomenal anesthesiologist and he walked me through exactly how it was going to feel from start to finish and he was 100% spot on. It felt like a bee sting for about 15 seconds and then kind of like a wave of something came over me for about 30 seconds. I was bent over the hospital bed hugging Jason and my nurse was rubbing my shoulders. It was the first of many emotional moments for me that day as it really made me realize what was happening that day. After about a minute or two they tell you to lie back on the bed with your arms crossed - and this part is scary because they have to make sure you don't have some sort of adverse reaction to the epidural. My legs started to get heavy and I kept telling everyone, "my legs feel drunk!" over and over again. After about 30 minutes my family could come back in and we could get back to the waiting game for baby girl. And what a waiting game it was about to become! At this time they decided to go ahead and put in a fetal monitor on the baby's head so that they could see how strong my actual contractions were. They weren't too bad so they upped my Pitocin amount in hopes to bring on something more.

 

The morning came and went; the troops left for lunch (and I weirdly became uninterested in food and was no longer concerned about being hungry, thank goodness) and there were moments where it was just my mom and me. It's so special to share this experience with everyone but was extra special with my mom. The love that just oozed from her that day was even more than usual (and those of you that know my Mom well know that's a lot!) and I was beyond greatful to have her right by my side. My husband is my rock and there for me every single step of the way, but there is just something about sometimes needing to hold your mom's hand and have her telling you how much she loves you and believes in you.

 

Pam would come back in about every hour and a half to check my progress. It became a little emotional after hearing for the fourth or fifth time: 1cm; no progress. I tried to stay positive but I was getting extremely anxious that the day was passing and still nothing; I was getting worried I was taking too long and going to end up needing a c-section. I think everyone else was too but fortunately for me no one was making it a big deal. Pam did prep me just a little bit so that I might get mentally prepared, but all my family that was there and friends that I was texting just really helped keep me focused and thinking optimistically. At 3:30pm Pam came in to check me again and - Hallelujah, Lord Jesus - I was up to 2cm dilated. Not that I thought this was huge progress, but it was better than hearing "1cm"!

 

About an hour or so later I started feeling this odd pressure; it didn't hurt at all, but just felt different. It was about 4:45pm and my Dad and sisters were about to take off to get some dinner and I asked them to buzz the nurse just to check me out and let me know if this feeling was normal or not. Lo and behold...she checked me out and as I was laying there just preparing to hear the same thing, she started beaming and shouted, "10 centimeters - time to push!" I absolutely couldn't believe it - it happened so fast. The next 15-30 minutes are honestly somewhat of a blur to me. My family came back in to gather their things (they were in SHOCK! Never expected to come back in and hear THAT news!) and Pam and a team of nurses VERY quickly started prepping me and the room. I just remember all of a sudden starting to shake uncontrollably and looking at everyone around me thinking, "is this really happening?!" My husband and my Mom were staying in the delivery room with me and came to my bedside to hold my hands. I absolutely could not believe I was about to meet our daughter. Once everything was prepped the nurse told us I needed to do a few practice pushes so they could see how things might go for us. Welp, two "practice" pushes and she yelled "STOP! We need to get the doctor!" Less than five minutes later my doctor scooted in the room looking all cute and dressed up (she was JUST about to leave the hospital; it was her anniversary dinner!). She literally came in with a huge smile, kicked off her shoes and jacket and squealed "Let's have a BABY!"

 

The next few minutes were life changing. The memory I have of my husband and my Mom next to me rooting me on, along with my amazing doctor and nurses, are engrained in me and makes me tear up just thinking about it. After just a push or two her head was out and we had to wait for the next contraction to finish. I nervously asked if she was okay and they just kept telling me over and over how beautiful she was already. Her hand came out right next to her face almost like she was waving at us! A few more pushes and I felt immense pressure in my ribs and then I burst into tears as I heard "We have a girl! Ten fingers and ten toes! 5:13pm!" I heard a faint cry and then they laid out a hospital pad and put her on my chest. I couldn't do anything but cry and look at her and tell her how much I loved her. They took her over to be cleaned up and Jason and my Mom kept going back and forth between the two of us with nothing but beaming smiles. After what seemed like forever but was probably only two or three minutes, Jason brought her over to me all swaddled up and gave her to me to be held for the first time. I couldn't believe she was here. I couldn't believe she was just in my tummy and now she was in my arms. I couldn't believe how fast my life changed in literally an instant. And I couldn't believe how beautiful our baby girl was.

 

 

 

Blaire's birth was the most incredible, wonderful experience that I ever could have imagined. I will never, ever forget those first precious moments of her life & I am so happy we got pictures to document it.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

  

 Hello, World!