Birth Story

She's here!!  It's two weeks to the day that Emily was born and I finally get a chance to sit down and write the birth story.  WARNING:  This is going to be a long post.

It all started on September 24th when I started to feel my first contractions but it wasn't anything that I could time since they were hours apart.  I doubted myself because I didn't know what conctractions felt like and everyone's descriptions of what the feeling should be was different from what I was feeling.  The internet was no help either and I figured we were in for a due date baby instead of an early child like Brian wanted.  Lo and behold, I wake up to an uncomfortable cramp-like sensation at 4am.  I didn't think anything of it because everyone had described a contraction as this tightening that happens around the abdomin, starting from the back and ending in the front.  But then I got another one and Brian told me to try and time them.  Such a smart man I married, because 5 minutes later another cramp came.  We got out of bed and after much contemplation decided to phone the doctor and head to the hospital.

At the hospital, we were set up in triage for observation.  I was still measuring about 2.5 cm but was about 90% effaced.  I was given orders by the on-call doctor to walk the halls for an hour to speed up the labor and help me dilate further.  Boy was this an adventure.  I had to stop every so often because I couldn't walk through the painful cramping.  After our walk through the halls I got checked again and the doctor said I was about 3cm dilated but she could feel the bag of waters bulging so we got admitted.  Yay!  I would have been so disappointed if she had sent us home, not to mention in lots of pain.

Brian and I got set up in a birthday suite and family started to show up.  It was really exciting, except for the really intense cramps that I had to endure.  I made everyone stop talking when the cramps came so I could focus on getting over them.  Brian loved to watch the monitor to see the contraction start and see how much it would peak.  A nurse came in to start my IV and in my opinion this was the worst part of my labor experience.  The needle was big and it hurt going into my hand.  The nurse blew the first vein so she had to insert the needle twice.  Ouch!  For the rest of my stay at the hospital I hated having the IV in my hand.  I labored for about 5-6 hours and dilated to 5 cm before the anesthesiologist came in to give me my epidural.  He was so awesome and the procedure was a piece of cake.  No pain whatsoever.  Getting the epidural was by far the best decision I ever made.  It made the rest of my laboring experience wonderful and I got to focus on family and then having the baby.  At this point, the doctor came in and broke my bag of water and the nurse told us because it was my first child I would be dilating 1cm every hour and then pushing would take another hour.  So we all settled in thinking I would have the baby sometime in the late afternoon or early evening hours. 

Brian on the other hand was watching the monitors closely and was noting that the strong contractions had now become kind of weak.  The numbers on the monitor were in the single digits as opposed to being in the hundred mark earlier.  Again, such a smart man I married and also very impatient he took it upon himself to get the nurse and have her check me.  Good thing becuase I was dilated to 10cm and her head was crowning.  Brian didn't want to look but the nurse made him take a peak.  I don't think he was too thrilled about the view.  The emotions we felt when the nurse said, "Your ready to have this baby!" was indescribable.  The doctor was called and a team of nurses came rushing in to set everything up.  Half of my bed was taken away and the leg stirups and hot lights came up.  It was showtime! 

I did two practice pushes with the nurse and was told I was doing great.  By the way, the epidural meds were doing such a good job I had no feeling in my left leg and little feeling in my right.  Needless to say I couldn't really feel anything in THAT region so I was very happy.  The doctor took over and I pushed twice more and her head popped out within a matter of seconds.  I think I pushed a little too hard because the doctor yelled at me to stop and the look on her face was that of surprise.  Sure enough baby Emily came out so fast that the doctor didn't have enough time to give me an episiotomy so I got a 2nd degree tear and had to get stitches.  Not fun.  After her head came out her body followed without any pushing only a slight tug from the doctor. 

Emily was 7lbs. and 20in. long and cried from the moment she was out.  We were all surprised at how big she was and how blue her eyes were.  Her cry was the best sound I had ever heard in my life.  It is amazing at how much love a person can be filled within one second.  Emily is the best thing that has ever happened to Brian and I and we both feel truly blessed.  September is definitely the best month for both of us.