Welcome Home to our New Addition

This is the story of our fourth baby's entrance into this world.

It begins early last Wednesday morning. The last time I had commented about the blog was around 1am. My contractions were 4 minutes apart. I played on the computer and tried to ignore all the contractions, but they were hard to ignore. I decided I needed to get some rest around 1:50 am, and went to bed. Shortly after that, I tried to wake up my husband. Now, if anyone knows my husband, they know that he is extremely hard to wake up. Talking in his sleep, he told me that he was not calling the sitter at 2 am, and for me to go back to bed. In my head, I thought that the contractions were going to disappear, as they had done before. I took some Tylenol PM and tried to sleep. I just couldn't sleep though. The only thing that was helping me get through the pain was sitting up in bed and rocking back and forth, or getting on my hands and knees.

At 4 am I could no longer let my husband sleep. I had to wake him up and this time I was serious. The contractions were still about 4 minutes apart, but there were smaller contractions starting to sneak in between the bigger ones. So, really I was having them every 2 minutes. At this point I still had a moment of relief in between them. I got my husband awake. He had no idea that I had tried to wake him at 2 am. And then he asked me if I was really in pain. Was he serious? I really considered punching him at that point. He called the sitter for B and they were on their way. I already had my bag packed, it had been packed for days. I hopped into the shower, and we left our house around 5:15 am.

As soon as I stepped up into the passenger side of the truck, I felt a difference in the position of the baby. There was more pressure in my pelvis, and the contractions became very noticeable at 2 minutes apart. Knowing we were low on gas in the truck and we had a 30 mile drive to the hospital, we stopped to get gas.  As soon as we were on the interstate, those two minute apart contractions became about a minutes and a half in duration. It reminded me of being in labor with B, only these didn't seem as bad. I felt like I was able to control the pain and breath through it. I focused on the guitar rifts of the songs on the radio, and focused on the glowing red tail lights of the vehicles far in front of us. Hubby tried to ask me questions, but at that point I was not in a talkative mood.

We arrived at the hospital at 6 am. As I stepped out of the truck, I felt so different than I did shortly before. I wasn't even able to walk across the parking lot. I thought I could, but Hubby had to almost drag me into the ER. He grabbed a wheelchair and they motioned us to go on up to the 3rd floor. At this point, I had placed my mind in another world. I felt like I was in a different consciousness. Should I say, Beside myself? Hubby had to sign all of my registration papers, and I was immediately wheeled into a room.

As soon as I got into our room, my clothes were stripped off and the nurse was waiting to check how dilated I was. I was thinking maybe 4cm.........Nope! I was a whopping 7cm dilated, with my bag of water bulging. I said, "So does that mean I can get an epidural?" There was no answer. Shortly after I figured out why.

A few weeks back I was tested for GBS (Group B Strep). It's a normal bacteria that people can carry in their digestive track and vagina. Nothing serious to the mom, but could pose a hazard to the baby. And because of the GBS I had to get an IV. I don't know if it was my veins or the nurse had a bad stick, but she blew every single vein she touched. And I think she stuck me over 7 times. Still 3 days later my hands and arms are bruised. She was totally unsuccessful at getting a vein and called a phlebotomist to take my blood and put in the IV. They wanted me to get 2 bags of antibiotics.

While waiting on the phlebotomist, the nurse tried to check my dilation again . This time the bag of water was so in the way that she couldn't tell. They didn't know if the baby was head down or not. I tried to tell them she was, but they had an ultrasound done anyway. Of course she was head down. Everything was happening so fast, but to me it seemed like an eternity. The contractions were so hard, and I had no break between them. The nurse checked me again. I was an 8. It seemed as though she just had checked me 2 minutes before that. The phlebotomist entered the room. As she was gathering her materials to start the IV, I told the nurse that I had an incredible urge to push, and there was so much pressure. She said "Don't push!". I really did give a conscious effort not too. But apparently my body wanted something different.

And here is the amazing part.

It is now 6:20 am. All of a sudden I screamed, my bag of water burst, and shot about 6 ft out the end of the bed. It not only soaked my legs and bed, but went down the wall and got on my shoes, that were laying there. Crazy stuff. Even the nurses were in shock. The phlebotomist jumped back; she was about to walk by the foot of the bed right as it happened. I think it scared her quite a bit. Now I had a minute of relief. All that pressure went away. But only just for a minute. Meanwhile, the Doctor had been called and she was on the way from her house.

Right after my water broke, I felt that bone grinding sensation. The nurse checked me again. I was fully dilated, and the baby's head was crowning. I could feel the baby's head coming down my pelvis. The thought of having a 10 lb baby actually passed through my mind. I yelled out that I needed to push, but once again I was told not to. The Doctor had not yet arrived, and they were calling for the floor laborist. I couldn't help it. I had to push. It didn't matter what I was telling my body to do. There was a force much greater than my mind power that was driving my body. I had lost complete control. Her head was crowing even more, but I was told not to put my legs in the stirrups until the laborist got there. He had just entered the room, I was pushing as he was getting his gear on, And he got to catch the baby. Yay! As soon as her shoulders came out, I let out a HUGE sigh of relief. I was laughing and talking again, like nothing had happened. Amazing. Baby #4 was born at 6:30 am. Only 30 minutes after we had pulled up in the parking lot. My doctor showed up shortly after she was delivered and she was able to make some minor repairs. Just a 2 degree tear. Something I'm used to.

My husband says that now I have a badge of honor for having a natural birth. It happened so fast, and was the most painful thing I have ever done in my life, but looking back, I'm glad it happened the way it did. I feel great. The baby was alert. I didn't have any of the itching or headaches from an epidural. I could get up and walk right after delivery. It was great.



So now for the part that you all really wanted to see. Pictures!

Baby's first nursing. She latched right on like a pro.

6 pounds 5 ounces and 19 inches long

Isn't she just beautiful? And look at those long nails!

Four Generations- Baby, Me, my Mother, and my mother's Mother

So sweet. That Paci is almost as big as she is.

We called her a glow-worm. She had to use phototherapy to lower her jaundice.

Big sister B didn't know quite what to think of the baby.

Such a big difference in just 15 months.

As you can see, her eyes are already turning brown. Daddy didn't get his blue-eyed blondie this time. It's only fair, right?

Daddy and his new princess.

Proud Big Sis!

Daddy putting together the new double stroller.

Little Big Sister enjoying her diced mango. She said it was cheese. It does kinda look like cheese.

Getting her suntan in front of the window this morning.

My beautiful flowers that my hubby got me.

Isn't he sweet?

 I hope you have enjoyed my story. I wrote it partially for you and partially for me. I wanted to write it down, while my memory was still fresh. More pics will be posted on FB tomorrow. But until then, Enjoy.

We are accepting visitors. Please do not come by if you are sick. But I'm breastfeeding and not too scared about germs. So if you need a baby-fix, come on by. And thank you in advance to the ladies of the church who are going to prepare meals. It is a great blessing to our family.