On Thursday, October 12 I woke up at 2:00a.m. with a sharp contraction. Being five days past my due date, I was irrationally excited that this might be the real thing, and willed my body to keep contracting. The contractions kept coming, about twenty minutes apart and strong enough to keep me awake, but no matter what I did they wouldn't speed up.
*Now I must interrupt this story to remind you that I was FIVE DAYS past my due date after what had been a very long and painful and exhausting nine months, so I was OBVIOUSLY very rational at this point.*
I woke Justin up around 5:00a.m. to tell him that I was contracting every twenty minutes, but not to get his hopes up because I was never going to actually go into labor and have this baby and that the contractions were going to stop soon and that I would be pregnant forever (see the rationality and realism oozing from my mouth?!). We decided that he should probably just go to work, and that I would keep him posted.
My mom came over around 8:00a.m. to hang out with me and the kids, and my contractions stayed about twenty minutes apart until noon. Around noon they started coming every ten to twelve minutes, which gave me the motivation to walk around my neighborhood IN THE RAIN. I made a twenty minute loop down our hill, up another hill, back down the hill, and back up to our house. Let me tell you, a forty-plus week pregnant woman, walking in the rain, up and down hills, pausing with my hands on my knees to get through contractions, gets A LOT OF LOOKS. Ha!
By 3:00p.m., my contractions were consistently 7 minutes apart and had become much stronger. I was still not quite in my right mind, because I was still convinced that this wasn't real labor and that I wouldn't be needing to go to the hospital any time soon. My mom convinced me to at least call Justin and tell him that he might need to think about coming home. From 3:00-5:00p.m. my contractions increased in intensity and were about 6 minutes apart. Justin had just gotten home and when I couldn't stand the pain anymore, Justin convinced me that we should head to the hospital.
We pulled into the hospital parking lot around 5:30p.m. and got through another contraction in the van before heading in. As we were walking into the hospital, I half cried, half yelled to Justin that this HAD TO be the real thing, and what if they send me home and if they do I am going to have an actual MENTAL BREAKDOWN (again, notice the stability of the pregnant woman). Also, Justin agreed that they HAD TO KEEP ME FOR ALL OF OUR HEALTH AND SAFETY.
The nurses took me to a room and started the admission process (PRAISE THE LORD). I was 4 cm dilated, which was somewhat discouraging, BUT I was admitted, and life was GOOD. Other than the excruciating pain, I was on cloud nine and giddy with excitement that our baby girl was coming! They started the process of getting my epidural set up, and by 7:15p.m. my excitement level increased by approximately ONE BILLION percent because my baby was still coming, and I was PAIN FREE. Can I just take a moment to mention the fact that epidurals are the most wonderful thing that has ever been created?! I mean, intense pain IMMEDIATELY alleviated. Bottom line: I LOVE DRUGS.
When Justin came back in the room, he found a whole new woman. His first comment to me was, "I haven't seen you smile like that in nine months. I think I have my wife back!" Seriously, once my epidural took affect, I realized that I hadn't felt that comfortable in MONTHS. I had no pain, only pressure, and I could actually relax. Again, DRUGS.
At that point, I told Justin to pull out the list of names that we had brought along, because we should probably decide what we were naming our baby. We had a list of six names that we liked, but couldn't decide on who our girl would be. We narrowed it down to two names that we both loved, and didn't have a preference between the two. Enter our FABULOUS nurse. After three babies, I have realized that your labor and delivery nurses either make or break your experience. We lucked out BIG TIME, because our nurse was fantastic. She was attentive, reassuring, capable, and made our experience wonderful. ANYWAY, our nurse came in as we were giggling over our name dilemma, and so I suggested that we have our nurse choose the name! I *think* she may have thought we were a bit crazy, but she loved Anna Grace, and so we finally knew that Anna Grace was almost here. *Side note, we are planning on calling her 'Anna Grace'*
Our nurse checked me around 10:00p.m. and said that I was over 9 cm dilated, and that it was almost go time! The labor and delivery unit was super busy that evening - with seven women in active labor. My doctor was the one on call, and was running back and forth between rooms to see who would deliver first. The woman next door had her baby within five minutes of getting to her room, and then we were next! Our doctor came to our door, but was called away to do an emergency c-section, but was back by 10:30p.m. and we were ready to push!
The entire time we were at the hospital, Anna Grace's heart rate kept dropping, but would climb back up quickly enough to not be too much of a concern. I pushed several times, with no progress, and my doctor looked at me and said that baby girl's heat rate was dropping significantly and not recovering well, and the best option to get her out quickly enough was to use suction. The next minutes were a whirlwind of more nurses coming into the room as well as a pediatric doctor as I continued to push and the doctor used the vacuum to help coax her out. Those minutes were intense and scary. I looked at Justin with fearful eyes, and he assured me that it was going to be o.k. and that I was doing great.
She was finally born at 10:42p.m., completely blue and almost gray. The doctor cut the cord quickly and passed her off to the pediatrician and we finally heard the most beautiful sound of her tiny cry. The tears were flowing and even from across the room I realized that she was absolutely perfect and that she looked so much like her siblings and that my heart had just grown even more than I thought was possible.
After the doctors gave her the all clear, I finally got to snuggle my precious girl. She was tiny and oh so perfect. Both of my other babies were over 8 pounds, and this one was obviously smaller - Justin guessed 7 pounds, but she weighed in at a hefty 6 pounds 2 ounces and was 18.5 inches long. Justin and I spent the next two hours snuggling our baby and marveling at her tiny features. She had long fingernails (seriously needed trimmed as soon as she was born), a small head (my other babies had large noggins), and was practically perfect in every way.
After she was born, my doctor said that it was a good thing that she was as small as she was, or she probably wouldn't have been able to be born naturally. She (unknown to us) was flipped face up, which makes a vaginal delivery difficult and usually results in an emergency c-section. She was just the perfect size, and I am so thankful. Her heart rate issues during birth made it necessary that she was born quickly, and because she was tiny - even five days overdue - she came just in time.
Because she was so tiny, her sugar levels had to be monitored for the first 24 hours - and only dipped too low once - but her poor heel had to be pricked so many times. We ended up staying an extra night because her bilirubin level was elevated (more heel pokes!), so she spent twelve hours under the lights until they gave us the all clear to head home!
God's timing is always perfect. I know this, but I want things on my own terms in my own timing. I was BEYOND impatient to have this little girl earthside. At 36 weeks, my fluid levels were low and she was measuring small, so the possibility of delivering early was very real. In hindsight, I am so thankful that my fluid level stayed high enough, because she would have been even smaller than they projected. 6 pounds 2 ounces was the perfect size. My body didn't go into labor until the exact right time - big enough to thrive, small enough to be born quickly enough in labor. I realize that this was God orchestrating every detail perfectly. And I am thankful.
These three weeks have been flying by. She is such a chill baby who fits into our family perfectly. It feels so normal to add her to our family - and every time I look at her, or Mckinley, or Cohen, or Justin, I am overwhelmed with so much gratefulness.
Anna Grace, we love you more than you will ever know. These three weeks have been the best three weeks of our lives. Our family is complete and this momma is verging on normal. Life is good and we are thankful.
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