Our Birth Story

Adam and I were at home watching the Olympics.  We stayed up late every night and went to bed at midnight when they were over.  On Saturday, August 4th, we specifically were watching Michael Phelps get his last gold.  It was about 11:30 at night when I started feeling contractions, and they were hard.  I knew already that I was 3 cm, so I figured as soon as they started that they would be painful, and they sure were.  I tried to lie down and sleep, and being on my back was a no-go.  I tried to take a bath, and that was super uncomfortable. So what did I do? Clean the house, naturally.  Did the dishes too.  Even managed to curl my hair and do my make up because there was no way I was going to have any ugly face when I met my baby :)  Every time a contraction came, I just tried to move around because they helped the most. I felt pretty good for the most part, but I knew that would change sooner than later :)

What was Adam doing this whole time?  Well after he panicked and ate another dinner, he slept :) I finally woke him up at about 3:15 A.M. because my contractions were a little under 4 minutes apart and I wanted to go to the hospital.  So I woke him up and told him to move quickly :) The car ride was so awful!!! I couldn't move around and sitting was horrible. HORRIBLE! I just kept telling him to drive faster :)

We got to Labor & Delivery at about 3:45 A.M. and luckily for me, there wasn't anyone else checking in the same time as me.  I can't imagine if they were actually busy, because this part dragged...and when you are in pain every 3 minutes for a minute or longer, it makes it seem even longer.  I don't know what they did for 30 minutes, but they sure didn't seem to be in a hurry to check me in and get me in a room.  And the whole time I am freaking out! Finally they get me in a room and and got me all hooked up to the monitors.  The baby was doing great during my contractions so that was good :) I wanted to be standing up and moving around, but the nurse told me I had to lie down until the doctor saw me.  I told her no (politely, I'm sure!) and that as soon as she walked out of the room I was going to be back on my feet. And as soon as she left I did! It hurt to lie down, duh! SO I got an earful from the doctor when she came in, but I didn't really care :)
(My beautiful hospital gown is from London Grace Designs.)

So after being at the hospital for an hour, I finally found out I was 6 cm! Wahoo! I was pretty excited about that because my fear was that after all that pain I would only be 4 cm :) They asked me if I wanted the epidural, and I looked at Adam and said "should I?".  And he said "yes!".  Poor hubby, he was freakin out a little. I was in so much pain...I don't know why I doubted the drugs.  Part of me wanted to be tough and stick it out but I knew I couldn't.  That mess hurts like a motha! TWO HOURS later...I finally got my epidural.   And I don't know what that girls problem was, but it took her way too long to place it.  They told me I might have 1 or 2 contractions while it was being placed (mind you, you can not move at all during this process), and I ended up having somewhere between 5 & 6.  Ya. It. was. awful. I couldn't move, I was in so much pain, and I just wanted it to be over with.  But as soon as that kicked in, I felt much much better! It was from heaven.  I couldn't believe I couldn't feel them anymore! I got the shakes, and I even hurled a little (gross, I know) but I was so happy!

I was an even luckier girl because my doctor happened to be the one on call on Sunday, so when she came on at 7 A.M. I was so very happy to see her. (She was going to deliver me anyways, but it was nice that she was there all morning with me too!) She told me to get some rest and save my energy because I was going to need it. She wasn't kidding! Not that I thought she was, but man! Before I rested, Adam went and got our visitors out of the waiting room so they could come see me.  My mom, dad, and best friends Lanaya & Josh were patiently waiting for the baby to arrive. I was so glad they were there and it was nice to see them when I wasn't in pain anymore :) After that I slept.  The nurse checked me at about 9:30 and I was borderline 8 cm, and my doctor checked me at 11 and I was 9 cm and my water still hadn't broke, so she broke it.  She told me to get ready because when she came back it was going to be time.

Randomness and coolness: The nurse that I had was the same one who helped deliver my doctors two children.  That was so neat! And personally knowing your doctor is awesome because she told the staff she didn't want anyone in the room except her and the nurse.  I delivered at Loma Linda University, and it's a teaching hospital, so there would of been 5-6 people in there including the staff, so I was very appreciative of that :) It was nice a intimate, the way I wanted it to be. 

She came back at 12:20 and I started pushing.  I knew it wasn't going to be a walk in the park, but it was a lot harder than I thought it would be! The baby was stuck behind my pelvic bone, so I did a lot of pushing to get past that point.  But once the baby crowned, it was over pretty quickly. I didn't even know the baby's head had come out until I heard Adam (who was holding my left leg up) make a noise, and I looked at him and he was crying! So I looked down and I could see the baby's head and I started SOBBING! And one push later our baby was out and on my chest! I heard my doctor say "here she comes!" on that last push.  So when she said "It's a girl!" as she was handing the baby to me it was like I already knew and it was so surreal and beautiful and the most wonderful thing ever. She was already screaming on her way to my chest, and mind you she went straight to my chest, so baby girl had some lungs on her! I just held her and cried and cried...and then threw up from all the pushing. Gross, I know. But it was good timing because that's when they had Adam cut the cord.  And then he turned around and said, "Well, what is it?!" and we laughed and I said "a girl!" and he said "a girl?!" and my doctor said "You would of known if it was a boy!" ha ha we all just giggled :)

Those few first moments with her are such a blur.  I was so emotionally overwhelmed and there was clean up and all kinds of stuff going on.  All I remember is just holding her and talking to her and kissing her head.  I'm so glad Adam was taking pictures.  They are so precious.  I couldn't believe she was here.

I absolutely loved that they let me hold her and do skin to skin for the first two hours before they did any of her stats.  They left us alone and we just got to hang out as a family.  Adam went and got our visitors to bring them in, and by that time by brother and his girlfriend had made it as well.  The story goes that Adam went to the waiting room and just held out his arm with his pink colored wristband, and my BFF gasped because she knew what that meant and my mom asked what I had and Adam just kept his arm out, and then everyone got it :) I wish I could of seen the look on their faces but it was so much better seeing their faces when they first saw her :)

We spent much of the first two hours talking about names and narrowing down our list.  We knew we really liked Anabelle, but I was trying to decide if I wanted to do a family name, or a name that started with an A.  The nurse came back eventually and did her measurements and she came in at 7 pounds 3.5 ounces and 19 inches long.  She got a little more cleaned up and swaddled and daddy finally got to hold her.  Such a sweet moment.  Makes me teary just thinking about it.

                                                           Our Beautiful Baby Girl!