First off let me just
say since when am I writing about the birth of my daughter? MY daughter? Very very
surreal at this moment…
A perfect peace of heaven
I am finally getting the time to document the birth story of
our daughter. I feel like I’ve told the story a hundred times already but I
would really like to have it written down so I can look back on it when she’s
all grown up. I will warn you that this may be a blunt and detailed post. If
you do not want to know such details I suggest you stop reading and ask me for
the Readers Digest version sometime.
I guess it all started with the Braxton Hicks contractions
that I did not realize what they were until I was having them for 2 weeks. To
me that’s a good thing because had I known I would have been on pins and
needles everyday waiting for the fake contractions to become real ones.
Wednesday night I was headed to bible study with my sister
in law and mom. Arriving at my sister in law’s house I slipped on a small patch
of ice. I avoided hitting my belly and went straight to my knees. This is what
we believe kick started things because the very next morning I boarded a very
long and agonizing ride that would change my life forever
7am: I was lying in bed after being on the couch all night
with Braxton Hicks and just practicing breathing through them. I was in a half
sleep when I felt (as everyone else describes it and I do not argue) a “pop”
and then a drip and then a gush. I was not peeing my pants. My water had
broken. I immediately called my sister in law to see what I should do next. I
called my husband and had him meet me at home. I called the midwife and she
instructed us to be at the office at 9am so she could check and monitor me.
9am: We arrive at the office (they knew we were coming) but
the receptionist told me to take a seat if I need to. “Oh no, I will leak ALL
OVER your chairs. I will stand.” When the nurse took us back and hooked us up
to the monitor we heard Audra’s heartbeat loud and clear and happy. This girl
was a trooper from that moment on. My midwife came in to check me and announce…wait
for it…”you’re at 1cm”…welp. But she did say that since the fluid was a
greenish brown color Audra had had a bowel movement in utero and I needed to be
admitted right away so they could monitor her. From this point on life was a
blur. I don’t remember times very well and I have to rely on my husband to tell
me what happened when.
I spent the rest of the day in room 2205 working through my
contractions, wearing a huge gown-which I made slightly fashionable by tying
the belt from my robe at the top of my belly (and from the compliments of the
nurses apparently no one has done this before), wearing huge pads, eating
hospital food, watching tv, walking the halls, trying not to be bored and
expecting that I was making progress with each contraction.
7pm: We hit the 12 hour mark. 12 hours of labor. Let’s get a
progress report from my midwife…drumroll please…”you’re at 1-2cm”. Suck. And
you know that smiley face meter in hospitals that talk about pain level? Well I
was almost at my pain limit and still had a huge ways to go.
12am: This is went things went south quickly. I was working
with the nurse to try different labor positions when before I knew it there was
5-6 other nurses in the room one of which immediately mentioned a c-section.
Then someone came up behind me and said “we need to give you oxygen, it’s for
the baby” and then everything else was a blur. I was told later that the nurse
was not monitoring things correctly and they lost the Audra’s heartbeat on the
monitor and needed to find it asap since I was 17hours into labor. Now as if
this wasn’t scary enough for a woman who isn’t sleep deprived, starving and has
her wits about her, this was all happening during the worst contraction of my
entire life. Then I muttered the word; epidural.
12:30am: After confirming with my midwife that this was the
best course of action I said goodbye to my family while they input the epidural
and was introduced to the anesthesiologist, Walter. Walter was a tall older man
and a magician. The epidural magician and I would request him time and time again
if I ever had to. While chatting with Walter I asked him if he knew what today
was. “It’s January 8th” he replied. “But do you know whose birthday
is today? It’s Elvis’ Birthday (there is a inside story here to this fact but I’ll
leave that part out). To which Walter replied “I was in the Army with Elvis” Ok seriously, is this not the coolest old
man on Earth? He then proceeded to talk to me about how he and Elvis were in
the same company but different units, how no one liked Elvis and thought he was
a jerk, and how all the girls would peer over the fence just to get a glimpse
of Elvis. After that I asked Walter about his wife and went on to tell me all
about their marriage and how they raised their children. This man was amazing
and I will never forget having him there in the room with me that day.
2am: I was fading in and out of epidural sleep when my
midwife came in to check me. I had made it to 4cm. Go me!
8am: The switcharoo with midwives
came and I was visited by the midwife whom I prefer, Mary who then checked me…7-8cm.
now we're cooking!
At this point in time I don’t
remember what happened when but thanks to the epidural I was able to get some
sleep. I had been in labor for 24hours. Usually this is when a Dr. would talk
about doing a C-section since my water had been broken for so long but my
midwife is awesome. She explained that we were going to monitor her and wait a
while longer. We would insert an internal fetal monitor and also add fluid back
in so that Audra could float around and get into position better. After this I
was able to take and nap.
This is when things started to
get real. I woke from my nap and told Jonathan “you need to go tell the nurses
right now that I have to poop”. So the nurse came in to check me and sure
enough I made it to 9.5cm. She said that we would do some practice pushes to
see if this would help really get things going. It did. Slowly the room filled
with lots of equipment, my bed was raised, I was told that I would push lying
down since I had the epidural which was ok with me.
Fast forward and before I know it
my midwife is there and I’m pushing. My epidural had now worn off and I was
feeling everything. It took me a bit but I eventually learned how they wanted
me to push. I pushed for 1.5 hours before my last push pushed our daughter into
this world. I will never forget that feeling of 1. Her coming out and 2. Looking
down, seeing her come out and knowing I was done. 32 hours later and I was
done. I was a mom. My daughter was here and she was healthy.
It was surreal. I was so
exhausted that when we were skin to skin I felt I was going to loose it. I was
either going to close my eyes and wake up from this dream, or I would close my
eyes and pass out from exhaustion and fall right off the bed. I never fought so
hard to stay awake in my life. The downside to this time was that I had torn
pretty dang bad and they needed to call in the surgeon to stitch me up.
About 2 ½ hours later I was
finally able to relax and eat food (it was cheeseburger day!) Family was
informed and on their way to meet the newest member of the family and all I
could focus on was sleep.
Our world changed on January 8,
2016. We became parents. We became forever responsible for this child. We
became a family.
The Lord was with me during those
32 hours for sure. I look back and realize He was my strength when I had no
strength. He kept Audra safe and dancing away in my womb until she was ready to
come out. He knew exactly how everything was going to go and cannot even
express how grateful I am for that. To God be all the glory!
We finally got to go home after 4
long days in that sterile room. Driving home that night in this year’s first
wintery blizzard blast, crying and trying to not be terrified. I didn’t know
how I would survive as a mom AND a wife. I will update again soon on Audra’s
first week home. This world of motherhood is a wild wild ride!
My world. This picture makes me tear up every time.
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