We went in for our 40 week appointment and I was at 2cm and 75% effaced. So we thought ok good something is happening… we were wrong it was another 5 days before my water finally broke. Well at least they say that’s what happened, it’s hard to be sure when it just feels like you keep peeing your pants without warning; Add that to the list of fun things you get to experience as a mom, a flash back to your own child hood and having to walk home in pee soaked jeans, classy!
Anyways we went to the Dr and she confirmed that it was my water and not pee (deep sigh of relief because how embarrassing would that have been?). They sent us over to the hospital to get checked in, knowing it could be a while before this whole show was over we stopped and got some food first and I’m super glad we did.
Now from the start I knew I wanted a natural birth, I could say it’s because I believe it’s what’s best for the baby or that I know and believe my body was made to do this and I want to experience the birth of my child in its natural beautiful form and it would be true. However I have to admit that the little competitive voice in the back of my head telling me that my mother gave birth to 4 children, my sister AnnaMae gave birth to 2 and my sister Erin 1 all without any pain meds might have been a big factor! I wasn’t planning on being the weak link ;-)
After all the paper work was finished, the IV was finally in after the nurse admitted she was really bad at it and there was blood all over and I had been poked and prodded once again, they told us we had until 9pm to get some good contractions going and some more cm under our belt. So we started walking, and walking, and bouncing on yoga balls, and walking, and eating ice chips, and walking, and stopping for baby monitoring, and yep some more walking. Being stuck on the baby floor and not aloud to leave your walking locations are limited and we started feeling like we were creeping on other peoples babies!
When 9 rolled around and I was once again lucky enough to be checked I was at 3cm, a whole whopping one more then five days before! The contractions that I could now at least feel felt something more akin to wanting a quaso burrito from qudoba then a body getting ready to crank out a baby, so needless to say they were not impressed and started me on pitocin. I have to admit at this point in the game I cried for the first time (but not for the last) I was disappointed that my body wasn’t doing it on its own and I knew the meds were about to make it a whole lot more painful, they didn’t disappoint and soon I was in hard labor.
The labor itself was not fun and Cody says I have forgotten how bad it was by the way I talk about it, whether he is right or not I do know that during it all knowing the outcome made me willing and able to push through. I made it all the way to 7cm when after asking me for the 100th time I finally gave into the nurses dose of Fentinal she had been offering. I had never had any narcotics before so I wasn’t ready for the new “happy” me that soon took over. Lets just say I was entertainment for Cody and Rita, and while this is embarrassing I wouldn’t want to disappoint so I have included a photo… 7cm, or peace5
Back to the good stuff, it was finally time to start pushing. I know it doesn’t seem like a hard concept but it took me a while to catch on to what it was I was supposed to be doing. Rita would very kindly explain that I needed to hold my breath and push with my stomach, which I would respond to with an “I am!” when clearly I was taking a deep breath then just huffing it right back out while tensing my whole body… we will blame this on the narcotics as well.
Well thankfully I finally caught on and weirdly enough it was amazing. I finally was able to do something, I was working towards bringing our baby girl into the world. It didn’t feel good but I was so glad to be at this point. I didn’t even have to push an hour (which only felt like 15 minutes to me) before they called the Dr and a few more nurses in.
I don’t know if Rita is known for calling the Dr in to early, or if he really was just enjoying his little stroll down the hall but he took his time getting there which earned me the fun job of waiting through 2 contractions without pushing. Thankfully it was all worth it because in spite of his fashionably late appearance to our little shindig, he was a great Dr. He was all for Cody doing the delivery, he talked him through it and only stepped in to remove the cord from around her neck. I think its so special and sweet that her daddy got to be the first person to hold her!
When daddy did finally hold her he held her up for me to see and said “Emma look at her she’s beautiful look at her!” His excitement and pride was so evident and he wanted to share the specialness of those first few moments with me, with my head flopped back on the pillow in complete relief and my eyes rolling back in my head I sobbed “I am looking.” Even as the words left my mouth I knew how stupid they sounded, everyone knew I was not looking. But when they lifted that sweet little squirming baby onto my chest I sure was looking, looking right at perfection.
We honestly can’t thank God enough for our whole experience, the people involved, how smooth everything went, and of course for our sweet Willow Blue who joined our world at 3:26 on July 16th weighing in at just 6lbs 8oz and measuring 19 inch long, the smallest most stunning little person to have graced this earth. God is good and childbirth was one of the most amazing experiences of my life, I thank Him daily for his awesome creation of our baby girl and for the amazing man he gave me to hold my hand and couch me through the whole thing. I am blessed!
(I don't have the pictures of Cody with her right after birth I still need to get them :-P)
(Our Dr :-) and a nice fat face shot of me!)
and of course one more of the star of the show, Willow Blue Mooney ladies and gentlemen!
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