Little Miss...a birth story before I forget

We have a sweet five week old in the house, and we are so thankful!  Make that, we've got a 3 month  4 month old! Started this post several times but its taken me a while to get this written down...and I want to because I'm already forgetting the details.
So...this pregnancy was not the most enjoyable but still healthy, for which we are thankful!  I have definitely felt better : ) I even took the opportunity for a mermaid maternity shoot!

Just kidding,
Nat sent me this pic when we were both preggo and it made me smile.

We decided to find out the gender this time, so Ti blessed us with a cake and silly string for the kids to spray. It was so fun! I don't usually eat much gluten, but this confetti cake went down like a charm!!

                                   

Pink pink pink!! Oldest boy gets moved to smaller bedroom, and the big bedroom is going to be for the girls. Moving O in with I creates heyday like you wouldn't believe : )  Glad to get over that phase before baby!

Lots of preterm labor, braxton hicks had started at 15 weeks before I'd even felt the babe moving which made me a bit nervous. 7 1/2 months pregnant, we squeezed in a quick Labor Day trip to Chi-town to spend some pre-baby time together, celebrate my birthday, and see my bros. We visited Caleb's church, hit up Sprout modern (our usual), enjoyed a jazz festival, bickered about how best to handle high fellow train-riders (I was in pregnant mama-bear mode), and checked out some good eats (when staying around Hyde Park I'd recommend Plein air cafe for breakfast, the Nile for lunch, and a tour of Robie House to top it off with some good design while your falafel digests).

36 Weeks pregnant: When Nat had her little guy I REALLY wanted to go see her and the new babe but was leery of the 5 hour trip with my own baby due in 4 weeks....convinced myself and a friend it would be fine, prayed that the Lord would make it clear and then went to bed only to wake up to contractions and 8 hours of early labor. Contractions 5 minutes apart and we were just getting ready to head to the hospital when it stopped, but that was enough to make me change my mind & keep me at home with no big treks before the due date (this was for the better because trent had gotten dehydrated at work that day and would've become the 3rd patient if I went into labor! when I commented on how shocked I was that my labor stopped he said he'd been praying for that because he was white as a ghost and couldn't stand up straight. Too true). Lots more contractions over the next week....

Now it's 3 weeks before due date, and I head in to work to complete my ACLS competency check-off with several other nurses. I'm demonstrating my CPR and the other nurses start protesting "hey, you're gonna put yourself in labor!" I just smile because I'm thinking it could happen! I'd been suspicious all week because changes were starting but as this is my 4th kid, i knew the last month could be like that. Next day I'm nesting aka freezing some crockpot meals with a couple friends and have a hard contraction whilst stirring the curry. One more curry batch, i think, and keep on stirring. I'm going to need these freezer meals soon! I'd already been quizzing other ladies about labor and birth stories because I started to wonder if I was leaking amniotic fluid, and even though baby safety was top priority, I didn't want to be induced unnecessarily. I called my dr and let them know about the amniotic fluid possibility and asked to come in for a swab test...i was annoyed when the phone nurse insisted i had to go to the hospital Labor & delivery unit for the test because everybody was busy in the office. Nobody in that whole huge group could do a swab? harrrumph. I think she was trying to protect the doctors friday afternoon schedules but the hospital would've been quite the expensive swab for most patients...and I didn't want to be kept in the hospital before my labor had even started. Oh well, I decided to go purposely unprepared to the birthplace, because if i didn't have my stuff and I had the kids' carseats in my vehicle, i would just HAVE to go home first before being admitted : )  Yup, nurses make the worst patients!!

When I arrived I was checked in by the same nurse I had done ACLS with the day before. As I suspected a simple swab at the hospital turns into gown, monitor, and the works...She smiled and said "What are you doing here already!?" and was just the sweetest, even when I informed her that I didn't plan on staying and laboring from beginning to end at the hospital unless there was a dire need. "Well, you know how this works, we can't keep you here...but we're not going to discharge you unsafely either." She thought I might have a high amniotic leak (meaning high location on my bag of waters), and while I was waiting for the test results I had another contraction, but the swab test was negative....so home I went. 

I enjoyed a night with my family, smores with the kids and to go food for me to satisfy some crazy cravings for salmon. Into high nesting mode and quickly trying to get things done around the house. Sat and enjoyed the fire with the fam and noticed I was having more occasional contractions, so I did what any practical preggo momma would do...ate more marshmallows!  These contractions had been going on for days now so who knows...

Tried to go to sleep, but by 11pm I was starting to have some painful contractions. Sometime before midnight we called Joe & Heather and gave them the heads up that they might need to come over and watch the kids if things progressed. Trent slept, I showered and packed and tried to rest, but that wasn't happening...Joe & Heather were there by 1:45am. My contractions were still not quite 5 min apart but I was starting to feel that "time to go" feeling, but Trent was taking a while giving "kids" and "soccer game" instructions...I surprised both of us by barking out very seriously "Trent, grab those things (my bags), and meet me at the car!". Now he was in high gear! We both met out at the car and then discovered I forgot my purse. He ran back in the house for it while I leaned on the car, because there was no way I was getting in the car til we were leaving. Trent was back out only to realize he didn't have his wallet...so in he sprinted, and I'm still leaning on the hood. I think this happened once more, and I'm sure we were quite entertaining, as the widow lady across the street later reported that she was having insomnia issues that night and enjoyed watching the whole debacle, giggling at our false starts to leave. We've always been suspicious that she is very aware of the goings on at our place, and now we know for sure! Juanita sees all! Apparently the next morning she startled Joe & Heather by yelling across the street, "Do we have a baby yet?!?" haha! 

Thankfully the trip to the hospital was short. Trent got to run a red light much to his pleasure...he had slowed down and I yelled "go, go!" 

2:15am The nurses put me in a triage room, and Trent left to get ice for me to crunch while the nurses checked me...he told me later with a smirk he almost told them to get me into a birthing room, because he knew by the time he got back with the ice things would look quite busy, and he was right. I was 9cm dilated and moved right up in the queue. I was thankful I had listened to my gut and come to the hospital. I've done epidurals and natural both in the past and had planned to have this little girl naturally. I always feel a little crazy in labor but have blamed it on the epidural in the past because with "I" I did not have an epidural but felt quite present and accounted for. Well, turns out the crazy is just me, not due to any epidural. The nurses always tell me things like "you have excellent control", or "you don't look like you're a 9", but in my head I'm dealing with the pain like an out of body experience leading me to say and do weird things. The nurse tried to help me relax my pelvic floor by blowing bubbles in my water through a straw, but all I could do was keep drinking water! I seriously could not follow the easiest instructions. Into the bathroom, nurse kindly reminding me it was time to come back to bed, eyed the lock on the bathroom door but decided to oblige, back to the birthing ball for what seemed like forever (Trent said I lasted 3 minutes there tops) before i was pinning down the nurse for "how much longer til i push?"...she checked me and said "ok, lets have a baby!". 

This was not what I was expecting, it was happening really fast, and my first thought was loudly moaning "why did I eat that black & bleu salmon and garlic mashed potatoes for supper!!!?" The whole room of people erupted in laughter. I thought maybe my supper would make a reappearance, but thankfully no! I can never tell when to push, so the nurse gave me instructions, but turned out when she showed me how to bear down and push, I just puffed out my cheeks as hard as I could (and didn't push at all). Like I said, unable to follow instructions! The staff was so encouraging and used my name a lot, which really helped me focus. Started pushing but was totally taken by surprise when the head was delivered, no one had warned me like with my other babes. 

2:46am

Our beautiful little girl was delivered 1 push later to my amazement! I was so in shock, everything was so fast, and said probably 5 times in a row (really) "I can't believe she's here!?". I asked the doc not to cut the cord right away (evidence a bit mixed on this, but i figure hey why not) which she was quite unimpressed by : ) As she rightly pointed out, C's cord was so short she couldn't lay her on my chest right away. 

Gratitude! Thank you Jesus for a sweet little girl. Thank you for a healthy 30 minute (!!!)  hospital delivery and that I could labor at home. Thanks for a husband who could be present.  A cute little cousin so close to C's age. Thanks for friends who have conceived that we could celebrate with. (speaking of, Amy delivered before I hit the publish button---we can't wait for details!!!) All joys that are not to be taken for granted. 

I wasn't a big fan of the mandatory pitocin after birth, but in this case it was probably a good idea as I did start some moderate bleeding. Pitocin and some pressure from the doc/nurse stopped this after a bit. By now the uterine massages were getting on my nerves (and really painful this time around) and I was trying to keep it civil but getting a little cheeky.  Middle of the night, 3 weeks early and all that : ) The rest is a blur of fatigue and tears of joy and just staring at our daughter for hours, just like with our other kids, saying "she is just so pretty". 

Thank you Abba Father for this gift of life. Thank you for adopting us into your family. You've made us joint heirs with Christ and as beautiful as this new life is to me, there's truly nothing more amazing than life with you, Jesus.