OMG Born in Indy

My mom held my right leg, D my left and I began pushing at 10:45pm on December 1st. At first I was pushing with my face, it felt like something was going to burst inside my head. That's not the kind of pushing you want to do when delivering a baby, I learned that pretty quickly. The nurse was very helpful and soon I could feel the difference between a good push and a bad push. The doctor wasn't in the room, she came in and left...it would be a while.

The doctor came back an hour later, she kept telling me I was close, D was counting down how many minutes it would be if she had a December 1st birthday. D was my support through the whole process, he would ask for another push, telling me I had one more in me (4 pushes per contraction vs. the 3 the nurse asked for), D was counting to 10 for me for each push, telling me "come on, she's so close." The baby had been "close" for a half an hour. I got sick. The nurse gave me the small container, I think I went through three of them. It wasn't a little sick, it was full on sick everywhere, my bed, my hair, my face and on the floor sick.

After that, I was tired, I was done. I had my fit. I told the doctor I needed help and asked if she could use the vacuum or forceps to help me. She told me I could do this, we'd put the baby at further risk if we used those instruments. She told me she could start braiding the baby's hair the baby was that close. I kept pushing, they asked if I wanted a mirror, I declined, I couldn't feel my contractions, D told me when to push, the doctor told me to push when I felt like I needed to.

I stopped, I had a contraction and I didn't push. I needed my strength, I need to gather my thoughts, gather my strength. It was almost 12:30am, I had been pushing for one hour and 45 minutes. I needed that break, the next contraction, I gave it everything I had, all my strength, all my focus and her head came out. There was merconium (she had pooped while in the womb), I had to wait to push her body out while the doctor cleaned out her airway. Besides the baby on my bladder throughout labor, the waiting was the most painful. I could see all her hair, but didn't hear her cry. I think my heart skipped a couple beats, but I wanted to get her out. With the next push, she was out and I heard her cry. We had a baby. D stayed by my side, the baby was taken to the warming bed in the room.



I told D to go look at our baby girl, to check to make sure she was healthy and count her fingers and her toes. The nurses were cleaning her off, giving her the APGAR test and it felt like doing everything else under the sun before they would give me my baby. They were asking for a name, like a lot of you have been, but I wanted to see her, to make sure she fit the name. When I finally got to hold her, I had to study her, watch her, and snuggle her.


30 minutes after that, we told the nurse "Grace, Grace Marie is her name." She was born the day my grandmother died one year ago, the name means blessing and my water broke because I tripped (so graceful), it was fitting.

Happy New Year, thank you for remaining readers!

And then

We arrived at the hospital, D dropped me off at the door and went to park the car, we were off to find the labor and delivery, but got lost and I was in pain. An older woman got me into a wheelchair and ushered us to the labor and delivery unit. They sent us to triage where they monitored my contracts and the baby's heart rate. D was watching to see when I was having contractions, telling me it was a "big" one or that another one was coming, I told him I could do without the commentary. They were hurting and I just wanted him to rub my lower back. I kept thinking I was a rock star and when the nurse checked me I would be 7 inches dilated and nearly ready to push... Ha!

Much to my dismay, I was 2 or 3 centimeters and my water had not broken. Her head was down and on my bladder that's why I was feeling so uncomfortable. They told us I was definitely in labor, but it was still a little early to be at the hospital, we could stay if we'd like or head home. We chose to stay, it was snowing a bit and I was in pain now and didn't want to be at home. Around 1:00pm they admitted me and so it began (our camera is still on CST).


The doctor came in and gave us our options - wait, have her break the water, start pitocin. We chose to wait, but decided if nothing happened by 3:00pm we'd have the doc break the water. I got the birthing ball and used the shower for the pain as it was still manageable. We went for a walk around the hospital and upon returning to the room at 2:50, I tripped and felt a pop, I was on my way to the toilet which worked out nicely. My water broke, my body was doing what it was supposed to and I was ecstatic! I felt a burst of energy thinking it wouldn't be too much longer!


My mom arrived at 5:30, I not made any progress, we opted for the pitocin. I felt the pain from the contractions increasing, I didn't want to walk around like I thought I would, instead I wanted something for the pain. I was given some nubain, it made me fuzzy, but didn't do much for the pain. We opted to get the pitocin to get things moving, the pain of my contractions quickly increased, I got the epidural. I held a pillow and put my head in D's chest, the anesthesiologist would stop for the contractions, the relief was nearly immediate.

I went from 3cm to 7cm in 2 hours. Around 10:00pm D went downstairs to get the rest of our bags, the nurse came in to check me, I was at 10cm, it was "go time". I called D freaking out that it was time. He came back up to the room and the nurse gave us the news that 2 other women were ready to push, one might be a c-section and there was only one doctor on call.


Since I was doing well with the epidural and wasn't in pain, they wanted me to wait, the nurse told me if I felt the urge to push or felt the baby coming out (if only it were that simple) to call her, she was right outside the room. 30 minutes later the nurse came in and told me we could start pushing. I was shaking, no longer from the epidural (you shake), but from nerves, D helped me relax. My mother grabbed my right leg, D my left.

Soon, all the waiting would be over. Soon, we would meet our unnamed sweet baby girl, the one who had grown inside of me for 40 weeks.

The beginning

So Thanksgiving weekend, my parents came and went and baby was still snug inside keeping warm. I found out later my mother sobbed nearly half way home because she was afraid she'd miss the birth (she's in Milwaukee). The braxton hicks contractions began Sunday evening, they'd come and go, come and go... I wasn't getting too excited, my Doc told me I was only slightly dialated and she sounded like we'd have to induce.

The end of the month is a busy time for D, he joked I needed to not have the baby before then. Tuesday night at 3:42pm I wrote down my first contraction. They were steady, I'd been having them for a couple hours so I thought maybe I should start keeping track. 4 minutes later there was another, 5 minutes after that another... D was working late, he called and I told him we may not make it through the night, he asked if he should come home. I told him to stay at work, I was fine, this birth thing takes awhile.

I ran to McD's for my "last meal" of chicken nuggets, fries and an orange drink, I forgot my phone. D called our neighbor to come check on me, I was fine, just hungry. When he got home, the contractions had slowed to between 6-10 minutes apart, we went to bed and I tried to get as much rest as I could because I know I would need it the next day. We got up at 8:21, D took over the writing down of contractions, I made it through 11 of them at 3-4 minutes apart before we called the doctor's office. I was leaking a little bit and wanted to make sure it wasn't my water. It wasn't the huge gush, but I wanted to make sure the baby was safe and my bag was still entact. The doctor couldn't see us until 2:00pm, but they told us to go to labor and delivery to make sure.

I called my dad (my mom was a basket case) to let him know we were headed to the hospital, he purchased a plane ticket for my mom and gave her a call. D and I got ready, packed our bags and headed to the hospital.

It won’t be like this for long

To my eleven readers;

Again, my apologies for lack of posting. As the blog post states "it won't be like this for long." I have been wanting to savor my sweet baby girl, watch her, hold her, snuggle and enjoy her.

She's already grown to eight pounds, gotten a whole inch taller and she's nearly two weeks old. I honestly don't know how D and I have been blessed with such an angel, I find myself thanking God many times during the day and we joke we were given her so we giver her a brother or sister who is a tyrant. I am waiting for the other shoe to drop, I can not imagine motherhood being so delightful (yes, insert the "oh please" right here).

I want to share her birth story, share with you how our daughter came into this world, and of course share her name. The days prior had been spent sleeping when I could since I had been super uncomfortable and sleep was a commodity. I have set aside some time (baby permitting) for blogging, I miss it and D thinks I need to find something to do with myself besides this all day


I just can't get enough! Hope you all are doing well!!!

Lack of posting

I would like to apologize for the lack of posts the last few days, but hope you understand. We are doing great, but have been busy with this-



Hope you understand, I'll update soon!