Our baby is here! In fact, she's already a month old, believe it or not! It's so incredible how fast time flies. I figure it's probably high time I posted her birth story finally, eh? Stay tuned for my one month thoughts post coming in the near future :)
Thursday night, January 9th: My contractions started to be uncomfortable. They weren't just the "Braxton Hicks" tightening but also had cramps accompanying them, sort of like menstrual cramps but milder than the ones I usually experienced in high school. I thought "Hmmm maybe it's finally getting closer, since I'm due already!" Sam and I went to bed and that night the cramps got stronger and woke me up every couple hours. I kept going back to sleep though, and thought "not yet."
Friday morning, Jan. 10th: Sam and I got up for the day and I told Sam what I'd been experiencing during the night. As he got ready for school we went over our various plans for if the baby were to come that day and he assured me he'd keep his phone with him and turned on. We decided to let my mom know that status. I called her before Sam left and told her about the change in my contractions (which were continuing to happen every now and then) and about other labor symptoms I'd been having that morning, and she said she felt like things were starting to happen and she'd come out. She called me a couple hours later to say she was leaving on the next flight to Salt Lake City that afternoon! Wahoo! Not long after, I got a text from my dear friend Dana asking how I was doing. I mentioned I thought I was going into labor or was in very close pre-labor and she asked if I wanted company which I whole-heartedly accepted!
Afternoon: Dana came over and we ate chocolate and bread and watched "I Love Lucy" (SO fitting! I just love Dana!). It was so great to spend time with her and chat and read sections of her book on pregnancy and birth. Sidenote: we are SO excited for their baby boy to come in just a few weeks!!! ... So the contractions started building, then tapered off while Dana was there. Then, around 2:30 they started up again... tightening and cramping, nothing extreme but I definitely felt them. From 2:30 to about 4:30pm they were coming every half hour. Dana left and Sam came home from school. From 4:30pm on they began to get closer and closer together. Every ten minutes, seven minutes, then every five minutes. By this point, some of them were strong enough I had to stop what I was doing and breathe through them. One caught me off guard while I was doing dishes before mom came and I had to hold onto the counter for support.
Evening: Mom walked in the door between 6 and 6:30pm with Zupas food for dinner! Oh it was so good to see that woman. It's hard to live states away from most of my dear family. The three of us had a great time catching up and talking about birth preparations as we ate Zupas, meanwhile I was timing each contraction which were now coming at 3 minutes apart. As I relaxed and focused through another one while writing down the time, mom looked at me with a slightly alarmed expression and asked, "Another one?? How far apart are they now?" I replied, "About every three minutes for the last while." "Ooh! We MIGHT want to go to the hospital!" she said. We all agreed. I started to feel an urgency to go, but I couldn't leave without asking Sam for a blessing. It was just the blessing I needed, full of peace and comfort and advice. I was flooded with the love of my husband, of my Heavenly Father, and my nerves mixed with a huge heap of excitement and anticipation swelled within. We grabbed everything and jumped in the car (or waddled to the car and crashed in, more like, for me haha). Mom followed in her rental car and we went to Orem Community Hospital.
They checked me and I was dilated to a 4. We waited in the hospital room for an hour to see if things were still progressing. I talked with Sam and mom. Sam recorded some of our conversation and thoughts at that moment. I hoped and prayed we'd be admitted! The nurse seemed fairly certain we would be at this point, especially since I was overdue. Sure enough, an hour later I was at a 5.5! They called the midwife Dena to come break my water and walked me to my official room I'd be laboring and recovering in. It was large and beautiful and fairly comfortable for a hospital room. It even had a pull-out bed for Sam and a "nourishment room" for mom and Sam to grab food and drinks!
Dena came and broke my water once I was at a 6 and things really sped up. Contractions were much stronger and the pain and cramping was definitely more intense, but I could breathe through them one at a time just fine... then I got to an 8... Things got super intense very quickly and transition hit. Let me take a moment to pause from the birth story... I watched Bill Cosby's "Natural Childbirth" comedy act last week, and he quotes Carol Burnett in trying to describe what childbirth pain feels like. She said, "Take your bottom lip and pull it over your head!" Haha. Well, by the time I was at the climax of labor, pulling my bottom lip over my head would have sounded pleasantly comfortable. With each contraction and pain I told myself, "One more. I can get through just one more. One at a time." Sam was comforting and coaching me the whole time, telling me how great I was doing. Mom rubbed my leg and Dena got some essential oils for me to smell (lavender, and such). The nurse in there was awesome too, and so helpful. Time passed and I figured, "Well, it's close now! Once most women hit 8 cm, they transition to a 10 and have the baby relatively quickly, so here we go!" However, that was not the case with me. My body suddenly became stuck at a point where it wanted to start pushing but couldn't for hours. It was the most physically, mentally, emotionally exhausting night of my life. After one particularly strong contraction I slumped back and closed my eyes, spent. Apparently that was the wrong thing to do... I scared the poor nurse who thought I'd passed out! She exclaimed, "Natalie?!" and grabbed my arm, to which I opened my eyes and looked at her and startled her again, haha. She apologized for the scare and childbirth proceeded.
There was one scary moment after a contraction when Lucy flailed inside me and went still and they lost her heartbeat. The nurse had left at that point, so Dena hurriedly moved the monitor around trying to find Lucy's heartbeat again while telling Sam what to do and calling the nurses back in. I had to be rolled over to my side and they placed the oxygen mask on my face (upside down in the chaos of the moment haha). It was scary and I was concerned for my baby, but the whole time I felt this peace in the background assuring me things would be okay and that Lucy was okay. I couldn't allow myself to be scared, I had a job to do and I needed to relax and help my baby how I could. Praying silently over and over, I tried to focus on relaxing. They put an internal monitor on Lucy's head and found her heart rate, which had dropped significantly, but was soon back up and everything was alright. I asked if Lucy was okay and the nurse and Dena said she was just fine and relief flooded through me. She was alright.
FAST TRACK ahead. So hours pass and my body was having trouble progressing. "This baby should have been born hours ago..." kept coming from the midwife's mouth, which did not help the nerves of my poor mother. I was at a 9.5 for two or three hours, was told to start pushing, then stop, then start, then stop, and finally I simply couldn't do it anymore. I was spent! So I asked for an epidural, and it was a blessing I did because it was after the epidural that my body was finally able to relax and finish progressing. After an hour and a half of pushing Lucy Elizabeth was born at 3:17am January 11th, which is also the birthday of my mama and my sister in law Kristen! She was a healthy 8lbs 2 oz and 21 inches long.
Baby bliss!
Sam's very first diaper change!!!
Lucy, meet Grammy!
Rockin' mullet!!!
Coming home with our Lucy was wonderful. A little nerve wracking, yes (we're in charge of this tiny human 24/7! whoa!), but the joy of being a family and the reality of life sinking in was amazing. We are so filled with love for Lucy and are so grateful for this precious girl! She is such a joy and we feel immensely blessed to have her as our daughter. :)
