Emma's Birth Story

Emma made her grand entrance earthside right on her due date, August 4th.

Emma Leigh
8/4/2015
8#2oz 20"
7:17pm

On August 2nd I started feeling worse than I could stand. I was not progressing and starting to show signs of toxemia in late pregnancy, my blood pressure was high and I was extremely swollen. I experienced rapid weight gain and put on a total of 70lbs. I was seeing lights flashing and had a bad headache. It was more than the typical "I'm full term in dead summer and feel like hell". I called my Dr to tell him that my blood pressure readings had me worried since they were high and climbing and he advised me to go to labor and delivery. I hopped on the table in triage at L&D and got hooked up to everything, laid back and relaxed for two hours listening to Emma's heartbeat while being monitored. The nurse came back in and said that my Dr wanted to induce me tomorrow night, the night of August 3rd, my jaw dropped. Excitement, anxiety, nervousness kicked in. This is it. I'm having a baby! Probably not that night but definitely soon. A baby. My baby. Our baby. Finally.

She gave me something to help me sleep and sent me on my way. I was prepared to go back to L&D the next day at 4pm to start induction via Cervidil. I couldn't sleep! Even with the medication. I kept praying and willing my body to go into labor on its own... I was terrified of being induced (it was against my birth plan, I'd read all the scary stories, stressed the pending mom shame, etc) but I knew it was what was medically best for me and baby. I had been through childbirth before, 8 years ago, but I felt so ill prepared... Especially since my first daughter's birth was so easy, textbook pregnancy and labor with no complications, and I didn't need to be induced.

The next day I got up and double checked everything. I ate light. I took a shower and shaved my legs. I read everything online about Cervidil and watched the clock tick. It was weird being able to prepare for it while taking my time.  I remember walking out the door with our hospital bags in hand and Chris saying to me "when we come back home, we'll be coming back with our baby."

We drove an hour to the hospital and got checked in. We settled into our delivery room and they let us order dinner. I wasn't allowed to eat anything past midnight so I tried snacking lightly. I was horrified of pooping on the delivery table so I ate light. Yeah I was that girl, I know it's normal but I was like nope - not me!  I had Sprite, a roll, and chicken broth... Plus a lot of ice chips. In hindsight I should've eaten EVERYTHING all the way up to midnight! Chris's family came by and hung out with us for a little while.

At 6pm my nurse came in and explained everything and inserted the cervidil, it was a little uncomfortable being placed,  and at 10pm they gave me some sleeping medicine. At 3am I woke up to a few contractions and the nurse checking my vitals, got up again to pee around 5am and when I went to lay back down the nurse came in... No progress! Nothing. The cervidil didn't work for me. I waited until 7am to see what they wanted to do next. They started a pitocin drip and asked if I wanted an epidural. I told them I was undecided but that I'd let them know if I decided that I wanted one... I allowed myself to be open with it because I didn't know what to expect pain wise with the pitocin.

They started the pitocin drip. I was worried it would cause me to need a C-section because I was 0cm and 0% when they started, like I said I read the scary stories... Don't read the scary stories. Chris's family came back over to hang out while I labored. Around 11am the midwife came to check, still nothing. She said she'd be back around noon to break my water. She couldn't get it to break the first time and it was pretty painful so she decided to let me rest and try again.

The second time she finally got it, I had to be held down by Chris and the nurse because it was very uncomfortable and I was climbing up the bed to get away from her, and again the nurse offered an epidural. I refused, so the midwife had me get up to use gravity to my advantage and bring baby down. I sat in a rocking chair and rocked. I felt the contractions and pressure immediately start getting intense and I couldn't really talk through them. I held Chris's hands and breathed. They felt different than what I remembered. I had bad back labor and my hips burned and hurt so bad.  Chris said I didn't complain about my hips one time, I'm very surprised I didn't! They were bugging me more than the back labor. Water gushed with every contraction.

Finally I wanted to get back on the bed. I labored laying on my side. I stopped talking, even between contractions for the most part at this point. I was tired and hungry. The nurse asked again if I wanted an epidural. "No." she checked me and I was at 7cm, stretched to an 8/9 during contractions. The waves were intense and lasted longer, I started feeling nauseous through them and groaned. I grabbed the bed railings and squeezed, burying my face into the side of them. My face felt hot. Chris gave me a cold wash cloth, it felt amazing. Again, the nurse asked about an epidural. "No." She was starting to make me mad. She asked "Why do you not want one? What's your reason? It's okay to get one. You don't have to prove yourself here." I groaned through my teeth, "No." once again. I started to doubt myself at this point. Her words certainly didn't help. I had thoughts of not being able to do it. I realized now that I was in transition. I kept thinking "I can't do this anymore!" I told Chris to call the nurse back for the epidural. She came in and started IV fluids, a half hour later the anesthesiologist came in. The epidural hurt so bad trying not to move through contractions! I remember telling Chris I thought I was going to throw up on his shoes, I mumbled a few times about passing out. My mind raced through contractions and I tried breathing through them.

The epidural didn't work. It didn't work! I kept urgently telling the nurse to call them back while moving my legs and toes. She had me lay in a different position to see if that would kick it in. Finally the anesthesiologist came back and gave me an injection for the pain intravenously. Still not feeling much relief. They did another check and started a catheter, I felt all of it, I was 8cm.

Minutes later I was feeling intense pressure, I had to stop myself from pushing through it. I could feel her descending with every wave. I kept telling Chris and his mom they needed to get the nurse back in the room ASAP or one of them would be catching a baby. I knew it was time. The nurse came in and had me do a practice push. I could feel her coming down, and pushing was a huge relief. She called the nurses station and said "room 7 is about to have a baby, call the doctor." I felt excited. She told me to keep pushing when I needed to and started prepping the room. Chris had my left leg and his mom had my right. Finally my doctor came in. I felt like I had pushed for forever. It was amazing to be able to feel what my body needed me to do. I knew when to push, how hard to push, when to ease off. I felt her crowning. Oh my goodness, the burn. I managed to crack a joke, "Oh! So this is why they call it the ring of fire?!" My doctor laughed and said, "I can't imagine why they'd call it that." then a few more pushes and her head came out. At some point Chris had moved towards the end of the bed beside the doctor. I pulled my left leg into my ribs, closed my eyes, and pushed hard one more time. I heard Chris's mom yell out, "Open your eyes! Open your eyes!"

When I opened my eyes, there she was. My baby. Our baby. Dark hair, button nose, the chubbiest cheeks, and the rest of the room disappeared. I looked over every little thing, counted fingers and toes, kissed her cheek. Immediately nursed her skin to skin. The doctor used local anesthesia since I felt him start stitching me up, and finished it while I nursed her. I finally looked around the room and noticed Chris was by my side. I smiled.

I was starving! I remember that was one of my first thoughts. I'd been hungry all day. I complained about being hungry the whole labor and finally, over 24 hours after my broth and roll,  I could eat. They took Emma to weigh her and check her vitals and let Chris hold her. Every one came in to see her.

When everything settled down they moved us to a postpartum room, in silence and calm of it all, my emotions hit hard. Here is this little person. My little person. The little that person I grew inside of my body and nourished for 40 weeks. She's mine. And I am hers. Forever. I didn't sleep. I stayed up, looking at her sleeping and breathing. I cried. I remember thinking about how small she looked in Chris's arms. I thought about how I would just die if anything ever happened to her. The postpartum nurses were fantastic. The night nurse even made Emma a bow hat from the hospital hats. They were so supportive of breastfeeding.

Chris was amazing from start to finish. I'm so lucky he's Emma's daddy and my partner. He helped me through my postpartum healing process (which was not easy) and listened to me cry every day for two weeks straight.

Now Emma is three months old and we both can't remember what life was even like before her... She's the highlight of my day. God has truly blessed us with this precious little girl. :)