The Birth of Elizabeth Grace

This is obviously very overdue, since she is 20 days old now, but since I'm just catching up on life and getting back into a pattern, it is what it is!

So without further ado...

After 2 days of intense and painful but not very regular contractions, things finally started getting really serious on the evening of September 29^th. I was suddenly having to change positions and was no longer able to talk through the contractions, even starting to have to “verbalize” through them. I tried to sleep, but had to get up on all 4’s and “moo” with each contraction. The contractions were about 6-8 minutes apart, so I woke up Bobby and got up to take a bath around 3 AM. As soon as I got up and moving, the contractions went to 4 minutes apart, so we drained the tub (what a waste of water! haha) and called my mom over to watch Rosie. We then took the longest 1 hour drive ever!

When we got to the hospital, (around 4:30 AM) I was already 6 centimeters dilated, and SO ready for the epidural. After going natural with Rosie (and swearing never to do it again), and the 2 days of labor, I was exhausted and couldn’t take any more. They moved me over to a delivery room and put in my IV right away, and before I could even get my whole bag of fluids, the anesthesiologist was there and putting in the epi. It was amazing! I could finally rest a little bit. It was probably around 6:00 when the doctor got there. He checked me soon after, and I was already at 9 ½. My water broke when he was checking me, and we discovered that there was a little bit of meconium in the fluid. The doctor reassured me that there was hardly any and he was not concerned, but that NICU nurses would be coming to the room and would have to look the baby over as soon as she was born (even before I would get to hold her). The NICU nurses were really a silent presence over in the corner and didn’t bother me at all, and the only other people in the room were Bobby, the Dr, my nurse, and her assistant. Bobby was about to faint the entire time, so he was sitting over by the wall and kept apologizing, but I told him I was fine. Since I had the epi, I was totally calm and didn’t really need any help or anything. At this point, I had him call my mom and have my family head on over to the hospital.

As soon as the doctor had everything ready, he checked me again, and I was complete and ready to push. In 3 contractions, Elizabeth Grace was born! I was waiting for the NICU nurses to sweep in and rush her away, but my doctor (the Lord bless him) said that I could hold the baby on my tummy while he took care of the cord. It was so amazing to have this time with her! Then once the cord was cut, the NICU nurses took her for just a couple of minutes, then returned her to me. Bobby was finally able to come over and see her, and she was nursing like a champ within half an hour!

She measured 21 ½ inches, 8 pounds, 5 ounces, and her apgar scores were 8 and 9. We are so blessed to have this amazing miracle, and to have had such a wonderful and peaceful birthing experience!!

Minutes after birth:

One day old:

Twelve days old: