Birth Story...

Brad and I went to bed on Thursday July 2nd around 1:00 in the morning, and we watched TV until about 2.  At about 3:15 I woke up because my water had broken.  At first I was unsure of what was going on because earlier that day I had gone to the doctor for my 38 week visit and I was only a fingertip dilated.  So, I ran into the bathroom, and discovered that indeed my water had broken.  I immediately yelled for Brad to get up and get busy, he was so disoriented, but he put on his game face, and got to work!  I then called the hospital to page the doctor on call for me, which was Dr. Farber, and when he called me back he told me to grab my bags and come in right then.  I kept waiting for contractions to start, but they never did.


Brad drove us to the hospital, and the whole time we were joking and laughing...I don't think it really had hit us that we were going to be having a baby VERY SOON!  Since I wasn't having any contractions or pain I decided that I would just walk with Brad over from the parking garage.  When we got into the hospital, at about 3:45, we couldn't figure out where to go (I didn't know I was supposed to go to the emergency department...haha).  Everyone kept trying to put me in a wheelchair, but that was totally unnecessary because again...no pain, no contractions.  When we got up to the labor and delivery triage the nurse confirmed that yes my water had broken, and no I was not having any contractions, and I was still only a fingertip dilated.

At about 5:00 we were put into a labor and delivery room to wait it out.  Dr. Farber came in to check on me, but pretty much said he was going to let Dr. Garcia (who was coming on call at 7) decide how to proceed.  The hope was that my body would go into labor on its own.  At 9:15 Dr. Garcia came in and introduced himself and we discussed some possible options.  (By the way Brad and I LOVED Dr. Garcia, he was amazing.)  He said that my body was not going to go into labor on its own, I was only 1 cm and 50%, and my cervix was extremely posterior (which was not a good thing).  He said we would start some pitocin and hope that it would throw me into full blown labor, but he told me there was a 50% chance I would be having a C-section at the end of the day, but he would do everything he possibly could to see to it that didn't happen.  So I obviously started to freak out, but Brad calmed me down and I was able to come to terms with that possibility as long as our little girl was healthy. 

So, at 10:45 I got my epidural (which I was FREAKED out about, but ended up not hurting at all!).  Dr. Garcia came back in at 12:30 and checked me and I was 2 cm and 80% effaced.  He was super encouraged by this progress, and he said that I was doing really well, and if I kept up at this progress I would have a baby by midnight.  All there was to do now was wait until I was fully dilated.  So, we watched lots of soccer (World Cup was on...duh!), Sports Center, HGTV, and Boo was nice enough to go rent When In Rome for me to watch.  At 3:45 I was 4 cm and still 80%, and then at 6:30 I was 6 cm, Emery was at station 0, and I was 100% effaced.  At this point he was thinking baby between 10 and midnight. 

By 9:00 I started to feel really sick on my stomach, and was starting to feel LOTS of pressure, so Dr. Garcia checked me again at 9:34, and I was fully dilated and Emery was ready to make her grand entrance!  So the nurse came in and I started pushing around 10:00.  I pushed for about 30 minutes, and then the nurse went to go get Dr. Garcia, and he came in and I pushed for 15 more minutes, and Emery was born at 10:46 pm.  As soon as she was born Brad cut the cord, and I got to hold her.  It was so surreal I could not believe that she was finally here!  I will never forget those first few moments with Emery and Brad and I as a family of three.

Brad was AMAZING through the whole thing.  I could not have asked for anything more from him.  And...he's promised a guest blog in the near future :)

Here are some more recent pictures of sweet Emery...