Saturday, November 23, 2013

Emma's Birth Story

I wish so badly I had 600 pictures of Emma's labor and delivery. But the truth is, we showed up and I was 9 cm dilated. There was no time for pictures, no time for me to put my cute cozy socks on, and no time for my husband to call our family (actually while I was pushing he said "Can I call your dad and my mom?" NO YOU JERK WAD). 

Seriously

Okay, so this story begins 1 day before my due date and 2 days before Emma's birthday-- Friday, October 18. 

I had an appointment that morning. They usually don't check me but I asked to be checked since I felt like she had dropped a bit. Wrong. 0 station, 0 cm dilated, nothing exciting. 

After our appointment we went to the mall and had Panera, found me some sweat pants to wear home from the hospital, and grabbed some groceries at Harris Teeter. 

I ran my husband to work immediately after our errands, came home and cleaned up the house. I made lots of work calls and was a little bit crampy. I thought I was on my feet too much. That night I ran to the mall to get my rings inspected and my nails done (nobody wants an ugly mama!). I walked the length of the entire mall and even got a cinnamon Auntie Anne's pretzel. :) 

All throughout my pedicure I was having "cramps". Nothing painful, just annoying. I texted my husband and he started to get nervous. 

Picked up hubby from work and of course had to run to Target. I wanted something to help me sleep because I was up the night before and I was still having "cramps". (Looking back, these cramps were timeable and about 6-7 minutes apart lasting 30 seconds). I couldn't take anything so we went home empty handed. 

Friday night I slept pretty crappy..a little bit crampy and just annoyed that I couldn't sleep. 

Saturday, October 19th (my due date) I felt a bit better-- had some breakfast, walked the neighbor's dog, hung out with my husband, and got some stuff done around the house. Still crampy, but manageable (Looking back I was in total denial). My husband had to work so I watched a few Lifetime movies and texted my friends throughout the day. 

Keeping myself busy on my due date.

My husband came home Saturday night and wanted to watch Scandal. I kind of felt bad so I agreed. I ate a handful of yogurt covered raisins and couldn't make it through 10 minutes of Scandal. I was tired and wanted to go to bed now

Woke up around 2 with really bad cramps. I let my husband sleep and hopped in the bathtub. By now I had gotten the "Full Term" app and was timing my cramps. They were 5-6 minutes apart and lasting about 45 seconds to 1 minute. 

Again, I honestly thought these were just stupid cramps! They were not that painful, just a bit annoying. Our plan was that we would call our families when we knew we were in "real" labor, so we just waited this out. 

The bath actually helped a lot. I felt OK. I knew Emma wasn't going to come for a long time so I was excited I could go back to bed and get some sleep. 

Ha!

I managed to get out of the tub but I couldn't walk to get my clothes comfortably. I got my husband and said "I think we're going to have a baby today". By now it was 3ish. He helped me get dressed and I laid in bed for a bit. By now my contractions were getting painful and I had to breathe deeply through them. I could still talk through them but I was uncomfortable. They were coming every 5 minutes and lasting a minute. 

To be honest I don't remember what happened next. My husband called the nurses and they said not to rush-- that I could come in if I felt I needed to or I could labor at home for a bit. I wanted to stay at home for a bit longer. My husband helped me tidy up the house and I straightened my hair. By this point I had to stop, lean over, and groan through each contraction. 

By 6AM I was feeling nauseated and threw up a few times. This is when I knew I was in "transition" (basically heading to the end point of labor) and my husband started to panic. He threw me in the car around 7:30 and off we went. 

I wish I could say we drove quickly and got there in record time. Wrong. Wasn't there a 10 mile run that day and roads were closed? I was in the back seat praying out loud and my husband was in the front seat cursing and throwing our GPS (we still can't find it).. GAH. 

We finally arrived around 8:15. I yacked in the parking lot (awkward) and all my husband could say was that I looked pretty. Poor guy. 

What happened next is such a blur..basically we walked in and literally had a baby. It was so perfect/fast/fun/exciting/crazy.  All I really remember was asking to be checked and she said "Oh sweetie, you're 9 centimeters!". 

After Emma was born I was so out of it. It felt good to be done but I was just staring into space. They had to say "HOLD YOUR BABY!" because I think they were afraid she was just going to slide off my chest. My husband took her for a while and once I got some water I felt much more coherent, LOL. 


Looking back, Emma's birthday was the best day of our lives. I wouldn't have it any other way! We are so blessed and thankful to God for her. 


Heading to first Dr. appt

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