Birth Story

I've got to get this written down before it gets too fuzzy in my mind.

A lot of things are fuzzy in my mind these days.

Be advised, it's long and detailed. But I really want to remember this day. It was incredibly special.

Laura was born on Wednesday afternoon, December 30, at 3:49.

On Tuesday, at my regularly scheduled check-up, Dr. Wonderful (name changed to protect the professional) stripped my membranes with the hopes of giving my body a little push in the right direction. We hoped that labor would start a few hours later and our baby would arrive that day.

I did start contracting at 4:15 that afternoon and they were pretty regular for about an hour. For the rest of the evening, I'd have consistent contractions for an hour or so, and then they'd get really easy (more like an ache) for a while. We put the kids to bed at our neighbors' house and stayed to watch a movie (Quantum Solace, if you must know) as a distraction. The irregular contractions continued through the night and into the wee morning hours.

We headed in to the hospital early Wednesday morning only to be sent away once we got there. Because of icy weather, my doctor's office wasn't opening until 10:00. We decided to stick around in FW until I could see the doctor because I really felt that it was true labor, just not progressing like we expected. You see, Addi and Jackson both came within 4 hours of my first contraction. We assumed this one would come as fast or faster. I was tired, grumpy, and miserable, and I wasn't going home until my doctor checked me.

So Jeff and I ran some errands. We went to Sam's Club to get some things we were needing at home. Then we headed over to Best Buy and Target. I was mostly feeling crampy and irritated that my contractions weren't getting stronger or more consistent. In Target, my lower back started aching and I was more grumpy than ever. Luckily there weren't too many folks in Target that morning because I caught a glimpse of my face in a mirror and the look would most definitely scare small children. I bought a piece of chocolate cake because I felt I deserved it, then demanded that Jeff take me to the doctor's office so we could be there when she got in.

I was prepared to break the door down at the doctor's office at 9:45 but lucky for them, they opened "early" and let us in. She let me come back pretty quickly and checked me right away. I hadn't had any strong, regular contractions, but the miserable crampy feeling was taking its toll. However, after all that time, my lazy cervix had only dilated one more cm to a 4. I was hoping for more.

The doctor told us to go on back upstairs (to be admitted) since I was in labor, just progressing slowly. She didn't want us to go home any more than we wanted to since I have a "history of fast labor." None of us wanted to get stuck behind the train in Cresson and deliver on the side of the road. BUT I didn't want to be stuck in the hospital feeling like that and I told her as much. But Dr. Wonderful, being wonderful like she is, told me not to worry. As soon as they got me admitted, she'd come up and break my waters. Yippee!

We headed up around 10:30 and got settled into our room. Still no hard contractions though. I managed to cheer up a bit since I knew the end was near. Once they finally got us admitted sometime after noon, Dr. Wonderful came up to break my waters. I'm not going to talk about that part of the day except to say that it hurt and it didn't happen. She went back downstairs, promising to return after I'd had my epidural. The "makes everything feel better" guy came around 12:15 and I definitely felt better after that. No more cramps, no more back aches. It was nice. Dr. Wonderful came back up around 1:00 and successfully broke my water.

Jeff watched the monitor for the next hour and reported little to no activity. When the nurse came in to check me at 2:00, she also reported that my contractions were minimal and very far apart, if happening at all. She checked me anyways and was surprised to find me dilated to 7 cm. 3 cm in an hour with no contractions ain't too bad. She promised to come back and check again in an hour so we settled down to visit with various family members who were there waiting.

At about 2:45, I suddenly felt pressure and some other things that they told me I might feel when it was "time." I told Jeff to get the nurse, but he didn't really think I was right because I had had no contractions in the last 45 minutes. Luckily, the nurse came in to check me early because it was absolutely time. She said to keep my legs closed (apparently babies can be born without contractions and pushing) until she could get the Dr. up there. Dr. Wonderful arrived within minutes and then things got a little more fun.

A little history...Jeff got to catch Addi and cut her cord in Waco. The Dr. there was great to let him participate. Jackson came too fast and it wasn't our regular doctor who delivered him, so Jeff just got to cut his cord. But Dr. Wonderful was willing to let Jeff do whatever he wanted to do as long as things were going okay.

Since things were progressing fine, Jeff and my doctor got gowned up in all their sterile gear while I relaxed in the bed.


Once they were all gowned up, Dr. Wonderful walked Jeff through the delivery as if he were a med student. She told him exactly what to do and he followed her instructions.

Here's Jeff's face when he caught his first glimpse of the baby. "It" was beginning to crown at this point.

And here he is catching her.

Funnily enough, Jeff's first words after were "It's a boy!" because he thought he felt "stuff." But the parts were right in front of me and I was thinking something was wrong with "him" because something important was missing. Dr. Wonderful just laughed and said "Noooooo, it's a girl."

True story.

Here's Jeff, showing off the baby he delivered.


I realize that we should have a picture of him holding her at delivery, but we don't have one. I purposefully didn't take that picture and am already regretting it. Can't go back and do it again though.

Did you figure out who the photographer was?

It was me! The labor part was awful, but Laura's delivery was the easiest ever. My contractions never did get consistent and you can only push during a contraction. So was spent a lot of time waiting between contractions. We waited, I rested. I'd push for 30 seconds then rest for 4 or 5 minutes until another contraction came along. It was amazing and easy so I was able to take pictures of Jeff delivering our baby the entire time.

It was a neat experience for both of us and we'll cherish the memory forever.

The end.

If it wasn't so late, I'd post some recent pics of Laura and her siblings. But I'm tired so that will have to wait until another day.