Saturday, April 02, 2016

SB's Birth: Oct. 4, 2015!

Our sweet baby girl is almost 6 months old and I'm finally here to announce her arrival! SB joined us on Sunday, Oct. 4, 2015 at 2:50 a.m. She made quite an entrance into the world just 15 minutes after we got to the hospital! I will tell the wild and wonderful story in a nutshell: I started having contractions midday on Saturday but I wasn't admitting it to myself or anyone else, possibly due to the fact that it was 8 days before her due date or maybe also because I was a little nervous about seriously trying natural childbirth for the first time. Early that afternoon I went out by myself and got a pedicure, then shopped at Hobby Lobby and Trader Joe's. I got home about 5:00 and we did supper and bedtimes for the kids, contracting in denial all the while. I did text my doula around 6:00 and told her I didn't think it was anything real, but just in case wanted her to know I as having some contractions. Finally at 11:00 p.m. I said to Trey, "Maybe we should get that app to track contractions." So we started timing them and at 12:30 a.m. tried to go to bed. Trey went right to sleep; I got right back up. I couldn't bounce on the ball...totally uncomfortable. I was struggling through contractions and finally called my doula at 1:45, and while I as on the phone with her I threw up (I've never done this in labor before). She said she thought it would be good for me to go on in to the hospital, so it was time to get someone to come stay with the kids. The first two ladies on our list were both out of town that night! I hadn't worried about that ahead of time because I assumed she would not come 8 days early. So I called another friend who'd offered to come over and lives just down the street but her voicemail picked up. What now? I had not talked to anyone else about coming over. Thankfully God brought to mind another friend from our church who lives in our neighborhood. We called her at 2:01 and she answered and got to our house about 2:15! We left home close to 2:30 and called the hospital on the way, and Trey had to talk because all I could do was try to manage the contractions at that point. They were so hard and close together but still I was thinking that we'd get there and they'd tell me I was at about 5 cm. Our doula was planning to meet us there, and we pulled up to the assessment entrance and I was stumbling into the lobby when a nurse was walking back in with a wheel chair. She offered it to me and I told her I couldn't sit down. She asked me what number baby this was for me and when I told her "Seven" then doubled over in pain holding onto the counter she told me to walk right back to the assessment room. Just as I was going back my doula ran in the entrance. I remember seeing very little after this because my eyes were mostly closed. They checked and I was at 10 cm!!! I was shocked but relieved in a way and thought we'd just go ahead and deliver her right there. But no, they said they were going to take me up to a delivery room! So I was lying on my side on a rolling stretcher with my eyes squeezed shut and several nurses along with Trey and my doula were rolling me down the hall to the elevator when I felt my water break. I told them that and then thought to ask if there was a doctor there. I remember hearing a man say, "Yes, I'm Dr. Cruz" and knew we were going up in the elevator. As the doors opened a nurse said, "Want to run?" And then they literally ran with me on the cart all the way to the delivery room. We rolled in and they told me I'd need to move over to the delivery bed. I think I said something equal to "Are you crazy?" and then they picked me up and moved me over. Everyone was in place and they told me I could push whenever I wanted to. My doula told me later that at that point I asked her "Do you think this will take long?" And then I pushed once and SB was born! It turned out that Dr. Cruz was a resident but there was no time for things to go wrong. I asked what the date was and someone said "10/4" and our doula said "10/4, over and out!" A perfect summary of what had just happened! SB weighed 7 lbs, 9 oz. and was perfectly healthy. It ended up being a little silly to have a doula, but I do think preparing for natural childbirth helped me be calm about how it all happened since I obviously couldn't have had an epidural anyway. It was intense but not scary, and looking back on it I can see so many ways God orchestrated it all perfectly even though I was in complete denial of reality all day and night! I can totally understand how people have babies in the car or even at home by accident now...I had no idea we were so close to that ourselves! While they weighed and checked out SB I got up and took a shower! Our doula stayed with us for a few hours and then we went to our regular room and settled in for some rest. The next morning, Gran and PopPop came to meet SB and Trey went home to get the kids and brought them to meet her before he took them to church. They were all so sweet and excited to see her! Later that day Nana and Grandpa came to meet SB, too. She is certainly a very beloved little girl! After one more night at the hospital we got to bring SB home at about 10:30 at night (another first!). There are pics of her below with most of the people mentioned above. What a precious blessing she is!