Afton & Andrew: Addie's Birth Story

This is my account of what happened and what I remember. Granted, if you ask Andrew, my mom, or Nicole, you'll get more details and stories because my memory of many things is very fuzzy. I'm not sure if that is due to the medication or just wanting to repress the memory of so much pain.

In any account, here we go!

My due date was set for March 1, and when that date came and went I was becoming more and more anxious for Addie to arrive. I didn't know what to expect when I went into labor, I never had any Braxton Hicks contractions through out my pregnancy. So my doctor went ahead set an induction date for March 12, which seemed like a lifetime away. Of course, on Andrew's birthday (March 11) I finally started having contractions. They were 2 mins long and about 2-4 mins apart, so we called the doctor and they said to go ahead and go to the hospital. So at 7:30pm Andrew, me, and my mom grabbed my hospital bag and headed out!

Those contractions at home were nothing compared to the ones I had at the hospital. After getting registered and checked in, I still had no real progression, so they had me walk around the lobby for 2 hours to see if that helped. The contractions were getting increasingly worse and worse the more I walked, and the distance I could walk before stopping and clinging onto Andrew for comfort was getting shorter and shorter. Finally after the 2 hours they checked me again, and still....nothing. My only options were to stay the night or come back at 5:30 am for my scheduled induction. We chose to just stay the night as it was already 11 pm. They got my IV set and gave me some pain medication for my contractions. At some point, maybe around 5 am they came in and told me I was a 6! You know what that means....epidural time! I was so happy I finally had some progression and a release from the pain.

The epidural was great, unfortunately the baby's head was pushing on one of my nerves that was making my left leg hurt horribly. There was nothing we could do for that pain since it was due to the pressure she was putting on me. All I could do was push! Around 3 pm they had me start pushing. Since I couldn't feel my contractions, I had to be told when they were starting so I knew when to push. I kept looking at my mom and saying, "tell me when I'm contracting!".

Randomly in the middle of pushing, the nurse told me that the girl scouts wanted to come in and visit me once the baby was here. I thought I was hallucinating, but no it was true. She was the only baby girl born in the area on the centennial of the Girl Scouts, so we she was awarded a free lifetime membership. They also brought cookies for Andrew and I. :)

At 3:52 pm I saw my beautiful baby girl enter the world. It was the most incredible thing to see. Andrew cut the umbilical cord, and then watch her get weighed, cleaned up, taken to the nursery, etc. I however got to sit there without seeing my baby for almost an hour while I got stitched back up since I "pushed too quickly". Hey, if your baby is 11 days past due date and her head is putting pressure on you making you want to amputate your own leg during child labor, why wouldn't I push as much as I could? It was all worth it though, every bit of pain and discomfort.

Recovery the first week was much harder than I thought it was going to be. No one tells you how scary it is to have to take care of a new born! It's so scary because you are responsible for such a fragile human life. I couldn't sleep much because I would always watch to make sure she kept breathing. I'm pretty sure she didn't cry at all the first week because we were constantly holding her! She's a spoiled, but perfect little girl.

I'm so grateful that Andrew has been here in the beginning to help me, and ever so grateful for all the help my mom has given me. I could not have survived with out their help. Sometimes it's hard to admit that you need help, but I did and I have a great support system in my family!