I was very blessed to have had a very easy pregnancy with no complications and not as much weight gain as I had expected. The only thing I will say about the last few weeks, is that I was extremely anxious because I am such a planner who likes to be in control...and the fact that she could come at any time, & me not know when that could be stressed me out!
Ideally, I thought, "wouldn't it be nice if I were home, my water broke, and I had time to shower?" Well, that's exactly how it happened.
Tuesday, January 8th around 7:45 am, I woke up, and as I was laying there, my water broke.
At first, I wasn't really sure if that's what it was or not, but I thought..."I should probably get up and see." Sure enough! I called my midwife, and she said to go ahead and come on in to the hospital. I jumped in the shower really quick, put on my makeup (of course), haha, we packed the car, and decided to run through Dunkin' Donuts so I could have a little something in my stomach. I took 2 bites, and we arrived at the hospital at about 9:30am. When we went in, I asked if I could finish my breakfast and they told me no. I figured this much, but I was SO hungry! Oh well.
After the midwife on call got there, she checked me and I was 3cm dilated. She also broke the rest of my water. After a little while, they put me in a private room, and my mom arrived. My contractions weren't bad yet...but I was definitely feeling something. They started me on Pitocin.
Ohhhhh Pitocin...the love/hate relationship we had. I loved it because I knew I would be meeting my baby girl soon, but hated those dang contractions! As they grew more intense, I decided that I definitely wanted the epidural. I had originally said that I was going to "wing it," and if I thought I could do it without the epidural, then I would. Yeaaahhhh that didn't happen. Haha. I have a whole new respect for those women who have natural childbirths.
When the anesthesiologist arrived, I wasn't sure I could take much more pain...but after I had the epidural, I was a new person. Laughing about stuff, powdering my nose (hehe) and just having a good ole' time. Ian thought it was hilarious that my contractions were getting pretty intense and I couldn't feel them at all.
Around 9:30 that evening, I started pushing with my nurse. She confirmed that she had hair, and we got really excited! My midwife arrived, and things got real. Addison Reese Allen was born at 10:30pm on the dot, weighing 6lbs 6oz, and measuring 19 inches long. I cannot express the pure joy Ian and I felt at that moment. They all said there was no other feeling like it, but until you actually see that sweet baby, you don't understand.
After she was out and I had a few minutes with her, I noticed the nurses started swarming around me...and immediately started feeling weird. I don't really remember a whole lot of what was said, except that my blood pressure dropped, and something about a possible cervical laceration. Apparently I was losing a lot of blood. My midwife called in the on-call doctor stat, and meanwhile, I was extremely nauseous, and actually vomited a few times. I actually remember asking my midwife if I was going to die...and she told me of course not...you're going to be fine. They put me on oxygen, and the doctor arrived. It was confirmed that I had a cervical laceration and they had to repair my cervix.
I can't imagine what Ian was feeling at this point. Scared, helpless, I'm not sure. My blood pressure slowly started to come back up as they were repairing me, and I started to feel more normal again. In the moment, I was so disoriented that I wasn't really thinking about how blessed I was that it wasn't more serious than it was...but now, thinking back on it, it scares me to death.
God was definitely with us that night. He knew I was going to be okay.
It wasn't until about 11:30 that the family was able to come in and see us...and we had decided to keep what had happened to ourselves, at least for that night. We wanted that night to be a celebration of Addie, and that it was.
I can't wait to share the unbelievable pictures that our best friend Kate Whitmore took during the entire birth. They are images that we will cherish forever, and will be able to show Addie one day when she is old enough.
There are no words to describe how much love Ian and I have for this precious little girl, who has only been on this earth for a week. We are learning new things each and every day about being parents. It's hard, but totally worth it. :)
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