Simply put, it was the best day of my life. Labor, delivery, meeting our sweet little girl could not have been more perfect. At exactly 41 weeks, I was induced. At first, I felt a little guilty about it. Shouldn’t I let her wait until she’s ready? I wanted my body to do what it’s supposed to do naturally, but a week over due and nothing was happening. Kyle had been putting off his work, I wanted a full maternity leave, and we knew our first wedding this fall wasn’t going to move their date just because we had her late. So we made the decision to be induced. I was supposed to go in the night before to be prepped for my induction. Kyle’s mom came into town to be here for the delivery and to help with the dogs. We went out to dinner to my favorite restaurant, then sat on the back porch and played yahtzee while we waited for the hospital to give us the thumbs up to come in. My doctor had told me if I didn’t hear from them by 10PM to call, I called at 10:01. Apparently every other mom-to-be in Wake County had decided to go into labor that night, because they were out of beds. They said they’d call again before midnight to give me an update. Worst case scenario we wouldn’t be admitted until the morning. At 11:15 my energy wore out, so I decided to go to bed. I brushed my teeth, put on pjs, turned out the light, and as I was crawling into bed they called. They were still full, so we’d have to wait til the morning. Surprisingly, we both slept until the phone rang at 6:20AM to come as soon as possible.

The drive to the hospital was a little surreal. No rushing, no screaming pains, just me and Kyle on our way to have a baby. Not the drive I was expecting to make, but it was wonderful. We (ok I) cried, we talked about how we thought the day was going to go, and how excited we were to meet her. At 7:15AM we parked and walked in together knowing that our lives were getting ready to change. As we were finishing our admittance paperwork, they told me who was on call. It wasn’t who I expected. I go to an office with multiple doctors. I saw them all throughout pregnancy, but my regular one was my favorite. I saw her for 75% of my visits. So when we went to schedule the induction, my first question to her was when was she on call. And she wasn’t…for the next 10 days. We all agreed to go ahead and schedule it anyway, and when I asked her who was on call that day, she told me my other two favorites. Perfect, I thought! But when I showed up and checked into the hospital, neither of them was on call. Apparently, my doctor had accidentally looked at the calendar wrong. If there was any doctor I didn’t want from my practice it was the one I got. Only because he’s a man. Out of 8 doctors, only 1 is a guy. My chances were good to get a girl! But as the day went on, and we worked with him more throughout my delivery, we quickly grew to love him. He was amazing, and made my delivery a great experience!

Once we got over the shock, we were sent to our room, and began the process. It was now 8:30. My mom and sister arrived, along with Kyle’s mom, to support me through labor. We were only allowed two visitors in addition to Kyle, so they rotated throughout the day. At 10:30, they finally began the pitocin. The contractions immediately kicked in about 3 minutes apart. I progressed well throughout the day, and we passed the time by asking our nurses 1000 questions about their experiences as labor and delivery nurses. We had two sets of nurses, and all of them were amazing! Sometime around lunch my regular doctor came to check on me, love her.

I had no plans of doing a natural childbirth, so as soon as the contractions became to much to handle I was ready for that epidural. That was somewhere around 5PM. The one thing I wish I’d done differently was kept a documented timeline instead of trying to remember it all. From about 5-10PM I have no idea what happened. I know they gave me a drug called Stadol to help with the pain and hold off a little longer on the epidural. I know it made the room spin, made me physically sick, and didn’t touch the contraction pain like it was supposed to. They ended up giving me zophran to counteract it. I do remember saying to my mom, while the room was spinning, that there was no way I would be able to push in that condition. Once they gave me the zophran, everything was better. Then the epidural came! It immediately kicked in, and life was good again. Although, I did not like the way it made my legs feel. I was shocked they felt that way…tingly, heavy, and swollen feeling. However, I did like it better than feeling the contractions :)

Around 10:30PM, they told me I was ready to push. That’s when we kicked everyone out of the room, and let it just be Kyle and I. That was the best decision for us. Kyle was an amazing birth partner, and those first moments of just the three of us I will never forget. Back to the pushing, it lasted 2 1/2 hours! Honestly, it flew by! It was probably the strangest part of the experience, because since I couldn’t feel the contractions I had no natural push desire. I was only pushing because they told me to. About 11:45PM, I looked at the nurse and said “I’m not having an August 6th baby, am I?” And that took all the guilt away about picking her birthday : ) Around the 2 hour mark, I got concerned they were going to make me do a c-section. I did not work that hard and go all day without food, just to end up having a c-section! And it was about that time, that the nurse reminded us to update the family to let them know we were all ok. Oooops, guess we were a little preoccupied : ) Then a new nurse came in, changed my pushing technique, and out popped the baby at 1:29AM!

Tears instantly started flowing. I remember they laid her on my chest all covered in goop, and Kyle leaned over and kissed her on the head. All I could think was that’s so sweet but so gross, haha. After a few minutes they took her to wipe her down really quickly and brought her right back to me. I snuggled with her for at least an hour before they took her for her bath. About 15 minutes of just the three of us, we both agreed it was time to bring the family back. Those were some of the sweetest moments. Seeing my mom and little sister react was so special. I’m crying as I sit here typing this just thinking about it all. After her bath, the nurse handed her to Kyle for the first time. The joy on his face was priceless. He was immediately smitten. Then we let the grandmas and auntie hold her too : ) But since it was 3AM at this point, we all wrapped it up quickly so we could get some sleep.

We finally made it to our postpartum room at 4AM, and at 4:30AM I got to eat again! She was worth the lack of food! Mom came back around 8AM, and then the visitors started pouring in. My older sisters, brother-in-law and niece made the drive down from Richmond, VA later that afternoon, and I still can’t begin to tell them how much we appreciated that! It was so special to have them there for that first day. And my sister, having 4 kids of her own, gave me some really good new mom advice!

Because she was born in the very early hours of a Thursday morning, we weren’t going to be released until Saturday morning. When the pediatrician arrived to check her over for release, they noticed some signs of dehydration including a small fever. They decided to keep us one more night to monitor her. At first, I was devastated. I was doing everything I could to feed her, and it wasn’t enough. I felt so heartbroken that she didn’t feel well. A lactation nurse came and worked with us, and we decided to supplement with a special system that works with nursing so she would get the nutrients she needs while she nursed. It was amazing! But because up to that point she hadn’t been getting enough, she lost a lot of her weight. She was 7 lbs 3 oz at birth, and dropped down to 6 lbs 7 oz by the time she was released. But by Sunday morning she’d gained back a half ounce and her fever was gone, so we were released!!! The drive home was more emotional than the drive there. We both cried as we held hands and just smiled at each other.

We settled in for about an hour, and then my sister brought the dogs home since she took over when Kyle’s mom left and our sitters who’d been feeding them went out of town. I was expecting a monumental moment. I got the camera ready, we were videoing, and then nothing, haha. They both walked in, smelled her, and walked away. I’m pretty sure they were mad at us for being gone the last 4 days! It took a few weeks before Baxter stopped leaving the room every time she cried, but now he’s starting to love her. We’ve even seen some protective instincts. Allie isn’t feeling all that well these days, so she’s not interested in much of anything. She shows a little interest but not much. Overall, it was a good transition introducing her to her big siblings : )

 I didn’t intend to write our whole birth story. I was just going to share the pictures from the hospital, but once I started writing I couldn’t stop. One day I’ll thank myself for having this all written out to look back upon!

I’ll admit there are photos between our last picture above and her first picture below…but you’ll never see them, haha. Birth is not the most flattering of things!

I absolutely love this moment below that Kyle caught! It’s right after my mom came back to the room, and it gets me every single time!

Kyle holding her for the first time!

Grandma, and a proud aunt!

The next morning before everyone arrived!

Aunt & Uncle : )

All the girls!

Kyle’s uncle and aunt happened to be in town for one of her work seminars that week. Such perfect timing!

Grandmas

Mom wanted a photo with her two little girls!

Then we realized Kyle wasn’t in any of the photos since he was taking all of them!

Still love all that hair!

Kyle’s dad made it into town Saturday morning to meet his granddaughter : )

LOVE THIS PHOTO!

Saturday night, I finally ventured out of my room and followed her to her nursery check up. So fun to watch her there : )

Sunday morning, and it’s time to get dressed to go home. I couldn’t get over how cute she was in real clothes!

Time to meet her big brother and sister : )

There you have it…our story!