Birth Story - it's a long post

On Tuesday I woke up in a weird mood. I didn't want to stay home so I went to work with Josh and helped him with a few things. Then, I was able to convince Josh and my mom to let me go to the mall by myself. While I was at the mall I noticed that I was having small contractions and was bleeding a little when I went to the bathroom.

I got home and ate Josh's spicy chili I had asked him to make for dinner. I was still having contractions throughout the evening. They started getting pretty strong about 9pm but we didn't leave for the hospital until about 11:30. I think we probably waited too long but I wanted to be absolutely sure that they wouldn't send us home. We got to the hospital about midnight and went straight to a monitoring room. The contractions were pretty intense by then and when they checked me I was at a 5. I was only in the triage unit for about 20 minutes before going up to Labor and Delivery. Once we got up there things got rough fast- contractions were right on top of each other and I was throwing up. The nurse suggested I ask for the epidural right away if I was going to want one. The computers were also down so they said it may take longer than usual. I wanted to try to go as long as I could without the meds but I'm glad I asked when I did - it was actually cutting it really close and I almost didn't get it at all. The nurse had told me it wasn't too late until I couldn't sit still and those last 4 or 5 contractions I really thought I wasn't going to make it. When the anesthesiologist got there he was really patient and I was able to sit pretty still with Josh's help.

They had to stick me twice but after the epidural, life got better. The nurse would tell me I was having a contraction and I didn't even know. The nurses checked me as soon as the epidural set in and I was at a 9 - after just over an hour! They had me sit up for some reason that I don't remember after a few minutes and all of a sudden I felt my water break. During this whole ordeal the doctor was trying to get two bags of antibiotics in me since I was positive for strep b. They wanted to try and delay labor until the antibiotics had time to set in - 8 hours. There was no way that was happening but they still wanted to wait as long as possible. I was already feeling some pressure and after my water broke it got stronger quickly.

I told the nurses I wanted to start pushing and they seemed doubtful. The resident was a very nice woman who was super helpful. They told me to go ahead and try and I started making progress right away. I pushed for about 30 minutes and then she was out! Josh was holding my hands and supporting my back when I had to sit up to push. My mom was helping me with one leg and taking pictures. This might be too much information (sorry). She took pictures and told me if I wanted to look at them I could and if not, no big deal. I actually did look at them later and was wasn't too grossed out.

After she was gone everything went by really quickly. They gave her to me and then to Josh after a few minutes so they could work a little more on me. One of my favorite pictures is Josh holding her and looking at her right after she was born. It was a great and exhausting experience. I can't believe that it went so smoothly overall. They had to give me and Addie some antibiotics because I had a fever during the delivery but all the tests came back fine.

I am still amazed by this whole process. One of the first things I said to Addie was "You were definitely worth it". I am so thankful that God has been faithful even when we haven't. He made this beautiful little girl inside of me and got her here safely no matter how much I doubted him and have been angry over the past few years. I really don't understand how people can have babies and not believe in God.

Sorry this has been long - thanks for reading if you stuck with it.