Birth Story

I woke up for work friday Sept. 25th feeling pretty normal. The only thing I noticed was that my contractions were feeling "cramp like". I headed off to work not paying much attention to them. That day was my official last day of work and I was excited to have a few free days to get even more ready for baby Eden's arrival. My contractions were consistent all day but because of all the braxton hicks I had experienced I didn't pay attention to them. My work threw me an amazing going away party that day. At around 8 that night the contractions were really hurting and about 5 minutes apart. I tried to lay down to sleep at about ten but they hurt so much that sleep wasn't an option. After calling my midwife we decided to go to the hospital. I assumed they would send me home and say it wasn't labor because at my appointment on Wednesday I was not dilated at ALL.

I got hooked up and checked... I was at a 2 plus.... so I guess the contractions were doing something after all. One hour later I was at a 3 plus. The contractions were really uncomfortable at this point. The nurse comes in and says that they were going to check me in and get me my epidural. Hold on, what? I am having this baby tonight?!

I was happy to learn that getting an epidural was not as scary as I thought. My epidural was in at 3 am and I continued to dilate through the night but I couldn't sleep. I was too excited to meet my baby.

At 8 the nurse came in and told me I was 9 centimeters. Eden's head was not in the right position so we spent about an hour trying to turn her. She finally turned and I began pushing around 9:30. I guess durring the turning something tore. I didn't know how bad it was but I guess I was "gushing" blood. I lost a lot of blood and my midwife decided to call in the doctor. They were going to try to suction her out with the vaccum and if that didn't work go to a C-section. I didn't think I would neeed a doctor so I hadn't taken the time to meet any of them.

My midwife said, "Dr. Young should be here soon." I said, "Oh, Dave?"

My sisters best friend Syd (her blog is on my blog roll) just moved from Michigan to Utah. I adore her and her sweet family. Her husband Dave recently began working at the office with the midwives where I have been going. What a releif it was to have someone I know and trust to deliver my baby!

I had been pushing and she was close so we tried the vaccum first. A few pushes later she was out. I was so happy and overjoyed. They placed her on me and I wondered how on earth she fit in me (even though I was huge).

After a minute her wieght was too much on my chest so I handed her to Brent and promptly threw up... and threw up ... and threw up. I felt aweful. I was moved to recovery where I was given a blood trasfusion the following day. I never thought I would need two nurses just to pee but I did. After the transfusion I immediatly noticed feeling better.

We had many visitors and everyone in Brent and I's families who live in Utah were at the hospital.

Laboring, dialating, getting the epidural and pushing were SO much less scary than I thought. The recovery was worse than I thought though just because of the blood loss. I got home thinking I would have all this energy to take care of her and I didn't. From the hormone loss to the fatigue I pretty much bawled every day the first week.

I am happy to say that every day has gotten better. I am feeling much more like myself and more capable.

Being a mommy has been a lot of praying... let her be safe, let her sleep well, help her poop, bless her gas will come out and she wont be uncomfortable, give me patience, bless me with energy, help me be a good mommy.

So there it is, sorry I have been MIA but I am sure you understand...

Well it looks like someone is awake now and she is in need of my boobs....

-Sophie