The Story of You

Last night I was talking to my sweet friend Sandy about our birth stories and she made me realize that I didn't really give that whole day justice on the post I did here.
Really?! ONE paragraph, any woman, regardless of how her delivery went, should know ONE paragraph doesn't do that day (or days) justice!

I have had this weird idea that because my pregnancy and delivery went so smoothly my story will come across as "braggy" (pretty sure that isn't a word but oh well). I was thinking a lot about this last night and realized that God gave me the gift of an easy pregnancy and delivery because He had other plans for me that I needed to be strong for last year. If I would have been really sick, on bed rest, or had a high-risk pregnancy at all I wouldn't have been able to be there for my family or been able to grieve when we lost Josh. His timing and plan is perfect even if in the moment it doesn't seem as if anything is going right.

That being said, here goes:

My original due date was August 20, 2011. I went in for my 41 week appointment on 8/24, how RUDE that they even schedule that appointment. I had been dilated at a 3 for about a month but not really effaced, the doctor said she could strip my membranes if I wanted her to or just wait to be induced on the following Monday. I really didn't want to be induced and I heard from someone (Andrea *cough *cough) that having your membranes stripped didn't hurt....umm...lets just say I about kicked my beautiful doctor in the teeth. Yeeeooouuuuzzaaa! I mean, come on, it's called stripping your membranes, I should have known.
After my appointment I didn't really feel any different but did start to spot a lot, I never had my mucus plug fall out but I did start contracting, very very mild but still I could tell it was different than just Braxton Hicks. Thursday morning I woke up feeling great! Still having spotting and contractions but overall felt great.

Greg and I had been doing a landscaping project for the past couple weeks we knew needed to get done so instead of putting my feet up I went out and helped him plow, shovel, and compact some dirt before laying sod. This was around 6:00pm on 8/25, and while I was shoveling dirt I realized that my contractions had been pretty consistent. So I just kept shoveling and when I had a contraction I just took a break and then kept shoveling. Stupid, I know and I'm sure that if our neighbors didn't know us very well they would have called the cops on Greg for abuse :)
After our project was finished for the night I told Greg I think we need to start timing these things because they were getting worse and closer together.

Bee Tea Dub, if anyone reading this is worried you won't know if you are having contractions...you will, I thought the same thing...you will know, trust me.

To make sure they were the real deal, I took a shower, relaxed for a bit just to make sure. By 10:00pm I knew they most defiantly were the real deal. Greg and I sat on the couch the rest of the evening and watched a movie, lots of episodes of The Office, walked around our neighborhood at 2am

...side story...
As we were walking around the block we stopped during a contraction and saw this girl jumping her fence and sneeking out! Ha! This was a Thursday night, mind you, not sure where she is going on a school night, in Meridian, at 2 am?! I'm sure she thought we were just as weird...

At about 4 am my contractions were about 5 minutes apart, even then I didn't really want to go to the hospital because I was TERRIFIED of being sent home. It happens all the time and I would have much rather been going through that in my home then in the hospital. Greg, however, didn't agree and we got ready to go. On the way called my mom, Julie, and Andrea, we got to the hospital around 5:00am and because Greg worked there he just took me right to L&D.

In triage they hooked me up, checked me to see how far I was and the nurse said, "ummm you are at an 8 and your water is about to break, would you like an epidural" I honestly, knowing how the pain affected me, I could have gone natural but I hesitated because I was exhausted and Greg and I knew I needed antibiotics because I was positive for Group B strep and maybe with the next one I won't be but that meant if I didn't have the antibiotics it was a for sure trip for Everlee to the NICU. So, I had the epidural and it was glorious! I know there are a lot of opinions about this but in this instance it was the right choice.

The next few hours were kindof a blur. Dr. Shurm checked on me in the morning and when she checked to see how far I was my water broke, that was around 8:00. Because I was progressing  quickly even with the epidural they pushed my antibiotics quickly which made my veins really painful and made me a little nauseous.

As soon as that last drop of antibiotic was in I was ready to push, this was about 10 minutes to 11:00am. The nurses and my family were so great to have there, Andrea and Greg were holding my legs and my mom and Julie were up talking me through it. I'm not sure they exact number of times but I think I only pushed 4 or 5 times before the nurses said to stop pushing because the doctor was on her way and Everlee was seconds from being born! Still not sure how I did this because even with the epidural I could still feel a lot and was scared she was going to come out without me even pushing! Dr. Shrum came running in with her scrub pants around her knees and still getting everything on as I was laying there trying desperately not to push! Finally ready, at 11:17am I gave one last push and just like that our little family was a little bigger!

Everlee was 7lbs 11oz born at 11:17am

I recovered and adjusted pretty well. I think the recovery process is worse than all of it put together. So sore and tired! Everlee latched and nursed really well from the beginning...obviously, hello chubby bunny! At her 2 week check up she gained 2 pounds! She had some trouble with reflux but a little before 3 months was sleeping 8 hours at night. Such a blessing in a dark time in our family's life, God knows what He is doing!

Thanks for sticking with me through this post. I know it was long but I think Sandy was right, it's important to have documented!

(oh and just so you all know, didn't proof read this at all so be nice grammar police)