Caroline's Birth Story...

Saturday we woke up to another morning of no baby! Since we already had our induction set for Sunday, I didn't have my hopes set too high on going into labor on my own, even though I really, really wanted to. Throughout the day I was pretty crampy, but I had been having Braxton Hicks and cramps for about 2 months, so it didn't really bother me. Greg and I spent the day relaxing and running a few errands (one being taking back a few newborn clothes since we had been told she would probably weigh around 9lb 2 oz), then we went to Henry's for dessert that evening. We went to bed around 10:00 and watched a movie. Around 11:15pm I had a few pretty strong contractions, but decided to just go to sleep and see if they passed. By 12am they were too strong to stay in bed, so I went and got on the computer and started timing. They were already consistently 6-7 minutes apart and I timed for over an hour before going to tell Greg that this may be the real deal. Around 1:30 they moved to around 4-5 minutes apart and were VERY strong. I called my midwife, Judy, and told her what was going on and she said, "well, do you wanna have a baby today? If so, come on over and I will meet you in labor and delivery!" I woke up Greg and told him we were going to be going to the hospital so I was going to take a shower. We both got ready very quickly and were out the door by around 2:15am. The contractions were painful but bearable at this point and I remember thinking "I'm already 4 minutes apart, I must at least be getting close to 5 or 6 cm, I can do this natural thing after all"...how little did I know =) Once we got to the hospital and checked in, my midwife- who I am SOO thankful was on call she is my favorite in the practice and I've seen her the most- came in to check me. Well guess what? I had barely changed from Friday! I was still sitting at barely 3 cm! This was very discouraging because the contractions were already pretty painful and I knew we had quite a ways to go. We decided to walk the halls for a while to see if that would move things along. I spent the early morning walking, sitting on my yoga ball, using all kinds of Bradley stretches and relaxation techniques, and by around 9:30 am I was in PAIN! Greg was AMAZING and the absolute perfect couch, but the contractions were coming so close together that there didn't seem to be a break in between. I started getting very nauseous and eventually got sick in between contractions. I had the midwife come back and check me around 10am, and guess what?! STILL only around 3 cm!! After almost 11 hours of active labor, I'd barely progressed a full cm! I was SO upset because I knew I couldn't take it anymore and if I didn't have some kind of relief I was going to be too exhausted when it came time for pushing. So, I finally had to throw my "plan" out the window and go for the epidural. I cried about it and felt disappointed that I couldn't go unmedicated the way I had wanted and planned, but I knew it was right for me at the time. So around 10:45 I got the epidural and then guess what...I was in heaven! I finally felt like I could breathe and I was able to enjoy the whole process. Around 3 pm, Judy came in to check me and to break my water. FINALLY some progress! I was already 7 cm, which was music to my ears! She told me that after my water broke, things would probably go even faster so she was going to be back in little bit to start pushing! I was so excited! She came back around 6pm, checked me and said, "well, are you ready to start pushing?" Greg and I just looked at each other and grinned, we were PUMPED! After the first couple of pushes Judy said that she didn't think I'd be pushing long so she recruited some nurses and told them to get ready because this baby was going to come fast. I ended up asking for the mirror so I could see everything and I was so glad I did because, I could see the progress the pushes were making and it encouraged me to push harder. After 40 minutes of pushing, our sweet baby girl was placed on my chest! It was SO emotional and Greg and I were were both crying and trying to look at her. After a few minutes, they took her to the table to clean her up and to let Judy stitch me up. Greg went and stood with Caroline to take pictures and watch her get weighed. After a few minutes she was brought back over to me. It was so surreal finally getting to hold my baby girl who I had been carrying around for 9.5 months! Greg was AWESOME and was so encouraging through the whole labor and my midwife was amazing! After a few minutes of just the three of us, Greg went to tell the family that Caroline was here! We had everyone come back to see her before we headed up to our recovery room, but it was a quick visit because they were trying to get us upstairs quickly. I'll stop here for now and write about our stay next...

Anxiously awaiting daddy!

Before the epidural

Caroline Gray makes her appearance at 7:09pm!

Weighed in at 8lb even and 21 and 1/2 in long
Me and Judy- my midwife

Getting to hold my baby girl for the first time =) Heaven!!