On September 1, I was 37 weeks, which technically is considered full-term. I knew that I could essentially go into labor at any time. In fact, that day I had a little issue that I called the doctor's office about. I had an appointment that day anyway, but they told me to come in early, so I immediately was scared that I was having the baby in the next couple of days. I still had school things to finish up before I was out for a few weeks, and I was not mentally prepared yet. After that day, I made sure that I had my bags packed, and I got all of my work done that I needed to.
A couple of weeks later, Jason and I were so ready that we started trying to do all of the "wives' tales" methods to induce labor. Well, I didn't do the castor oil, but most of the other things I tried, but nothing really worked. Of course, none of those methods are "proven," and they say it's all based on when the baby is ready. But, I will always remember that excitement of being ready, hoping it would happen that day, trying to plan when you didn't know when it was going to happen...good memories.
So, I wrote my last post the day before my due date. And I made it to my due date and nothing happened. I had a doctor's appointment the following day, and we scheduled for me to go the hospital on Sept 27 and be induced on the 28th. Jason and I had both decided that we would go ahead and take that whole week off, just to relax before going through the birth. We went to see a movie that day, which we rarely do. After that, we went to Red Lobster to eat, which we also rarely do (we usually get take-out when we "eat out"). By that point, so many people were commenting on facebook about foods that worked to induce labor for them. We were joking that if I went into labor that night, we would say that it had been because of the dish I got at Red Lobster. I took home leftovers, and Jason was saying he didn't know why I was, because I was going to go into labor that night, and then my leftovers would go bad.
So we went home, and just hung out. All night I could feel Emery moving, and it just felt so tight, like she really had no room anymore. It was pretty uncomfortable. I honestly didn't think that I'd be able to last 5 more days at that point. We decided to go to bed around 10:30. I was getting ready for bed and all of a sudden, I felt liquid gush out of me. I knew my water broke. I sort of freaked out about it, just because I didn't really expect it to happen. (Although I had kept saying I'd rather my water break, so I knew for sure, rather than try to figure out if I was having true contractions or not.) Jason was telling me not to freak out, because I knew that it could happen. I called the doctor, and Jason was getting all of our things together, including some old clothes for me to wear to the hospital. It really was so gross, and I was very thankful that it happened at home, and not at work or anywhere else. Here's a picture of me on my due date (I was starting to take a picture of myself every day so I would have one from the day I went into labor, but I forgot to take one that day, go figure.)
I checked in at the hospital sometime before midnight. I was still only 1 cm dilated, so they put me on pitocin. It took a while for me to progress, and Emery still hadn't dropped a lot. I got an epidural when I started feeling the pain a lot more. By 9 the next morning, although I was 4 cm dilated, Emery still had not descended enough, and the doctor mentioned having a C-section. Even though I've had a feeling the whole pregnancy that I would end up having a C-section, I was so overwhelmed with emotion that I started crying. We decided to see how much progress had been made in a couple of hours. At that point, no progress had been made, and we decided to go ahead with the C-section. By that point, I was so exhausted, because we really didn't get a lot of sleep that night, between the excitement (and checking facebook comments) and the nurse coming in every half-hour or so. They also had increased my epidural because I was starting to feel more pain, so now I was feeling nauseated and shaky. But at that point, I was just ready to have the baby. Once the decision was made, everything went by so quickly. They got me and Jason ready to go in the operating room. Our family prayed with us, and we were off.
I was nervous about the procedure, but it really wasn't that bad. Jason was sitting with me the whole time. I kept waiting for the sensation of them pulling Emery out of me. Finally, the anesthesiologist told Jason he could stand up to take pictures. I kept hearing him say, "Oh, wow. Oh, wow." (Later I found out he was saying that due to seeing all of my insides just laying there, not from seeing Emery like I originally thought. Ha!) But he started snapping away. After a few minutes, they held Emery up over the curtain. I immediately started crying, amazed that I was finally seeing this baby that had been inside of me the last 9 months. I couldn't hold her yet, though. They took her aside to clean her up...Jason got to go watch and take pictures. They were sewing me up, and I was fighting to stay awake, because I didn't want to miss anything. Finally, they brought her over to me and laid her on my chest.
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| Mommy holding her for the first time |
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| Daddy holding her |
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| First family photo |
Her official stats were that she was born on September 24, 2011 at 12:40 pm. She weighed 7 lbs, 15 oz and was 20 inches long. I'm posting pictures of Jason and me when we were babies to show how she looks like a combination of the two of us. I think she has Jason's eyes and coloring, and she has my nose and the shape of my head.
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| Claire |
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| Jason |
Of course, now that we're home, we're adjusting to our "new normal." I'm trying to take it all in and enjoy every moment because I know she won't be this little for long.
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