Contractions began to get stronger Thursday afternoon into the evening, and by Friday morning I was convinced that that was the day Sadie would be coming. However, I had 1 more morning of Science and Art camp to teach for the week, which ended up being a blessing to keep my mind off of pain and my eyes off of the clock. By the afternoon, contractions were getting heavy but sporadic. (12 minutes apart, 17 minutes, 14, 7, 9, 11, 3....it was annoying.) By 2:45, they were every 3-6 and I called my doctor. I may have jumped the gun just a bit, but with Molly I went from having contractions every 5 minutes to every 3 by the time I called my doctor at the end of one hour. By the time I was finally admitted to the hospital with her, she came like a whirling dervish.) I ran around the house like a crazy person packing last minute items, an overnight bag for Molly, and repacking all of my bags that I had packed already. In addition to, or course, taking a few minutes to snap a few last photos...
Sadie bag all packed
38 weeks 5 days
By 3:45 I was in the hospital waiting to see if I would be staying. Because most of my contractions were in my back and the fact that I only have a right sided uterus, they hardly show up on the monitor, which is so frustrating. I kept telling Justin that I want some proof of the pain that I was feeling. He told me that when a baby shows up, everyone will know I was having contractions. Yes, thank you, dear husband.
After an hour of only being 2 cm, I was afraid they would send me home. They made me wait another hour, checked again, and I was 4. I was officially admitted by 6:00. The next hour, I was 6 cm and got a lovely epidural. This time, I got an epidural early enough to enjoy it, and let me tell you... as far as I'm concerned the anesthesiologist man and I can be BFF's. Pain was close to non-existent and I was able to have conversations with our nurses and relax a little bit. One of my student's moms is a labor and delivery nurse and came in especially for us. She was such a blessing!
At 10:00 I was fully dilated and it was time to push. 2 pushes later...1 for her head, and 1 for her body and Sadie was here at 10:07. I didn't need an episiotomy or any stitches.
I joked with my nurses that I don't know why women complain about child birth so much. They told me to be careful what I say or I won't have any friends anymore :o) I figure, my pregnancy history has been hard in many other ways. Non-laborious labor has been God's gift to me.
During "labor" the song that kept going through my head was a little chorus that I learned when I was young. It comes from Jeremiah 32:17. These are the words...
Ah, Lord God, thou has made the heavens and the earth by Thy great power.
Ah, Lord God, thou has made the heavens and the earth by Thine outstretched arm.
Nothing is too difficult for Thee.
Nothing is too difficult for Thee.
Great and Mighty God,
Great in counsel and mighty in deed.
Nothing
Nothing
Absolutely nothing.
Nothing is too difficult for Thee.
What a great experience to have the knowledge of the sovereignty and power of God in the forefront of my thoughts as my daughter entered the world!
Sadie Joy is such a sweet baby! She amazes us with her calm spirit and eagerness to nurse and sleep when we want her too. (I hope that lasts!) Big sister, Molly, has been here twice to visit her and is quite excited that her new sister has toes and ears that she can tickle.
I can't wait to go home and start enjoying our time together as a family of four!
Thank you so much for so many of your well-wishes and congratulations. It has been a blessing knowing how many people have been praying for us!
:o)
2 comments:
Well done, Megan. Well done being a birthing rock star and well done posting about it. I wish I had done this. I already forget so much. (I'm trying to remember what song I had n my head the whole time, and I'm drawing a total blank.) I love your little family, and I'm so excited to see all 4 of you soon!
Such a BEAUTIFUL family!!!
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