Mia's birth story

40 weeks 4 days 

On Wednesday December 19, I walked into my dr appointment hoping we would be scheduling an induction date for Friday the 21, but knowing they would make me wait until Sunday the 23 (which would have me 1 week overdue). The nurse took my blood pressure and told me it was a little high, I joked and asked if it was high enough to get me induced?! Then my doctor walked in the room and asked, "Wanna have this baby today?!" I responded the only way I knew how.... "Shut up!" ha ha :) He told me, "You're done being pregnant. I can tell, you're just done!" So he called the hospital and set up an induction for midnight! My blood pressure must have truly been high enough to get me in there because they monitored that pretty closely after I had her. Anyway, I went home and called Eric and told him we were going in at midnight! We were both shocked, excited and nervous all at the same time :) I spent the rest of the day cleaning, running errands and getting ready to go to the hospital. Midnight could not come fast enough!

Once we got to the hospital they set us up in a room and hooked up my iv. They gave me some pill (I don't remember what it's called) that dissolved in my mouth. It was to help soften my cervix and dilate. Then they started me on an antibiotic and told us to sleep. After 10 minutes I had the nurse back in our room because my body was itching like crazy and felt like it was on fire! I totally had an allergic reaction to the antibiotic (I'm allergic to most antibiotics...so fun!) so she gave me some benedryl and told me to sleep. Shortly after that my contractions were just regular enough that I couldn't sleep. Oh it was a LONG night :) At 8am they started me on pitocin. The nurse had me on a low dose because my contractions were 2 minutes apart or less, and they wanted me and the baby to be able to recover in between. My body had been progressing so well they were guessing I'd have the baby by lunch time. But of course my contractions slowed down once they put my on the pitocin, so weird! I got an epidural around 11am and let me tell you what, that drug is AMAZING! I was terrified to get it but I didn't feel a thing! And of course I couldn't feel the contractions after I received it which was amazing! My doctor broke my water shortly after I got the epidural and then the waiting game was on (as if it wasn't already). Lunch time came and went and Mia still wasn't in position. So we tried different positions of me practically laying on my stomach to get her to drop all the way. My epidural was just right so that I could feel the pressure of the contractions, but no pain. And I could feel the pressure of Mia dropping into position. I suspected it was time to push before the nurse checked me. My parents stopped in to say hi and see how I was doing, but I kicked them out so that we could get the show on the road! (Sorry mom and dad, ha!) Finally my doctor told me I could start pushing. Let me tell you people, pushing is nothing like the movies! You don't just push once or twice and out pops a baby (at least that's not how it normally happens). I pushed 3-4 times during a contraction, 10 seconds each push. My sweet husband was in charge of counting and I'm tellin' ya... he's never counted to 10 so slowly in his life! At least it seemed that way :) I could feel the contractions coming on before they showed up on the screen so they took the monitor off my belly to give more room for skin to skin with Mia. The pressure of baby was pretty intense.... but then the burning started. I told my doctor it was burning and he just said, "oh, I'm SO sorry!" Apparently I had nerves that couldn't be numbed right in the path of Mia.... the burning made me want to hurt someone! Between contractions I just had to lay there with my eyes closed and work through the pain. I couldn't talk or do anything else. At one point they asked if I wanted to reach down and feel her head. I knew that I wanted to, but I couldn't work through the pain enough to do it. I'm still sad about that :( The epidural was so amazing that I hadn't prepared myself for pain during delivery (and obviously I didn't handle the pain well, ha). In the last minute of delivery Mia's heart rate dropped because the cord was wrapped around her neck. My doctor was so calm about it I didn't even know she was in distress! He gave me an episiotomy and told me to push until she came out even though I wasn't having a contraction. I had no problem with that :) As I pushed I heard Eric's voice catch as he was counting. My sweet husband cried as Mia was born! (I ended up pushing for 31 minutes. They say most first time mom's push for at least 2 hours. So I did pretty good!) They placed her on my belly and the only thing I could do was touch her and say, "my baby!" I just kept saying it over and over again. I was in shock that I actually had a baby, and she had a head full of hair :)

Mia kind of whimpered and whined as they cleaned her off so they took her to a corner of the room and did breathing treatments for about 20 minutes until she really opened up her lungs. They measured her at 19 1/2 inches long, and weighing 7 pounds.

My doctor finished his business with me while I downed a Dr Pepper :) I really wanted Dr Pepper but they wouldn't let me drink anything but water during labor, ha ha. Eric just kept going back and forth between me and Mia, making sure we both were okay.

They finally brought Mia back to me and I really got to hold her. That's when I lost it and started crying. I couldn't believe I was finally holding my sweet, perfect angel baby. I am so incredibly grateful to my doctor for safely delivering our baby girl, and all the nurses that helped my little family during our stay at the hospital. I could not be more in love with Eric and Mia! I can't believe we're finally a family of 3!