And Baby Makes 6

The first thing I did when I arrived in the Labor and Delivery room was ask for Nubian and my epidural.  I'd been in pain long enough, and I don't tolerate pain well.  I was nervous for the epidural, because my third caused me pain for well over a year.  I mean, you've got to warn a girl right before you stab her in the back, right?  But the gentleman who did my epidural was kind, and quick.  The Nubian helped.

With as intense as my contractions had been the last few weeks, I'd really hoped things would move quickly.  They did not.

After two hours the nurse checked me; only at 6.  But she expressed concern to the doctor about how the baby was sitting, suggesting that if my water broke the placenta might drop and or the baby would get wrapped around the cord.  I really wish the doctor had expressed that concern to me privately, instead of the nurse telling her right in front of me, because it freaked me out.  Still I was only at 6cm at 4am.  And of course, after my water broke, the concerns started to become reality.  Baby's heart rate began to drop.  So they gave me Pitocin and extra fluids and we prayed that things would move quickly.  By 6am I was at 8cm

Around 6:50am, as shift change was beginning, I was being introduced to my new nurses.  They asked how I felt and I told her there was a lot of pressure.  She checked me around 7:15, then went into almost panic mode - the baby was not only ready to come out, but was on it's way out.

Two teams of nurses were prepping the room for delivery.  I woke up my husband, who had slept the whole night; I told him to grab a coffee because it was go time.  It took him a few minutes to fully comprehend what was happening.

Going into delivery, he still did not know what we were having, he was getting excited to finally meet our little trouble maker.  Just after 7:30, I was pushing.  It was at that first "push" from the nurse that I started freaking out.  Should I be pushing?  Shouldn't we be having a c-section?  Is the baby going to be ok?  It was too late now, time to push.

I don't remember having that many people there with me when I was delivering the other 3, but having 2 pairs of nurses, the doctor, the resident, and my husband there all encouraging me made this delivery seem so much easier.  After 10 minutes and 3 rounds of pushes, I heard that cry.   They put the baby on my chest, and showed me the knot in the cord while my husband cut it.

It was so surreal… Did this really just happen?  Do I really have a new baby in my arms?  What were we thinking?  Can we do this again?  And then I looked at that face.  My little miracle.

Back in January, when the doctors told me I had a 40% chance of delivering, our Pastor and his family came to pray with us.  He said pick a date, so I chose April 2nd.  And on April 2nd at 7:44am, 6 lbs, 9oz, 19 1/2 inches, our healthy baby boy was born.

I looked up at Steve, and there was a mist in his eye.  Our family was complete.