The day you came // Eowyns Story

1.31.2013

Hey Baby E,


I went back and forth with posting this (I actually wrote this back in September  but wasn't sure if it was weird or not. Perhaps. ), but the more I thought about how many people have told me to 'write things down, or you'll soon forget' I decided I would go for it. Rereading it several months later makes me smile. So, Eowyn, Someday you may want to know, and I want to you to have the full story.

Here's the story of how you came into the world.

On  Thursday the 12th of July 2012, my water broke. It happened around 2:00 AM and I didn't know it. Pregnant ladies joked with me about peeing a little when being pregnant, and to be honest- I thought it was just that. Except it kept happening throughout the following day...Finally around 2:00 in the afternoon, I called the triage nurse and she recommended I go in to the hospital to find out. Whats funny is your dad the day before commented "I think we should pack our bags, I feel like she's gonna come sooner than later." Prophet Man.

At 4:00 that afternoon, I had picked up your dad and we were heading over to the hospital. I was a little bit panicked-I rushed to pack things I thought might be needed. Your dad was a mix of terrified-ecstatic. I had printed off a birth plan template the night before with the intention to fill it out that day-we joked it seemed a little silly to do that now-seeing as whatever plan we might have had was not happening. We got to the hospital, and within a short amount of time they confirmed my water had broken. There were all sorts of different opinions-some told me if I didn't go into active labor they would give me pitocin, another gal after talking to the doctor on call at the clinic I attended-said we would wait-even till 36 weeks (4 more days) before inducing. Either way, they were going to admit us.


We got the last room in the maternity ward, as in-they turned others away and sent them to other health east hospitals because there were no rooms. It was a day with a whole lot of babies being born. It's a good thing we were admitted, because about 2 hours later I started to feel my first few contractions-unfortunately that was after I had eaten Chipotle (Sounds like a good idea right? All those veggies...). I got to see that Chipotle shortly after-its actually the first time your dad ever saw me throw up. Word of Advice baby girl: Don't eat a burrito before going into labor.

They say that you can tell a real contraction from a braxton hicks by the fact that it starts in your back and moves forward-well, I was feeling them in my back and boy did it hurt. (come to find out I had back labor so I still can't claim to know what a 'normal contraction' feels like.) All through the night it got progressively worse, I wanted your dad to sleep though-since I didn't know how long this would be and wanted one of us rested-so I kept counting through the contractions and trying not to be too loud.. At first counting to ten did the trick, by the end of then I was counting rounds of 10, 10 times before they subsided. At that point  I woke your dad up and he spent the rest of the labor rubbing my back, walking around with me-and being awesome.



Morning finally came. I did whatever those perfectly wonderful nurses told me to-really anything that they said would help ease the pain. I tried all of their suggestions and it helped quite a bit for a while. Your nurses were awesome, and so encouraging..

Since my water broke, they intentionally weren't checking me often. Outside Bacteria can cause issues, so it was rare that they would check. When they finally did check the following morning(your birthday) at around 9:30, they said I was about 5 cm. That meant, they estimated that I had about 5 more hours. That's when they told us to call your Nana -so that she would be here in time for your delivery. It was raining-and it had been REALLY hot (major heat advisory) so the grey weather was sort of a nice thing to look out the window and see.

About an hour later I thought I might be dying. I told your dad I wanted medicine, that I couldn't handle it anymore...and that we were adopting all the rest. I said a few unkind words to him-and then apologized.  The nurses joked later that I made a lot of deals with God asking him to make it stop. I don't remember those too well, but I don't doubt it.

Your dad was awesome and helpful, and kept encouraging me to just get through one more. About an hour and half later the nurse had a feeling that she should check me again-and sure enough I had gone from 5-9cm in an hour. (No wonder it hurt so badly.) and she went ahead and called our doctor. Within about 30 minutes it was time to push. And push. And push. And push. at that point your dad and I somehow managed to make a few big bang theory jokes. I'll tell you them sometime. They aren't too funny, but in the moment they had us both laughing. Now looking back, it makes it even funnier he was wearing a shirt with the whole cast.



50 minutes later you came. And I remember just staring at your chubby cheeks being overwhelmed. You had squiggly hairs and were the prettiest thing. I laugh-cried. Your dad was giddy (he actually was cheering while I pushed you out!) He was so so proud. The doctors joked about your umbilical cord being tied around your legs-like a bungee cord and that you'd go back in if you didn't like it out here. (That was actually an answer to prayer-I was scared that it would be wrapped around your neck for some reason, and I prayed it wasn't. The fact it was wrapped around your body-but around your legs-the farthest thing from your neck! proves that God listens-and has a bit of a sense of humor)You came out a little lopsided so rather than having a normal cone-head you had one off to the side, your nose was a little smooshed as well. But baby girl, you were beautiful! All 6 pounds 13 ounces of you. Remarkably beautiful.

They took you away a little too quickly (they were worried about you being so early-even though we think your due date was wrong.) and your dad went with. He wasn't letting you out of his sight.  I got to see you about an hour later, Meanwhile I managed to eat an entire hospital tray of fruit (The nurses laughed at me. I was hungry.) The pictures we have of you are blurred and not all that perfectly posed (as you can see) because the volunteer doula we had snapped as many as possible before you left, but we didn't really get more than 5 or 10 minutes with you. I look pretty swollen in all of them, and so do you-but, I still like them..I'll show you all the pictures someday. Your grandma arrived then (she was trying so hard to be there when you came, and was just shy an hour.) and we all went to give you your first bath. We had to keep visiting you in special care from Friday till Tuesday (which was a whole adventure in itself) when you were released.

So, 18 hours later you came at 11:54 PM. On July 13th-an entire month to the day of your due date. You were perfectly healthy and perfectly wonderfully born.

It was a good day.

No comments:

Post a Comment