terrific two

Little Sister is Two! I have been reminiscing all weekend about the day she was born. It was a perfect day and we were so excited to welcome her into our family. Shortly after she was born, I wrote up a birth story so I could always remember the details and share it with her when she starts having her own babies. Here it is:

After a couple of weeks of almost constant contractions and a false alarm that left me at 4cm and 75% effaced, we decided to induce labor. I had been very hesitant to talk about induction because I didn’t want to have to use pitocin. Since my previous labor had been very quick after my water broke, my doctor decided that we would just break my water and see where we got from there without having to use pitocin.

We arrived at the hospital at 8am on Thursday, October 14th. I had an IV started right away and started a round of antibiotics because I was Group B Strep positive. At 10am, my doctor came and broke my water and stripped my membranes. Steve and I walked the hallways for about a half hour, but there was too much pressure on my back and bladder to walk very much. We went back to the room and watched the news on TV. I was disappointed that my contractions didn’t pick up right away, but I kept reminding myself that this was going to take longer since it was an induction. Around noon, true labor got underway. The contractions started picking up quite a bit and were 3 minutes apart and hurting. They got progressively stronger for the next hour and I asked for the epidural at 1pm. The anesthesiologist was in on a c-section, so I had to wait for him and while waiting for him the contractions were pretty bad---but I was still able to breathe through them. I was 6cm dilated when the epidural went in at 1:30pm. I felt great after the epidural! My OB came in at 2:20pm and checked me and I had only changed slightly—I was a “loose” 6cm still. She suggested pitocin to speed things up so that she would be there to attend the birth (she wasn’t the OB on call that evening). I agreed since I had already had the epidural and wasn’t worried about the pain anymore. She told the nurse to start pitocin and said she was going over to the other hospital to check on some other patients and would be back in 2 hours. While waiting for the pitocin to arrive from the hospital pharmacy, I felt different and felt a lot of pressure at 2:40pm. The nurse checked me and I was 8cm. Only 3 minutes later I felt much more pressure and a slight urge to push. The nurse checked again and sure enough I was 10cm I had gone from 6cm to 10cm in 25 minutes. I guess the mere threat of pitocin got my body into gear! The nurse paged my OB and she had just gotten to the other hospital, but turned around to come back. I felt a lot of pressure with each contraction and a slight urge to push, but I didn’t need to push, so we waited for my doctor.

In the meantime, I called my mom in Florida so she could be on the line while I delivered the baby. I also asked the nurse to set up a mirror so that I could watch while I pushed and see the baby come out. My doctor arrived around 3:05pm and got dressed for the delivery and we got the bed set up. I started pushing at 3:11pm and watched in the mirror as her head came out. The cord was around her neck, so the doctor pulled that around her head and suctioned her nose and mouth. It was neat to be able to watch the entire process in the mirror. I could feel a lot of pressure, but no pain. Our darling daughter was born at 3:16pm after only 5 minutes of pushing! It was so amazing to watch her birth in the mirror and to feel her come out. She looked so tiny to me. I said something about her being tiny and the nurse and doctor said “No, she’s not!” She weighed 8 pounds 2 ounces and measured 20 inches long.

We are thrilled with our birth experience! My labor and delivery was only 3 hours long and everything went perfectly with no complications at all. I had been worried about things like having an episiotomy, having to use pitocin, and not making it to the hospital in time. I didn't need the episotomy or the pitocin in the end and I am very grateful that my doctor decided to break my water. She told me that with the way things happened with the induction, I probably wouldn’t have made it to the hospital had my water broken at home since I would have already been in labor.


It seems so long ago, but it's still easy to remember how I felt. The moment she was born I immediately felt like I was seeing an old friend that I hadn't seen in a long time. I remember telling her the first time I held her "I've missed you so much!" It was kind of an odd feeling, but I know it wasn't our first time meeting. I love my little girlie!