Hannah's Birth Story

Hannah is nearly 10 months old! How in the heck did that even happen?! 

I haven't shared her birth story yet, and I figured I had better do it now before I forget the details!

Throughout the last half of my pregnancy I craved grilled shrimp like crazy. Not any grilled shrimp--Saltgrass grilled shrimp. Hannah has expensive taste. ;-) It was a Friday night and Nathan agreed to take me to Saltgrass AGAIN so I could satisfy this craving. I was feeling absolutely miserable. The last month of my pregnancy was so HARD. Walking felt like running a marathon. I specifically

remember trying to grate cheese for dinner one night and I had to stop and go sit down because I couldn't breathe between standing for 5 minutes and pushing down to grate it. 

We got to Saltgrass, sat down, and ordered our usual. I was truly in a terrible mood because I was so uncomfortable. The waiter took our order and brought us our drinks. While we were sitting there talking I started feeling what I thought were contractions (they were!). They didn't hurt, but they were uncomfortable--a feeling of pressure. They were coming quite frequently and they made me lose my appetite. Our food came out and we "ate". I had a few bites, but was a bit anxious about what was about to come. 

We got in the car to go home, and I was so nervous. We lived nearly an hour away from the hospital, and I had no clue when we should leave. We took classes at the hospital just a few weeks prior, and I remembered the instructor telling us that we needed to head to the hospital when contractions were about 5 minutes apart since we lived so far away. In the short amount of time between sitting down to eat and getting in the car to head home, my contractions were starting to hurt. I told Nathan that I wanted to go to the hospital just to be on the safe side. The worst that could happen was they send us home. We started driving toward Bedford and I was pretty confident that we made the right decision. I knew I was having contractions and they were getting more intense. We got about 20 minutes down the road and they just STOPPED. After about 15 minutes of not feeling anything we turned around to go home. 

We got about halfway back home and they came back with a vengence!! We actually had to pull over and I had to get out and lean against the car. OH MY GOSH. Why did we pick a hospital so far away? I was seriously so frustrated because I did not know what to do. I had read online at one point that taking a warm shower could help you relax when your contractions started, so that was my goal. We got about 5 minutes from our house and I changed my mind again (poor, Nathan!). We turned BACK around and drove all the way to the hospital. L&D checked me and monitored my contractions for about an hour and sent us home. I tried begging to stay because I was terrified of driving back, but they wouldn't let us. We decided to stay in a hotel just across from the hospital for the night. 

I think Nathan actually got less sleep than I did that night, and I didn't get much! He was tracking my contractions on his phone, and I know he was nervous and concerned about me. We left the hotel around 5:45 am to go back to the hospital. My contractions were pretty consistent, and only a few minutes apart. I could barely get to the car because I was in so much pain. 

I'm sure the nurses were so happy to see me again...Side Note: I've been hospitalized many times and made several ER visits over the past 7 years of my life. I can be quite a bear when I'm in pain. Thankfully, we had a new nurse and I LOVED HER. I can't remember her name, but she was so sweet. I had dilated to a 1 or 2. I truthfully can't remember. They admitted me (thank you, Jesus!) and Nathan brought in our bags. The nurse checked me every hour for progress, and finally gave me the option of an epidural. 

Epidurals freak me out. I wanted one because I was in pain, but I also had read horrifying stories about epidurals gone wrong while I was pregnant. I knew a lot of women personally who had epidurals and adored them, which made me a little bit more comfortable. With Nathan's support, I decided to go ahead and have one. The anesthesiologist was AMAZING. His name was Dr. Nguyen. He came in with his tray and the nurse had me scoot to the edge of the bed and bend over just a bit. I was crying. I told the nurse how afraid I was and she said, "Women have babies every day. You're going to be just fine." I seriously love that lady. Dr. Nguyen began the epidural and all I could feel was pressure. It didn't hurt at all. Shortly after, my legs were heavy and numb and I was in a happy place! No pain, woo-hoo! 

The rest of the afternoon and evening was pretty uneventful. My nurse clocked off at 6PM, 12 hours after we checked in. Unfortunately my new nurse was the nurse I had the night before, and I was not a fan. She was so unsympathetic and just truly acted like she didn't want to help me. Before my day nurse clocked out, she checked me one last time and told me I was about 8 cm dilated. It was almost baby time! So, I was banking on having a baby within the next 2 hours or so. I was so wrong. My epidural started wearing off and I could feel everything in my left leg. Dr. Nguyen had to come in and administer more medicine not once, but twice! In the mean time I had started having terrible chills. The nurse said it was normal, but I was physically shaking and was so cold! I had blankets galore, but could not relax the muscles in my back. I started having severe back pain on my left side. It hurt SO SO SO bad. The nurse kept making me roll on my side and put a birthing ball between my legs. She told me the baby was trying to move down, but I know it was because I pulled a muscle from all the shaking. 

The nurses finally broke my water because I was not making any progress at all. I was stuck. In fact, when the nurse checked me she said I was only at a 6! I was furious. The previous nurse told me I was at an 8 when she left. How could I possibly be at a 6 a few hours later?! The head nurse came in to check me and agreed that I was at a 6. I was so miserable. After not progressing, and still being in immense pain, an hour later they called in the doctor. There was an explanation for why I was back tracking. My cervix had begun to swell. The doctor said that I was going to need a c-section. 

Honestly, I was relieved. And I felt really guilty about that for a long time. I knew that I needed some help, and I was so exhausted. The only problem at this point was my epidural was still wearing off. If you've ever had a c-section, you know that you have to have an epidural for obvious reasons. They gave me more medicine and poked my leg with a small needle to see if it had taken effect. It didn't, and the doctor told me I would need to be put under. Talk about freaking out. I remember looking at Nathan and telling him that it was okay if he got remarried if I didn't come out of it. I was so delirious at that point! Thankfully Dr. Nguyen worked some magic, and by the grace of God, I could feel nothing. My back pain even went away! I wanted to kiss that man. 

Nathan got suited up and ready to come in with me. They wheeled me into the OR and I remember laying on the table looking at the light and thinking "I am 100% naked. These poor people." They brought Nathan in and he sat right next to me. I love him so much. He was everything I needed in that moment and in all of the ones leading up to it. I don't remember too much about the OR. Between my exhaustion and the medicine, I was really out of it. I do remember asking Dr. Nguyen if it was okay for me to fall asleep while they were doing the operation. 

I didn't fall asleep, but it was a short time before I heard Hannah cry. I'm not sure what I was expecting to feel, but I did start crying. Some of it was due to relief that she and I were both okay, but I was also very aware at that moment that I had a baby daughter. They cleaned her up and invited Nathan over to take pictures and look at her. The nurses were guessing she weighed close to 10 pounds, but she weighed in at 8.12. They brought her to me and laid her on my chest as best they could. I really didn't know what to do. It was so surreal. I kissed her and just looked at her. After a few minutes they placed her in the rolling cart and she and Nathan went to the recovery room to wait for me. 

I was in recovery for about 2 hours. I had no issues or complications. The funniest thing to me now is that I was expecting to sleep when I went to recovery. I completely forgot the part where I have to take care of a baby now! Sleep was very limited over the next few days. We did send Hannah to the nursery during the night for a couple of hours so we could sleep, even if it was interrupted by nurses coming in to take my vitals and check on me. 

I realize that everyone has different beliefs and understandings of what is best practice for labor and delivery. To me, the most important thing is that mom and baby are safe and healthy. I am so thankful to God that Hannah and I had that kind of labor and delivery.

 She has changed us for the better, and she is teaching us more about God and ourselves than we could have imagined.