Birth Story

I'm a terrible blogger I know, I know! I definitely need to make more of an effort to document what's going on with our mini fam.

At any rate, I realize that I never got around to posting our Birth Story and since I do plan on creating a book out of our blog for lil' miss, I decided I'd better get the Birth Story up before I can no longer remember every single detail. I am primarily posting this because I plan on turning this blog into a book for Ave so, here goes.......

On the morning of August 21st, 2009 I woke up to use the restroom around 6:00am. When I got out of bed, I felt a lot of pressure down there but being 39 weeks pregnant I didn't think too much of it. I had been dilated 3cm and 100% effaced for two weeks so at this point, I was pretty sure Avery would be making her arrival AFTER my due date. I did however decide to turn on the tv and lounge on the couch. I lay down and immediately fell asleep. I woke up at 6:30am and felt a sharp cramping pain in my lower abdomen. I still didn't think this was "it" so I glanced at the time, took a mental note and lay back down. Ten minutes later, I felt the same pain. I then decided to stay awake and see if the "pain" would come back and sure enough, 10 minutes later it was back. I was actually having contractions!! I couldn't believe it. I immediately called my sister in law and told her I thought I was having contractions but wasn't sure. We talked for a bit and she told me I should probably call my doctor. Because we live about an hour and a half from the hospital, I was reluctant to call after only having contractions for thirty minutes. So, I hung up with her and called my mom. The funny thing about all this is I never once told Larry what was going on. I didn't wake him up or anything. In my mind I really didn't think this was "it" so I figured, why bother. My water never broke, I never lost my mucous plug and the last thing I wanted to do was go to the hospital with false labor. I would have been majorly disappointed. I talked to my mom for a bit and she tells me that her water never broke and I should just call my doctor and explain to him what was going on.

So, I call the pregnancy hotline number and sure enough my doctor was not on call that day. Looking back I see just how good God is. He took total control and I just sat along for the ride. You see, my doctor was once out of town for one of my very last appointments and I ended seeing Dr. Bhoudaria. She was amazing and I immediately fell in love with her. Don't get me wrong, I love Dr. Brock but if he couldn't be there for my delivery, I was hoping and praying Dr. Bhoudaria would. So, sure enough, after leaving a message for the on call OB, I get a call back from Dr. Bhoudaria. I told her that I had been having contractions for about 45mins. She said that I should probably wait it out at home for a while and monitor them a bit longer. I then told her that I was dilated 3cm and 100% effaced and we live pretty far. She changed her mind and said we should come on in!

So, I finally decide to tell Larry. I woke him up and told him that I thought today might be the day. Looking back, we were so calm it's crazy. He asked me if I was sure and I said no, but I told him I had been having contractions and that Dr. Bhoudaria advised us to head on down. So I got dressed and did my make up. I remember dropping to the floor every time I had a contraction. For some reason, I felt better on my hands and knees...lol. My bag was already packed, but I threw a couple more things in the bag for Larry. He shaved and got dressed. We took our bags and car seat down to the car and met our neighbor to give him keys to the house so that he could feed Juicy.

By this time, it was 8:30am. We were headed to Beverly Hills from Orange County, in rush hour traffic. This was my greatest fear. My entire pregnancy I had thoughts of delivering my precious daughter on the 405 freeway. On our way to the hospital the contractions started getting stronger and they started getting closer. The traffic was pretty much non-existent that day. We were so blessed. I text messaged my close friends and told them we were on our way to the hospital and I'd let them know what was going on as soon as I got checked in.

I'm pretty sure we arrived to the hospital at around 9:45am. The maternity ward was packed that morning. They had nowhere to put me so we waited in the hall for about fifteen minutes. When they finally had a room available for me, I remember walking by a board with all of the patients names; I quickly found my name and saw the words "rule out labor" written next to it. These people really didn't think I was in labor! I was given a gown and told that someone would be in to check me shortly. This is when things started getting real.

I changed into a gown and Larry and I sat in the room in silence. My contractions were getting stronger and he was complaining that his stomach was hurting (nerves). He asked me if I thought it was okay for him to use the restroom in the room and I told him that I was pretty sure it wouldn't be a problem. As soon as he closed the door a very friendly nurse came in and asked me probably about 100 questions, well not 100 but 15 mins worth of questions. The whole time she was asking questions she kept looking around. Finally she asked if I was there by myself and I giggled and said no. I knew that Larry was probably done with his bathroom business but he was afraid to come out since he had been in there for so long. After about 5 more minutes he finally came out! It was hilarious. She was so startled and he looked so embarrassed.

Anyway, she finally got around to checking me to see how far along I was. She goes down there to do her thing and her eyes immediately get big. I was now 8cm dilated and my water bag was bulging. I couldn't believe it! Rule out labor, I think not. I was definitely in active labor. She commended me on being so strong and immediately went to go grab Jeannie who would be my nurse for the day. Jeannie immediately came in, hooked me up to an IV. She asked me if I wanted an epidural and I said yes. At the time I had no clue why I was saying yes because I felt like I could probably go for it with no drugs. I mean, I was already 8cm why not go for it. Larry asked me if I was sure because prior to this, I was so adamant about delivering naturally but I said yes and didn't think twice about it. I cannot remember the name of the gentleman who administered my epidural but he was amazing and hilarious. I was terrified but it went so smoothly. After the epidural we called all of our family members and friends to tell them the news and to also let them know that they needed to head to the hospital, QUICK!

I was then moved to the delivery room. It was all happening so fast and it was so surreal but for some reason I was extremely calm. I was amazed. I was shocked. I couldn't believe that I would be meeting my daughter. My mom and SIL soon arrived and then Larry's Grandma and his mom arrived and then allllll of my girls arrived. It was the sweetest thing in the whole wide world. We felt so loved. Within an hour August, Alona, Jessica, Ashlyn and Shani were all there. My amazing nurse Jeannie broke my water and told me that she was almost positive I would have the baby before 2pm. I was so excited! I couldn't believe this was all happening so quickly. But then, all of a sudden things started to slow down. More and more friends started coming and eventually it felt like there was a party in our room. I loved that everyone was there but I wanted to be alone. I didn't want to talk and I just wanted everyone to leave. I started crying and I told my mom I wanted everyone to leave. She looked across the room at Larry and he knew. I don't know what he said, but everyone left and I felt much better.

At this point, Jeannie explained to me that Avery was in the Posterior (face up) position and I needed to lay on my side a bit to get her to move to the correct position. At the same time, the epidural had caused my contractions to slow down quite a bit. My contractions were now very sporadic and irregular. So, I lay on my side for a bit, chatted with my family and friends and ate some very yummy Italian ice. I did this for about and hour and a half and my contractions were still very irregular. Jeannie suggested that she administer some pitocin to help speed things up. I so didn't want the pitocin but, I felt that it was the right thing to do, so I agreed.

Finally, at around 3:30pm I was told it was time to start pushing and THIS is when I got nervous. Pushing always seemed like it would be the most painful part. So I started pushing and pushing and pushing. Avery kept coming down and going back up. I was so fatigued. I felt like I couldn't push for much longer.

At this point my Mother, Sis in Law, Larry's Mother and Grandma were in the room with us. We were all very quiet. I think we were all waiting for them to tell me that I would need to have a C-Section. But, Dr. Bhoudaria came in and reassured me that I could do this. They placed an oxygen mask on me and thirty minutes later after two and a half hours of pushing, Avery was finally plopped on my chest at 6:05pm. I strongly believe this is why the Lord led me to get the epidural. There is no way I would have been able to push for two and a half hours without it.

I think I would have been a complete wreck if it were not for Larry and my amazing nurse. Larry stood by my side the entire time, stroking my hair, feeding me ice and constantly being my cheerleader. Jeannie did the same. She fanned me, placed cold comperesses on my forehead, told me over and over again that I could do it. She was awesome!

I immediately requested two cheeseburgers and french fries from McDonalds since I hadn't eaten all day and I scarfed it down in five minutes while holding my baby and being wheeled to my recovery room.

I had a laceration on my cervix and a second degree tear but the pain wasn't too bad.

I will never forget that first night. I didn't sleep a wink. I stared at Avery as she slept next to me. I cried, I took a million pictures and I thanked my awesome God over and over again.

So there is my birth story. It was such an amazing day. The day my life changed FOREVER!