She's Here!

I thought it would be most fitting to post her birth story on my actual due date, but I have been itching to post it since she arrived. WARNING: Some information provided may be too graphic or detailed. It is your choice to continue reading.

The day was July 4, 2011. We originally had plans to go to the in-laws for a picnic and a day filled with kicking back and enjoying all things summer. Wouldn't you know that our littlest one had a different idea of what that meant? I awoke at 5 am having some contractions, but they were irregular (varying between times), so I chalked it up to nothing. Finally at 5:30 I had had enough and decided to get up and get on with my day. I called the internet company because our internet had not been working for 2 days now (thank goodness for 24hr customer service). After troubleshooting the internet and setting up a ticket for someone to come out and fix it, I moved onto making laundry soap. Once I had finished that then I decided to lie on the couch and read a book on the Kindle. ***Let me note that the entire time I was doing all the above things I didn't have A SINGLE CONTRACTION!***  Thus, I chalked the earlier contractions up to Braxton-Hicks. So I'm lying on the couch reading and thinking to myself, "Wow this is really comfortable; I bet I could fall back to sleep here," when all of a sudden I have a contraction and feel a HUGE burst inside me (6:30 am). Alarmed, I quickly get up and RUN to the bathroom whilst water gushes out leaving a trail behind me. I became a human slug. I made it to the bathroom and started yelling the Hub's name. After about 6 yells of his name he wakes up and casually asks what's wrong. Why wouldn't he right? He didn't have any idea of what had just gone down. Then I not so casually yell back, "I THINK MY WATER JUST BROKE!!!!!!!!!! GET IN HERE NOW!!!!!!!" Thankfully, he listened, although, I'm not sure what I expected him to do,  we did calm each other down and confirmed that yes, my water did break and made our plan of action: I call the midwife and let her know while he gets himself and Bug ready for departure because we knew we'd be leaving (I am strep group B positive, so when my water breaks I have to go in for antibiotics). While making the phone call into the office, waiting for the midwife's call back, quickly rummaging my yet to be packed items together, barking orders to the Hub, and trying to remain as calm as possible for the now awake and severely confused Bug, my contractions were coming 2 minutes apart. 2 MINUTES APART!!! WE LIVE 54 MINUTES FROM THE HOSPITAL!!!!!! Bug and I headed for the car while the Hub grabbed some last minute things from his truck. While in the car I prayed voraciously, "Please, Lord, PLEASE let us make it to the hospital," over and over again. Bug says to me, "Mommy, you praying?" and I explained to that I was because Mommy was going to have her baby sister and wanted to make sure she had her in the hospital.
    After what felt like forever, we finally leave. We drive 1 mile down the road and drop Bug off at the neighbors where she was picked up later by the Hub's parents. Now we're off the hospital (7 am). My contractions had slowed down to 5 minutes apart by the time we reached the highway. Only 39 more minutes to go until we reach the hospital. Oh, did I mention that the inspection and registration ran out on the car that we were driving? Well, that's important, because even though we were on the highway with contractions 5 minutes apart, the Hub didn't want to speed too much for fear of getting pulled over. I informed him I didn't care and that we weren't pulling over for anything! Each time I would have a contraction I would let him know, so he could time them and I would close my eyes and try to think/breathe/relax through it. I didn't ask how far apart they were and he didn't tell me; it was an unspoken understanding that it was better if I didn't know. About 15 minutes from the hospital I had decided in my mind that I was going to ask for an epidural. I had to. I didn't remember it being this intense with Bug, why was it now?! I was battling myself because I really didn't want to, but I couldn't understand why it was so bad this time. I knew that I could not go another 17 hours doing this.
   After what was probably the fastest trip to Bing but felt like the longest, we arrived to the hospital. The Hub pulls up to the ER entrance (7:45 am) and I go to get out only to have a contraction in the middle of it. There I am standing half in and half out the car holding onto the door and frame eyes closed breathing through it. A lady comes out and asks, "Are you going to have a baby today?" I couldn't say anything but nodded. I just wanted her to shut up but she kept talking. Shouldn't there be triage training for dealing with women in labor? She was asking the Hub questions... Did my water break? What time? How far apart are my contractions? This is when I found out that they were 3 minutes apart. HOLY CRAP!! We're back to this again. She wheels me into the registration and insists that she needs to take my vitals and get my information. All the while she is doing this I am having contractions. I'm breathing, breathing, breathing, trying to relax but it just isn't working. Everything felt so much better when I was standing. She finished up and told me that she called up to Labor and Delivery to let them know I was here. If they aren't down in 5 minutes, then she will call again. I politely said okay and thank you and waited while thinking, GET THEM DOWN HERE NOW!!!!!!! ***I should note that while I was feeling like a monster, I remained polite to all those around me. It wasn't their fault and I never wanted to be one of THOSE women*** After one contraction during the waiting my escort arrived. She wheeled me up to the room and started hooking me up. I told her wanted to get in the tub. I was insisting to get in the tub. I knew that the tub would help me. She told me that they had to do some quick checks that would take about 10 minutes and then I could get in the tub. My midwife comes in and sees me gathers the information from Nick and I begin to plead with her about getting in the tub. She reassures me that she has the power to override whatever the nurse told me and will get me in there as soon as possible. All the while the nurses are trying to hook up an IV for the antibiotics, secure the baby monitoring devices, get the baby monitoring devices to work, and gather more information from Nick. My midwife says she has to check me and get one good reading on the monitor and then I can go in the tub. She checks me and I'm 7 cm with contractions coming on strong and quick. She says there is no time to go in the tub and starts calling out for assistance ASAP. Everyone is rushing around bumping into each other in an effort to try and get ready for this baby that was coming. Me? I'm lying on the bed asking for the monitors to please come off and still asking to get in the tub. Somewhere in all this rushing and craziness I see my mother walk in. After some contractions I look at her and she has this look of "Oh my goodness" and sympathy on her face. I tell the midwife that I need to push and she encourages me. She tells me to listen to my body and do what it wants. I push..a little (I reached the point where I had to push and didn't really want to because of the pain that was to come with it). I have to push again and I do. The midwife tells me she can see the head and I ask her to please not ask me to touch it (something she did repeatedly with Bug). After a few more pushes (maybe 6 total) H entered this world at 8:43 am working her little lungs to produce the sweetest cry you've ever heard. She weighted 7lbs 3oz, measured 20 inches long and her head was 13 inches.
    We didn't have a name for her at her time of arrival because Bug was to name her (first name). We were waiting for her to arrive so that she could pick the name from names that we had been discussing with her for the past couple of months. We had decided to let Bug name her for a couple of reasons. The major one being that we couldn't decide on one ourselves. The other reason is because the Hub's great aunt, who had recently passed away, was named by her sister and had always loved her name. We thought that was neat. Bug came and chose the name H for her baby sister. The middle name Raine was picked by the Hub partially for the beauty of it and partially for all the rain on our wedding day....tying us all together as a family even more.
    Now onto the pictures....

 

 I really wish we had a better family picture of us, but so far this is it. Hopefully my mom or someone else does.

Sister love.

Proud Daddy

 A little bit better shot of Mommy with her girls ;)

After 48 hours of observation, due to the lack of time in getting in enough antibiotics, we were released and are all home and doing great. Bug LOVES her baby sister and is VERY protective of her already. H follows in her sister's footsteps of being a great baby.