Saturday, June 25, 2011

My Sophia's Birth Story


I finally wanted to write Sophia's birth story while I still remembered all the details of truly what is and will forever be the most amazing day of my life. But as I am sure every mom out there knows, there are no words that can ever describe the feeling of that day. And every sentence I type out here will fall short of the extraordinary memories in my mind.

But I will try as best as I can to capture as many details as possible leading up to the moment that literally changed my life, when her little body was placed directly on mine the second she entered this world.

It all started on Wednesday, June 8th, my due date. That morning I woke up around 8:30, made myself breakfast and began checking my work email from home, like I had done that entire week. However, something about waking up that day just felt different. Maybe it was because the night before I had talked to my Mama and told her that I thought Sophia would still be coming on her due date. I am pretty sure she thought I was a crazily optimistic pregnant lady since that was the next day and I was showing NO progress at my doctor's appointments, but either way she knew better than to burst my bubble. After all the "every first time mom is late" comments I had heard leading up to that, I don't think I could've handled another one. Plus, all along, I knew my little lady would be punctual. After all, she knew how extremely anxious her Mom and Dad were to meet her.

At about noon that day, I started to notice some light spotting. I didn't think anything of it, but called my doctor just to be sure. She didn't seem concerned and just told me to keep an eye on it. Once Matt came home from work at 2:30 (he had shifted his hours that entire week), he convinced me to go to the hospital just to get checked out. After resisting for a couple hours, I agreed, and we headed in around 5 p.m. We had packed our hospital bags for "just in case". They admitted us immediately and after hooking me up to the monitors and doing an internal exam to make sure it wasn't my water, they had sent us home. Little did we know we'd be coming back in shortly thereafter.

After coming home, it was business as usual as Matt fired up the grill and we enjoyed dinner on our patio.. Then we decided to invite our neighbors over (hi, Ben and Michelle :). At around 8 p.m. we came inside and just relaxed on the couch. At exactly 9 p.m. I started feeling contractions. We immediately started timing them, and they were very regular and about 4-5 minutes apart. How I went from feeling no contractions to them being so close together, I have no idea! All I know is that Sophia clearly had plans of her own and Mama was just a happy participant in all of this. We timed my contractions for exactly three hours. I have to honestly say that my contractions at this stage still weren't as painful as I had imagined them to be. They were more uncomfortable than painful. And as long as I just remembered to breathe through them, they were not bad at all! But at around midnight, they were exactly 3 minutes apart.

At this point, it had finally hit me that this was it. It was really happening. No more wondering, no more questioning her arrival...we were going to the hospital and I was finally going to meet my baby girl. The next hour was a blur - calling our families, grabbing our bags and sneaking in one last snuggle with Charlie (which instantly brought on a flood of tears). The next time we'd be coming home, it would be with our daughter.

The following twelve hours were the most exciting, intense and at times most emotional of my life. After getting checked in initially at 1:30 a.m., I was still only 2 cm dilated, but my contractions were still 2-3 min apart. At this point the nurse asked me to walk around the hallway for an hour to see how much progress I could make by moving. This is also the time my Mom and Dad came...seeing them automatically put me at ease. As my dad waited in the main lobby, my Mom, Matt and I walked around the labor & delivery unit hallway for an hour, trying to speed up progress. My contractions continued to get stronger but I was completely calm. I knew that the next time they checked me, I would be in active labor. Sure enough an hour later I was already 4 cm dilated and getting wheeled into our room where I would be giving birth! And then my little sister came! To see her was a wonderful feeling. My little sister who hates hospitals, blood, needles and everything else, was there through it all to support me. I cried. Her, my Mom and Matt took turns holding my hand and encouraging me through the contractions which were now coming every 2 minutes. Around 5 a.m. the on-call doctor came in and decided that I was far enough to break my water. This part actually wasn't painful at all, but the contractions that immediately followed were nearly unbearable. My goal through this entire process was to hold off on the epidural as long as possible, as I knew that if I got it too early it could possibly stall the entire process. I wanted to progress as far as possible on my own. So, at around 5:30 a.m. and at 6 cm, I finally asked for the epi and the relief was unbelievable. At 7:30 a.m. they checked me again, and I was already 9 cm and what I thought was close to pushing! I couldn't believe how fast I was progressing. But my Sophia had different plans.

Every time the doctors and nurses would do an internal check, Sophia's heart rate would suddenly drop and once the internal was over, it would go right back to normal. As the doctor's described it, she was calling the shots and we just had to wait. They wanted her to drop as much as possible on her own, so that I would only have to push for a short period and this would minimize the stress on the baby. So, we obliged and we waited, and waited, and waited. Until 12:30 p.m. And it was just around this time that something else took over. Somehow it just happened. My baby girl made her mind up that it was time, and did all the hard work for her mama. After pushing for only 15 minutes, our daughter was healthy and finally in our arms. I have to honestly say that overall labor was much easier than I expected. Maybe it's my selective mommy memory that forgets the bad and only remembers the good, but I could do everything and so much more a hundred times over again for such a special little gift.

And since I'll only continue to fumble over my words, here are a few pictures of our very first days together...

I'll let her sweet face sum up our joy.







25 comments:

  1. Amazing. Totally have tears in my eyes and couldn't be happier for you! <3

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  2. She is the cutest little bundle of cuteness! I'm so happy you had a great birthing experience! :)

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  3. She is simply gorgeous and how are you so beautiful after giving birth?! :) There is NOTHING in this world like mommy love~

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  4. There are tears in my eyes, such a beautiful birth story! Congrats on your gorgeous bundle!! I can only dream for the day when I finally get 2 little pink lines, and hopefully I can experience your joy!! Enjoy your girl!!!

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  5. She is SO beautiful and i am SO happy for you!!! You look amazing after just having her!!!! :) Cant wait to hear more stories!! Congrats mom and dad!

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  6. how cool to go into labor on your due date! my birthday is june 9th too! you have a beautiful daughter there. :) congrats! enjoy her!

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  7. She is so gorgeous! Congratulations!

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  8. What a beautiful little lady! What a blessing that all went so well, congrats!!

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  9. fabulous story! thanks for sharing. she is precious!!!

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  10. Awe she is precious & looks like you two are smitten! Congrats!

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  11. She is gorgeous!!
    I'm so happy you had a good delivery and that is awesome she actually came on her due date! : )

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  12. She's beautiful! Congrats!

    Isn't the epidural the best? I was in heaven once I got mine! I'm also jealous that you only pushed for 15 minutes! I pushed for 2 hours before my son was born! I'm glad everything went smoothly for you and I hope you're feeling well!

    We had the same due date by the way, but I had my baby June 3rd :)

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  13. Sounds pretty great as for as labors go! She is beautiful!

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  14. Oh she is beautiful, congratulations to your family!!

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  15. I loved reading this! I had my baby girl on May 18th and you are definitely right- it is the most amazing feeling in the world and there really are no words that can describe it. Congrats to you! Sophia is beautiful!

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  16. Congratulations!! She is such a little baby doll! What a great birth experience you had. Thanks for sharing!

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  17. Wonderful story! Thanks so much for sharing, she's a doll baby:-)

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  18. Such a great story she's precious and with a full head of hair! Can't wait to see more photos!

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  19. She is SO beautiful! And I love how she had a flower in her hair mere minutes after she was born! I am glad she is here safely and can't wait to watch her grow!

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  20. just found your blog! how precious! she is beautiful...wow:-)

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  21. Wow! What a beautiful story. She is absolutely perfect. Glad to hear the family is doing good!

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  22. Just fell in love with your blog....congrats on your lil darlin! gorgeous!

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  23. How precious! Congrats on your new beautiful baby!

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  24. Hi! I'm your newest follower! Love your blog and loved reading your birthing story! Your daughter is absolutely gorgeous, Congrats!

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  25. just came across your blog! its adorable!! wondering if you are going to continue posting? how is motherhood treating you?? Hope all is well. Sophia is a beauty

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