Ara Belle's Birth

Okay, now for the birth story. Wow, it was something to behold. My due date was July 13, Friday the 13th to be exact. I went into the dr. for a routine visit on July 3rd and upon my dr. checking me he said, "WOW, WOW, I am so surprised you have NOT gone into labor yet! Baby is so low, your dialating and 90% effaced. I AM going to put you into labor TODAY!" 

"What?!?!" I say... am I really ready for this? Okay, YES! Lets do it. Then he proceded to scrape my membranes like crazy and I had a very painful contraction right then and there. I asked if I should go back to work and he said no, go home turn on the breast pump and you'll start having contractions. I called Gregg and said I'm not coming back to work today.... (internally singing songs of joy and praise and hallelujah!!!)

So, that's exactly what dad and I did. Raced home thinking that this was "it". Jordan was the BEST husband and vacuumed, folded all the laundry and straightened up the house. Then we waited. 

After having mild contractions with the breast pump and walking five miles I decied to take castor oil. We went out to dinner for Mexican and waited some more. By the time it was time for bed contractions were nonexistant and I was mad. The next day was a holiday but I REALLY didn't want to go back to work the next day. So, I went to bed and thought we'd just see what happend.

Well, the next morning I woke up around 4am with very painful contractions. These were different from the tightness I had felt the day before. I started timing them and they came around every 3-4 minutes. About 4:45, I woke dad and said "This is it!".  Not long after I called my mom and told her that we're going to go to the hospital so they'd better get on the road for their 8 hour drive. 

We arrived at the hospital about 5:30am and went to Triage. (Place where they determine if you're really in active labor or not. By this time I was in quite a bit of pain, I was sure I was in labor. The nurses said I was pretty dehydrated and this could cause fake contractions. Also, baby was a little inactive, could be from dehydration... (and castor oil!) So they pumped me full of fluids and my contractions continued upon hydration and babies activity picked up as well. Conclusion: active labor! Woohoo! 

Once in my labor room I went directly into the tub.. ahhhhh HEAVEN. The warm water and jets felt soooo good. My biggest mistake was ever getting out. I was in there for a few hours and then they really needed to check my progress so I had to get out. I think I had dialated about 1 cm, so I was now 4. By this time I was SCREAMING in pain. I could not move, think anything. I wanted the drugs and I wanted them NOW. Jordan was doing his best to hold me off but I just couldn't take it. Every time I had a contraction I was screaming bloody murder. I was sure she was posterior. I had horrible back labor. Felt like one million knives stabbing my back and then rocking back and forth. The nurse finally said okay and so did Jordan. ;-) Come anethesiolgist. 

She started with the medication and I told her I didn't want the maximum amount, 10. So she said okay, lets try 7. No relief, none. Okay, lets do more and still nothing!! So she decided to reposition the needle/catheter. Ahhh, finally some relief..... at first and only on my left side. 

Well I pretty much labored through like this for several hours. About every hour asking Jordan where my parents were and if they were close yet. Oh, and lets talk about Jordan. He was a SAINT. He did so well with me. He was cool and relaxed, loving and sweet. I was so worried that he was going to get stressed and freak out. Nope he was the best ever. Finally my parents arrived about 3pm. My dad and mom stayed in the room for awhile, dad would leave when I needed to be checked and report to family in the waiting room. Which was Jordan's patient parents, grandma and uncle Fred. Who had been in town all day long. They are troopers. I was progressing really slowly so they decided to give me pitocin. This is when things got freaking painful. However, I really started to dialate fast. In one hour, I went to a 6, then in 45 minutes went to a 7. By this time I was crying and acting like freaking crazy lady. I could feel everything on my right side. The anethesiologist did not want to poke my again, plus I was cruising along dialating fast. But I was begging for drugs. So they brought in the back up anethesiologist. By this time there was 2 anethesiologists, 3 nurses, 1 doctor, my mom and Jordan, all to hear my crazy screaming, great. Finally they decided to give me one straight shot to the back for pain and it worked!! Ya! AND IT WAS TIME TO PUSH! Show time. I pushed for 10 minutes. This part was piece of cake! Such instant gratification.

Jordan was counting to 10, which really helped. My doctor was awesome too. She always had a smile on her face and was encouraging me the whole way. My mom was there too to hold a leg. ;-) On my last push they lifted my dear daughter directly on to my deflated belly and I burst into tears. She was so, so, so perfect. A full head of dark hair, purple as could be and covered in white "stuff". Just perfect. ;-) It was too good to be true. I have never felt so proud of anything in my entire life. These emotions are indescribable. The first few moments of Ara, Jordan and I together were the best of my life. Jordan was crying, I was crying and we could not believe you were here. Thank you Jesus for such a precious gift. I will never forget this day or how I felt meeting Ara for the first time, MY daughter?! Wow, I am so blessed.