We're Alive!

I have been SUPER busy around here (as all of you new mommies know). Balancing two is slowly coming together for me. I'm so lucky to have two great girls. They really are spoiling me. They must want a brother sometime down the road ;).

So I wanted to share Scarlett's birth story. To start out, I had an emergency C-section with my first daughter. After 16 long hours of labor, they told me to stop pushing (yes, it even got to that stage) and that she was trying to come out sideways. That my best option for a healthy mom and baby was to have a C-section. After 15 minutes of crying (part exhaustion, part nerves, and part FRUSTRATION!), they rolled me in and *pop* there she was.

After talking to my doctor over the last nine months, we both felt comfortable with me trying a VBAC (vaginal birth after cesarean). I trust my doctor whole-heartily and if he would have had any doubts about the VBAC, I totally would have listened.

On March 1st, I started having contractions. I had an app on my iPhone that allowed me to track them. They would start out consistent and then fade out. They were NOT Braxton Hicks. I had BH my entire pregnancy, and while they're super annoying... they weren't painful. THESE contractions had me bent over. After two days of contractions coming and going, I was ready to evict this little girl. If they weren't going to stop, she was going to come. So, we did everything. My SIL recommended trying Olive Gardens Eggplant Parmesan. I googled it and apparently it's legit, people go into labor shortly after eating it, due to the spices (so it says).

Off to Olive Garden we went, March 2nd. We sat down to eat around 7 and I ate as much as I could. I had never even eaten eggplant before... and not to sound cliché, but it tasted like chicken! Pretty tasty.

So, we get home and I'm still having contractions every couple hours. Nothing to take note of. We get Ava to bed and do our usual bedtime routine.

I shit you not, my water broke at 11:45 that night. I think Andy and I sat there and laughed for a good 5 minutes because of how ridiculous it was that it was happening just hours after the eggplant parm. We called my MIL and she came right over, and laughed just as much (the in laws went to dinner with us and knew my intentions). She stayed over with Ava while we went to the hospital.

The hospital is a good 20-25 minute ride (there are closer ones, but I wasn't a fan). The contractions were getting super close and super strong. I remember saying "I better be AT LEAST 4-5cm when we get there", because my doctor said it would be about then that he'd feel safe giving me the epidural. Because of my C-section scar, he didn't want to give me pictosin unless need be because it my rupture my scar. That would be a problem.

So we get in there and everything is so calm and amazing, the staff was great, and even more wonderful? MY doctor was on call that night! That almost never happens.

They checked me and I was already at about 4 1/2- 5 cm!! Praise the Lord! But because I was so mellow and tolerant of the contractions, he asked that I go as long as I could without the epidural so that it wouldn't slow down the process. Because I'm such a good patient (or because I didn't want to slow down the process either), I went another couple of hours with no epidural... no drugs at all, for that matter.



I got my epidural eventually at 4am. I was at 7cm and they decided I was progressing well enough. They tell you to nap, but of course, I couldn't. I was feeling tremendous pressure around 7am and was at 9cm. By 8am, it was time to push. Now this is were you may get scared if you haven't yet had your baby, but I assure you, I'm here to tell the tale, so everything turned out fine.

They said usually it takes about an hour to push, if you've never given birth vaginally. So I wanted to cry at that. It was HARD!!! You have to have a very strong will power to get that baby out, and man, did I! I was ready to meet this little girl SO. BAD.

Right when they said "one more good push and she's here", I pushed with everything I had. And then shit hit the fan. I hear "I need another nurse in here STAT!", people are running around, my husband gets pushed out of the way, a nurse brings in a stool and stands over my stomach. Then she's JUMPING on my stomach, the doctor is saying "keep pushing as hard as you can, her shoulders are stuck". I'm pushing as hard as I can, I assure you. Side note: my epidural has worn off greatly and I can feel pretty much everything.

One more giant push with everything I had in me and then BAM, she's on my chest. I cannot explain the relief you get when your baby comes out. It's pretty amazing.

 

Scarlett Macie was born on 3/3/13 at 9am. 7lbs, 10oz. 21" long. We were all pretty surprised at her size! She must have been hanging out in my back because I did NOT feel like I was carrying that much baby out front.

 

Since then...

 

 

 

 

 

Really going to try my best to get back on track. Baby girl is a month old tomorrow and I'm starting to feel like a human again. Although you wouldn't be able to tell with how dark my under-eyes are.