Our Birth Experience

Isn't that a great picture of Art spending quality time with the baby?

Last week, we were quite spoiled having my parents here to cook and clean and take care of the children. All I did all week was take care of Lily and squeeze in a nap now and then. This week mom and dad are gone and we are trying to get back in a routine ( I do have some wonderful friends who are bringing supper this week which has been a great help.) But I wanted to share a little bit of our birth story for those who might be interested to know how everything went.

On Thursday the 12th I went in for my weekly check-up and was 3 cm and 75% effaced. I had been having some mild cramping in my back off and on for the last couple of days, but nothing to be excited about. On Friday morning I woke up with horrible back pain like nothing I had ever experienced before. It wasn't like labor and is very hard to describe, but it continued on into the day and hung around on Saturday too. We decided to go into the hospital and break my water on Sunday morning. My parents were visiting and could take care of the children while we were at the hospital. I was having irregular contractions but they were not very strong. My doctor broke my water at 9:40 and still I did not start having regular contractions until 1:00 in the afternoon. My nurse was wonderful. She only asked once if I wanted an epidural, she only talked to me between contractions did what she could to make me comfortable (putting the thermostat on 65 degrees, bring extra pillows, etc..) and left us alone as much as possible. We did not have an epidural or any other pain medications. At 4:30 I was 9 1/2 cm and since I was feeling the urge to push we decided to start pushing while the doctor tried to move that last lip of cervix over the baby's head. She wasn't moving down so we rested for a few contractions and started again and at 5:25 pm Lillian Grace was born. She had a very short cord and it was all bunched up on her shoulder which explains why she was slow moving down the birth canal. A few minutes after she was born she was nursing like a pro. The hardest part of my labor was the delivery because for my last 4 children I only had to push 2 or 3 times and they were born. It was frustrating to me to have it take longer. All in all it was a wonderful birth experience.