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A Birth Story

October 22, 2011

Posted by Madeline @ Food, Fitness, and Family under Baby, Family, Pregnancy

15 Comments

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October 6, 2011 was by far the best day of my entire life.

**Warning: this post is long and full of photos.

We started our morning with my 39 week OB appointment. My midwife checked me and said I was 2cm and she really didn’t know when I would have my baby. Chris and I decided that we would spend the afternoon at the dog park, so after the appointment we headed home to get things together. I laid down on the couch for a bit. When I got up to put on my sneakers to leave … my water broke. It was 12:15PM. I calmly told my mom, who proceeded to yell to Chris. Chris and I took our time and finished throwing essentials into my bag. At 12:45 we were on our way to the hospital. In route I start having contractions … evert 2-3 minutes.

Leaving for the hospital

When we got to the hospital we immediately got put into a room. The nurse did a quick check to make sure my water had really broken … there was NO doubt though haha. The doctor then came in and checked me out … I was 2cm dilated and 90% effaced. They decided to let me labor an hour to see if I progressed but if I didn’t, they wanted to start pitocin. When your water breaks you are ‘on the clock’ – they want to delivery the baby within 24 hours to lower the risk of infection for mom and baby.

After being admitted

At 3PM I was checked again and no progress had been made so the doc ordered the pitocin. He agreed to let me get my epidural before starting the pitocin. I came into my labor open minded about doing natural or having meds. Let me tell you … contractions HURT. I gladly accepted the meds. More power to you awesome ladies who go natural! The nurse anesthetist gave me a perfect epidural … VERY low dose just to take the edge off. I could feel my legs and still felt contractions. This would be extra important before we knew it…To pass the time we watched Scrubs haha.

Around 5PM I was more uncomfortable. The nurse checked me … I was then 3cm dilated and the CRNA came and upped my dose.

This was me telling Chris that labor sucks

Well … at 6PM I was feeling MORE pain rather than less. Chris went to get the nurse so we could up my epidural again. She came in and decided that since she was there she would check me again. She looked up at us and said, ‘well, it’s time to have a baby’. Our response was like ya we are here to have a baby … she corrected us, ‘it’s time to have a baby NOW’. I had dilated from 3 to 10 cm in less than an hour. She immediately got the room set up for delivery and I was pushing less than 5 minutes later. 3 contractions in to pushing she was calling the doctor. 2-3 contractions after he got there … this sweet angel was born.

Chris was telling her, “I made you”. Ummm …. hello?! I did too!! And I GREW her.

Mimi (my mom) and her newest granddaughter

Family of Three

Meeting her ‘brother’ and ‘sister’

Overall I was in labor 6.5 hours start to finish. I’ll take it

Emmalyne Grace
October 6, 2011 @ 1856
8lbs 14 oz and 21.5 inches of pure perfection

I honestly didn’t know how much I could love someone … until I held my daughter for the first time

15 Responses to A Birth Story

purelyemilyOctober 23, 2011 at 2:27 am

What a beautiful story!
I'm not pregnant (nor do I hope to be anytime soon), but I can only pray for a labor a short as yours.
Congrats to you and your family. Best wishes!

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Rachel LayfieldOctober 23, 2011 at 2:51 am

Loved it! Beautiful story:)

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Skinnie PiggieOctober 23, 2011 at 7:03 am

This was cool too see!

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Madeline @ Food, Fitness, FamilyOctober 23, 2011 at 1:20 pm

Thanks guys!

@Rachel – <3 ya girly!

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charonamission.comOctober 23, 2011 at 2:41 pm

Things I loved about this post – besides the fact that you delivered a beautiful baby girl!!!!

1) You have a jeep. We also have a jeep. I LOVE my jeep lol
2) You wore jeans AFTER giving birth. I don't know how you did this, but props, props and more props
3) You look fantastic for having just given birth (probably the reason for #2 lol)

All the best xoxo

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Madeline @ Food, Fitness, FamilyOctober 23, 2011 at 3:04 pm

Char – we love our Jeep too! The only thing I don't like is that it's a gas guzzler lol. As for the jeans … they were maternity jeans haha. BUT I am back in my pre-pregnancy ones now. Thanks for the kind words!

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MariaOctober 23, 2011 at 3:13 pm

aww maddy, tears!!! Love it all! And that pic of you telling Chris labor hurts is adorable to me. Very real!

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LaurenOctober 24, 2011 at 10:38 am

Great story, beautiful baby. Enjoy here and your beautiful family.

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Rachel @ My Naturally Frugal FamilyOctober 24, 2011 at 12:37 pm

That is a wonderful story and a beautiful baby. Well done to both of you (but mostly you since you had to grow her for 40 weeks).

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Molly at Duchess of ForkOctober 31, 2011 at 2:04 am

So sweet! I love her name. Sounds like you had a wonderful delivery.

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sarahJanuary 30, 2012 at 2:23 am

since i just found your blog i decided to go through older post, love birth stories! good job mama =)

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What Motivates You? | Food, Fitness, and FamilyMarch 9, 2012 at 4:03 am

[...] had to lose weight. I am blessed with being tall and slender with a decent metabolism. After having Emmie I have been working really hard to get back to my pre-pregnancy weight and have charted my progress [...]

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Healthy Living Survey - Food, Fitness, and FamilyJanuary 31, 2013 at 6:01 am

[...] still use the water bottle from the hospital when I had Emma occasionally because it’s a liter. I always have a water bottle with me. I shoot for 100+ [...]

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Kim @ HealthyNestJanuary 31, 2013 at 11:07 am

Beautiful birth story! Sounds like it went super fast, lucky you! Good call on getting the epidural before the pitocin…I did it the other way around–bad idea.

I know this was a long time ago, but I love reading birth stories so I had to check it out after seeing the link on your post today. Your daughter is beautiful!!
Kim @ HealthyNest recently posted..Reaching for Something

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- Madeline @ Food, Fitness, and FamilyJanuary 31, 2013 at 9:17 pm
  
  Thank you I am glad I did too because otherwise I would have dilated too fast to get it!
  
  Reply