Stella's Story

I don't want to bore you with the details, but I'm going to anyway because this is where I put all of my memories to be scrapbooked later.

And believe me, childbirth is a memory.

So here's Stella's Birth Story...

I was scheduled for an 8:00 am induction at McKay Dee Hospital. Due to the foot of snow we got the night before Preston, Keely (my sister) and I arrived at the hospital a few minutes late. We got checked into our labor suite, settled, gowned and all of the other junk they do when you arrive to have a baby. I was Group B Strep positive with this baby (a first), so they had to start Penicillin, and I had to have 2 doses 4 hours apart. So, they started my Penicillin and we sat, and sat and sat and sat. Anxiety sunk in. I hate the waiting part. Luckily, I had Preston and Keely (and Good Things Utah) to keep me company. I was starving by 10am and settled for a root beer popsicle, which didn't do much for the growling stomach.

Finally, my midwife called at 11:15am and said to start the Pitocin (I have other names that I would prefer to call that stuff, but they aren't appropriate for a story about a cute baby). Not much happened. The machines I was hooked to said I was contracting, but I wasn't feeling much. We took this time to continue to chat, guess a little more about what this bundle of joy would be, eat another popsicle, and warn the nurse (very nicely) that I wouldn't be waiting for my midwife to push if she took more than a couple of minutes, so she better be ready and willing to catch, just in case. Going natural in childbirth and being told not to push is actually an oxymoron and anyone who tells you "not to push" is a moron because your body just does it. So I felt the need to warn her early in the game.

Jeni came to take pictures of the journey, and she was a welcome change in the room with new topics to chat about.

My midwife came to break my water at 1:30 p.m. This was my 3rd water-breaking experience in my lifetime, and it definitely was my worst. She kept saying that she needed a scalpel my bag of waters was so strong, and I was glad she only had a crochet hook because it felt as though she was digging a bone out of me. Water broke. Clear. Warm. And then came the contractions.

I sat on the birthing ball. Got a backrub. Looked at the clock. Thought this process was taking forever, and that my baby might never be born (darn GBS!). But sure enough, the contractions got stronger. I had to breathe through them and relax, but in between I could still talk and enjoy the experience.

At 4pm I was 4 cm dilated. I decided to get cozy in the bed and try my best to get "in the zone" as Preston kept saying. He would tell me "Do your thing. Welcome the contractions. Contractions are good. Our Baby will be here soon." The contractions felt my invitation and came, and they came hard. Between contractions I glanced at the clock. 4:22pm...."That's when James was born", I thought and "This is taking forever", I said. I was begging for my body to hit transition so that I knew I had 30 minutes or less until baby. But, I never really felt transition. At 4:50pm I had a contraction, and another and another without any breaks in between. I pushed the nurse's button and requested (okay, demanded) they turn off the Pitocin. I had a new nurse....GREAT! Just when I was about to be done with this they changed my nurse on me. I tried to brief her on my no-waiting-to-push-policy, but I was "in the zone". That pushy feeling came at 5pm, my midwife was called, and we waited, of course. My worst fear was coming true. But, I tricked them. They told me to wait and that I couldn't push, but I was, and my baby was. The midwife arrived just after 5:10 pm, I pushed a bit more, and there was a head. I had to hold off because the cord was wrapped around "its" neck. My sister remarked, "That's a boy face". I pushed a bit more and there was the baby. But, despite the boyish first impression it was a GIRL!!! They put her on my chest....pink, chubby, full of hair and life.

My first thought was "it's a girl!?". My second thought was "SHE has lots of RED hair!". And, my last thought before she left to get weighed was, "she is so much bigger than 7 pounds!" (what she was measuring at last check).

Sure enough she was 8 pounds, 7 ounces and 20 inches long.

She nursed like a champ from the get-go.

The labor and delivery were over, and our new life with a Baby Girl had begun...

After feeling like it had been eternity, it was actually my shortest labor (from the breaking of the water), my only labor without a longer transition, my smallest tear, and my best performance to date, or so the hubby says.

It was all worth it, again.