Best. Day. Ever.
Updated: May 19, 2020
The birth story of our greatest joy...our daughter.
It turns out, I began feeling the early signs of labor on October 8th. I wasn't in pain, but I could just tell something was different so I assumed it was most likely Braxton Hicks. The next morning, I sat up in bed and felt a wet sensation and thought "did I just pee myself?" HaHa The amount was so small that I again assumed this was just a normal change nearing the end of my pregnancy or potentially the loss of my plug (for those of you who do not know what I am referring to, do yourself a favor and don't google it. Just keep moving...LOL). I carried on with my day and drove up to the airport to pick up my husband.
Fast forward to the next morning, October 10th. I decided to give my doctor a call because I was still getting the fluid releases accompanied with some spotting, which caused me to panic and burst into tears...and rightfully so. I woke up my husband with tears streaming down my face, hands shaking. I called my doctor and was told to come in and get checked out. We tried to stay as calm as we possibly could as we showered and loaded up the car. "Everything is going to be fine, this is all totally normal and we will go get biscuits and gravy after the exam." lol That was the plan, but God had another.... ;)
After being examined, the nurse came back in and said "congratulations! Your water has broken and we're having a baby!" WHAT THE WHAAAA?! She wasn't due for another 10 days and my husband was supposed to be leaving town the next day for work in Canada. HOLY MOLY was this ever a surprise! After the news set in, we were moved into the labor and delivery room and the process began. Unfortunately while my water had broken, my cervix had not dilated. The next step was a cervical ripening agent that would need to be inserted into my cervix to help everything along. Once that is inserted, you have to wait four hours and be checked again. I had to go through this three times because things were just not moving as quickly as we needed them to. That is twelve hours of waiting, wishing, poking and prodding. Not fun. Probably the worst part of my labor story, actually. Finally, enough thinning had been made so that they could start a pitocin drip. Basically, pitocin is a drug that doctors use to induce labor. While things move faster towards getting you to active labor, your contractions are much more intense. For another 4-6 hours (I really can't remember), I bounced on a ball, walked around, squeezed my husband's hand and hummed through the pain. Fun fact: if you introduce a pleasure sense before pain, it reroutes your brain waves so the the pain becomes less intense. Because of this, my hubby would watch the screen so he could tell when a contraction was about to start. Before it began, he would begin to massage and squeeze my hand while I would take a deep breath and let out a hum. I swear by this technique! It really, really worked for me. Before I got my epidural, I was having contractions every minute. It was so intense that I vomitted but luckily they had some medicine (zofran) they could give me in my IV. FINALLY the epidural was administered and I felt so much relief. Next was a catheter, my most feared part. Since I had the epidural, I THANKFULLY did not feel a thing! It was fairly smooth sailing except we did have some issue with my blood pressure dropping, which caused my baby's pressure to drop as well. They administered medication to help and eventually, we were in a safe zone. I was also given an antibiotic since my water had been broken for so long - 28 hours when it was all said and done! Luckily, our baby girl was in the correct position but since she was a little bit at a diagonal (as she was for a lot of my pregnancy), we tried various positions to move her, using gravity rather than some of the more aggressive measures. It worked so the next order of business was to get me dilated to 9cm. Once we got there, my amazing nurse moved me around in all kinds of positions. I pushed for two and a half hours until our gorgeous, perfect little girl made her grand entrance earth side. We cried tears of joy! It was the most amazing experience I've ever had in my life. Exhausting and beautiful all at the same time...completely indescribable.
Everly Jo blessed our life beyond measure, 9 days early on October 11th...
Chelsea, owner and creator of Conscious Photography captured every moment in both imagery and video. The greatest gift we could have received and something we will treasure always.
Thank to everyone who prayed over us and sent positive vibrations our way. I loved every single part of my labor and delivery and I have loved every moment since...even the tough, sleepless, haven't brushed my teeth and it's 6pm days. The love I feel for Evie is so deep that it's hard to describe. There's truly nothing like it. The love I have for my amazing husband is stronger now than ever before. Watching him blossom into an incredible father has literally made my heart skip a beat. Being a wife and mama are my two greatest blessings in life and I am so very grateful. I feel like this is what I was created to do and that's an amazing feeling. Thank you God for my beautiful life and family. I am constantly in awe over how much my life has changed and how much the universe has given me. My heart is so full!
Here's what we have been up to over the past 4 weeks...
"Everything has changed but I'm more 'ME' than I've ever been."
XOXO,
Stephi Z