The Birth Story

I want to start off this post and state that God controlled every step of this process. He is the deliverer and I was overwhelmed with emotion and my relationship with Christ yesterday as we delivered his miracle, Samuel. To sum it up, I am going to borrow words from George Strait..."I saw God today"

As you all know I was nervous as all get out about being induced. We checked into the hospital on Sunday evening and I was still only 50% effaced and 1/2 cm. They gave me a cytotec to help thin me Sunday night around 9pm and then they checked me again at 1:00am Sunday morning. When they checked me, I was still only 1/2 cm and 50% so they gave me another cytotec. At around 6:30 am Monday October 11, 2010 I was again only 1/2 cm and 50% effaced. The doctor broke my water and started the pitocin drip. My contractions started full fledge and I felt every bit of it. My labor and delivery nurse was honest with me and stated that there was a good chance I would need a c-section b/c I had not progressed any over night. Although this was not my birth plan I felt like there was no use worrying over it, I knew that the Lord was in total control.

By God's strength, I made it through all the contractions alternating positions in the bed. Because I had the pitocin they didn't really want me to walk around but my nurse helped me labor in positions everytime it looked like I was struggling. To be honest I did ask for some pain medicine for some relief (no epidural but just something to help take the edge off), my nurse was great and said let me check you and I was 7 cm so she told me to hold out. She was great, helping me b/c she knew I could do it. I made it 9.5-10 cm by around 11:00am, unbelievalbe quickness, I was only about 95% effaced. It was very funny now to reflect on this b/c during all the contractions, I of all people was quiet. I closed my eyes and was in the zone with only one goal on mind, get this baby out and safely. I actually only yelled once or twice, which I was even shocked over. Over the next hour I thinned the rest and my body told me to start pushing. It was amazing! I labored pushing every 1.5-2 minutes, a set of 3 pushes each contractions for 2 hours. I was done, exhausted. Sam sat in the birth canal and just couldn't get through. I asked the nurse to call my doctor b/c I was done. My doc came down and saw me push a couple of contractions and agreed to use the vacuum b/c Sam's head was turned sideways (which explained why I only had back labor, which hurt like hell to be honest). I elected to get a local anestetic to help with the vacuum and slight episiotomy.

At 2:18pm, he was born, 7lbs 7 oz and 20 inches long. The NICU nurses were in the room due to the possibilty of Sam passing some meconium in the womb. When he was born he was grunting and his respiratory rate was slightly elevated so he was taken to the NICU for observation over the next four hours. We got him around 7pm last night and it was love at first sight. I can't believe that I am actually a Mom and in so in love.