Birth Story

By April 20th my belly had dropped and on April 22nd my mucus plug came out. Can I just say that was gross especially since I was still at work. I started to not feel great and joked that I might not be in tomorrow, April 23rd, which was to be my last day of work before I started maternity leave. I was so excited to have the following week off and planned to get my a mani & pedi before delivery but the baby had other plans.

By the time I got home I was definitely having contractions. I told hubby to make sure he took the regular train home and not the later one because I was in labor. I knew the contractions would hurt but I didn't expect the lower back pain. That was really the worst part. By the time hubby came home my contractions were about 15 minutes apart so I called the doctor. They told me that when my contraction got to be about 5 minutes apart to call them and then I would head to the hospital.

Can I just say that the bump has a great contraction calculator on their website. It was great. Every time my contraction would start I would just hit enter and then when it was over you hit enter again. It told you how long the contraction was plus how long between your contractions. It was wonderful to have that - thanks the bump.

My contractions started at 15 minutes, then went to 12 minutes then bumped up to 20 minutes, then 15 minutes, then 30 minutes. It was very frustrating and exhausting since I had been up all day and it was now night time. Finally around 6:30am my contractions got to 5 minutes apart and we called the doctor. They gave us the green light to go to the hospital so we started to get ready. I had to send an email to my coworkers explaining that I would not be in and tell them the final items that I needed done. I actually had to have hubby type the email because the contractions were very bad. We finished up our bag for the hospital because I totally slacked on getting that ready and then my "nesting" instincts took over. While hubby was loading up the car I was making the bed and folding blankets. Hubby insisted that I get in the car but I need to make sure our bedroom was neat. He couldn't believe me. He finally got me down to the kitchen, almost to the back door, but then I realized that I needed to wipe the counters down because I saw a crumb. Again, he was like we need to go to the hospital NOW but I needed to make sure the house was okay before we left. We didn't get to the hospital till about 9am.

The car ride to the hospital SUCKED!!!! It was only 25 minutes but it was 25 minutes of HELL. When we were home I leaned over which helped the contractions but in the car I could only sit there, yell and squeeze hubby's thigh. I am very proud that hubby got us to the hospital with no problems.

Once inside the hospital I got the VIP wheelchair to the maternity floor and they did a pelvic check on me to see how dilated I was. I prayed that I was at least 2 cm's dilated and that they wouldn't send me home. I could not take them sending me home. To my delight I was 6 cm's dilated. Woo Hoo! I was so happy that they were admitting me.

Once we got into our room they asked if I wanted an epidural and I said yes please. I didn't know if I would want one or not and I am so happy I did. I could still feel the contractions and actually did feel some pain towards the end but it made it SO much better. I could actually enjoy the birthing experience. The nurses were pretty good expect for the one who told me to rest because I would be pushing for at least 3 hours because this was my first pregnancy. That bitch! Why do you need to tell me it will be at least 3 hours - hate you!

Moving on .. my parents were in the waiting room, my in-laws were in the car heading up and one of my besties was making the trek up too. Once Kim got there hubby was going to update her and my parents, it was just a little before 12:00. Hubby was about to leave the room when I said I think I feel like pushing. He was like "WHAT". So he decided not to update the group and he went to find our nurse. They checked me and I was 10 cms dilated and they got me ready to push. Apparently my doctor was in the middle of doing a C-section to another patient so they grabbed a midwife for me, who I never met, and told me she would deliver me. That was fine by me because I wanted to see my baby. Side note: the midwife Agnes delivered my cousins baby - crazy - how small the world is.

I didn't know what pushing would be like. They kept telling me to push harder and on the 2nd push Agnes said she could see the hair. Holy shit you can see the hair was all I could think. My baby has hair. Hubby was getting even more excited at this point and was telling me I was doing great. I don't quite remember how many times I pushed but it was less then 8. She was out by 12:15pm so I guess I showed that bitch nurse who is boss. We put her on my chest but still didn't know if it was a boy or girl. Agnes told hubby to tell everyone and he was trying to see between the legs but with the blankets on her and everyone arms all over her it was hard to see so he said "Is it a girl?" and he was right. It was a girl - which I predicted all along!

She is the most beautiful little thing I have ever seen. We could not believe all the dark hair and she was just a tiny thing. I figured that we would have a 8 lb baby and thought she would be a week late but instead she was just a little over 6lbs and came one week early. We could not be happier. Thanks hubby for making a beautiful baby with me and for being so supportive through everything!

It is a Girl!

Mia MacKenzie was born April 23, 2010 at 12:15pm. She weighed 6lbs and 3 ozs and was 20 inches long.