Gabrielle's Birth Story

Thursday, August 20th, Jimmy and I went in to see my OB for my 38 week appointment. The week before, she told me that I was between 3-4 cm dilated. I had felt some cramping through the week, but nothing more than period-like cramps. At the 38 week appointment, she informed us that I was now at about 5 cm dilated and my water bag was "bulging." She gave us the option of going home to pack up a few things first and then coming back, or just heading straight over to the hospital - where she would then break my water and get the contractions started.
I wanted a birth that was completly natural and with as few interventions as possible. I was worried that breaking my water would affect the entire labor process and lead to further complications, but we decided to go ahead with it.
We opted to go home first and pack up and then head back to the hospital.  We arrived and were put into a room by 2pm. At 4pm my doctor came in and broke my water - I was at 6 cm at that time. Before then, I still hadn't felt much as far as contractions - still only light cramping. After my water was broken, they became much more regular and progressively stronger. Family came to visit and hang out with us in the labor and delivery room. Although the contractions were getting stronger and I had to actually concentrate and breathe through them - I spent a lot of time on my feet, swaying, and leaning on the counter in the room - I was still able to talk through them, and felt totally fine between each one.

By the time I was 8 cm - at about 9 pm - the contractions were finally at a point where I was actually feeling pain. I motioned to Jimmy to ask that the family in our room please leave. The nurse wanted me to remain on the bed at this time to monitor my contractions and the baby more closely - although the baby was responding perfectly fine. This was where it began to get hard. Staying in the bed was really uncomfortable. I had a lot of lower back pain through the contractions and while the actual contractions didn't hurt so much, the back pain is what made me so uncomfortable. I was allowed to get off the monitors and walk around - during each contraction, I would lean on the counter and usually moan thru them. I found that only breathing make me light-headed and increased the nausea I was feeling. Towards the end, I got back into the bed and would use the clock to get through each contraction - when the pain would really hit, I would start watching the second hand - each was exactly a minute long before I felt any relief.
Jimmy was amazing though it all. I can remember thinking that he must be worried about me dealing with the pain, but he stood by me, and helped me through every single contraction. He reminded me to breath and told me repeatedly how strong I was and that I could make it though this. We went through each contraction one at a time - he reminded me that each one was one more down and was getting us one more closer to meeting our baby.
At around 11:30pm I started feeling the uncontrollable urge to push. My doctor was not yet back at the hospital, but the nurses called her and said I could start pushing while she was on the way. I can't honestly remember every part of pushing, except that it was HARD. I held on to the bedrails and can remember shaking them to help me get through the pain. I suppose there was that feeling of relief during each push, but it was insanely intense and took every ounce of energy I had left. Jimmy later told me that between each contraction there was enough time that I could have been recovering well enough or regaining strength, but it was just so intense, that I often spent that recovery time hyperventilating (Jimmy and the nurses and doctor had to remind me calm down and breath slowly) and before I could really recover another contraction was building.

After just over an hour of pushing, Gabrielle Scott was born. I did not use a mirror to see her come out, but I did feel her head two different times before she was out. One feeling I wont forget was the feeling of her shoulders moving and twisting in my lower pelvis. No one had told me about that feeling and it was a really unique one. Not so much as painful, but just weird to actually feel her twist after her head was already out. After the delivery of the placenta, my uterus would not stop bleeding as fast as my doctor wanted - there wasn't a huge loss of blood, but my doctor had a hard time getting it to stop nonetheless. I was given pitocin and cervadil (I think? It's all fuzzy) to help with that. The "massaging" of the uterus was by far more painfull than the actual birth. I literally screamed though that. I had a minor tear (a "brush burn of a tear" my doctor said) and was stitched up.

Gabby was alert and pink immediately at birth. She is perfect!
 
And now for some pictures!  Excuse the low-quality... I thought I would try blogger's new uploading/editing format, but only realized after doing so that it uploaded in low-quality.  Grrrrr.
 

Last bump pic!  38 weeks... about to head to the hospital!

 

Welcome Baby Gabrielle!!  Our new family a few minutes after her birth.

Gabrielle was born on Jimmy's 30th birthday. 

We had a cake for Jimmy with "30" on top to celebrate and J removed the 3 so we could celebrate Gabby's day as well.  :)

My grandmother, mom and dad.

"0" months old!  And not too happy.  haha.

My sweet baby girl.

And her favorite way to sleep.  lol