Scarlett Grace: A Birth Story

Scarlett Grace born May 27, 2015

2:11am, 7 pounds 4 ounces, 20 1/2 inches long

 The doctor had calculated Scarlett's due date as May 25 and said she thought she would be early. So, I was a little bummed when I showed up at my doctor's appointment on the 26th with no baby in sight. I was 2cm dilated so Calvo stripped my membranes. I had talked Kyle into coming with me because his car was in the shop and I wanted him at the appointment just in case. After the appointment, we went over to my mother-in-law's house so we could eat lunch with her and our nieces. No sooner had we sat down to lunch at Flanigan's than I felt a large gush. I went to the bathroom to check and sure enough, my water had broken. We asked them to rush our lunch, ate quickly, and Kyle and I went and picked up his car and our stuff and headed to the hospital. 

Right after my water broke                        On our way to the hospital

I was admitted at 2:30pm and was told my water had definitely ruptured. I got all hooked up and ready. At 7pm the nurse checked and I was only at 3cm dilated, we still had a long way to go. My contractions started getting extremely painful, our nurse said she was impressed because I only seemed to be in pain when they peaked. At 10 pm I was finally able to get an epidural and immediately felt relief. They checked me again and I was 7cm. At midnight, Calvo came in and I was 10cm dilated, but Scarlett's head was still high so they thought it would be awhile still. A little after 1pm I was ready to start pushing, but they had me wait until Calvo showed up. Her head was all the way down, but I had a lot of trouble pushing it out. It took over 30 minutes and was very painful since there was so much pressure from her head sitting right there for so long. Scarlett had pooped right before I started pushing, because there was a risk of her swallowing meconium we really wanted to get her out. I finally was able to push her head out and the rest quickly followed. She came right on the day I had originally calculated. They had to take her right away to get her checked so I didn't get to do skin on skin immediately, which was the only thing I had really wanted. Luckily, she hadn't swallowed anything and everything was fine. I made Kyle go and take pictures of her to show me while I laid there and cried. I was so happy she was here, but sad that I could hear her but not see her or hold her. I had to get stitched up because I had a partial 3rd degree tear so it was a little while before I finally got to hold her. Once they finally handed her to me I got to feed her. She latched right away and is a great eater!

It was a long, tiring, and extremely painful process. More painful than I ever would have imagined, but oh so worth it. I still can't believe that she fit in my stomach.