the birth of miss G

the last time i was here i was half way done...

today, i’m sitting here with a 3 week old baby next to me!

and since i’m sitting here with a baby next to me…i figured it’s time to blog all about her birth.

the last time we talked i shared how we were having a girl. 

we figured out her name about 2 months before she was born…but kept it a surprise til birth.

so i’ll keep it a surprise here until she’s born in my birth story. :)

i’ll be honest, i was super nervous about the birth of this little baby G. i can’t really explain why, but i was just nervous. i think i may have been nervous about going into labor before my planned induction date. 

my due date was may 23rd. our church’s women’s retreat was the weekend before. so i planned the induction for may 18th. we kept it a surprise…i use the term loosely, now. a few close friends knew. and then the women at the retreat knew because my friend asked if they could pray for me the sunday we left. then shaun’s bosses knew…which ended up meaning my dad found out through his connections at shaun’s work. so my mom also knew. but in the end…it doesn’t really matter. 

i prayed that i’d make it through our women’s retreat. i’m part of the planning team and didn’t want to miss it! 

here’s miss G at her first retreat…

miss G listened. we made it through the retreat. ((which was such a blessing! and i had a great relaxing weekend away with my sisters from church. we are so blessed with a great church family. i’m so thankful i got the time away with them. it means so much to have a church family that feels just like family. just like it’s supposed to.)) 

after the retreat i spent the afternoon with the kids before taking them to our friends house. we are so blessed to have such fabulous friends! friends who have 4 kids of their own and were willing to watch our 6 kids! in fact, the day i called amber to tell her about my surprise pregnancy..she “called” watching the kids! :) the kids love going to their house and it makes us feel good knowing they’re probably not missing us too much when they have their friends to play with. and really…these friends are for sure considered family…so it was like to going family for them. they parent the same way we do, so we also don’t have to worry about retraining our kids when we get home from the hospital with a new baby. that night we spent dinner with them and tucked the kids in for bed before heading home. 

as we drove home it still didn’t feel “real”. like we were having a baby tomorrow. i was able to sleep as well as a million month pregnant woman who’s having a baby in the morning can. we had to be to the hospital by 7, so it was a bit of an early morning. 

we checked in and i still don’t think it felt real. but i wasn’t as nervous as i had felt before. (answer to prayers!!) 

my doctor came in around 8 to check me and get things started. the previous week i was about 3cm and 80%. and my doctor actually said she was surprised i hadn’t shown up over the weekend. i was about the same—3cm and 80%. she “got things started” and i had to lay in bed for an hour. 

when the hour was about over…my cousin showed up!

what?! my cousin?!

yes!

she was gong to photograph the birth!! a few weeks earlier i off handedly mentioned to shaun that i’d love to have the baby’s birth photographed. basically what i wanted was the moment the baby was born and the look on our faces. i said that if i knew my cousin had the day off i’d ask her. he told me to ask her if she had that day off! umm..okay!! i didn’t even think he’d GO for it. so i messaged her immediately and long story short…she ended up being able to take the day off for us!!

i wasn’t sure how it’d be with her there. like, if it’d be weird or whatever. but it wasn’t. at all. not even once. 

i remember around 10 or 1030 telling ashley and shaun i wish things would just start hurting. i was feeling some contractions…but it wasn’t anything ‘worth it’. at some point my nurse introduced me to another nurse who was going to be my new nurse. (secretly i was happy, she seemed more personable to me!) and i also met the resident. by far the COOLEST resident i’ve ever experienced. he had great bedside manner. and small hands. ;) 

this is shaun. being fabulous, of course. :) i just love his smile in the picture

my doctor came in a little before lunchtime to break my water. i know she checked me, but i don’t remember what i was. maybe 5 or 6. all i know is that it wasn’t much different. and i felt a little defeated. the contractions weren’t really hurting much yet. so i was hoping that breaking my water would bring on stronger contractions. and a SLOWER delivery than with fletcher. 

and during my labor my friend texted me letting me know she had her baby! i rightfully! called her a jerk. but she had labored all night, so she deserved it. 

my doctor also said she had a board meeting from 1-3, and she looked at the nurses and said “i can get here. but give me time! she’ll go fast and i’ll need time to run over here.” i think they were nervous! 

the contractions did get stronger after my water was broke. YAY! it felt more like labor. 

i didn’t do a whole lot during labor. basically moved from the bed, to the rocking chair to pacing the floor in my room. and not so patiently waiting for things to happen. 

feeling stronger!

i believe it was an hour or so after my water broke that the contractions were feeling much, much stronger. i started feeling myself getting “stressed”, that’s the wrong word…but i can’t think of one that’s better. basically i wasn’t remaining calm anymore. i knew if i took some meds it’d help me. earlier in the morning they had started an iv. it was more for after delivery so they could start the pitocin. with multiple births you have a higher chance of bleeding more and that would help my uterus contract…blah blah blah. 

but i knew i had the iv, so getting the meds would be easier. and maybe it just made me willing to get them faster because i knew how easy it was going to be. but i also knew it’d help to calm my nerves down. 

so when the nurse came in, i asked for some. she had the resident come in. he watched my contractions, told me “that was a good one. 101.” i asked what the highest was, he replied “100”. i believe i may have asked if i got something special for that. (i don’t remember if i said it out loud or not. :) ) 

SEE the peak isn't even on the paper!

he explained that in order to give pain meds they need to check me to make sure i wasn’t too far along. he then said how he was going to wait for a contraction. i asked if he “had” to. he said something back. my reply, well can i punch you in the stomach and put my hand somewhere you don’t want it?

he decided to just check me then. :) 

i was only like a 7. blah. seriously. again i felt like this labor was NEVER going to end! 

the meds helped me SO much. it helped me calm down. and feel good. i KNOW i talked. and talked a lot. but i have not much memory of everything i said. shaun just agrees with me and says that i did talk a lot. i’m sure i just rambled. and i know i didn’t say anything too outlandish. or at least i hope not. 

after awhile i felt different. i didn’t feel like i had to push, but i felt different. i had shaun call them in to check me because i just wanted to be sure i wasn’t complete. they checked me and said her head had moved down. but i wasn’t complete. i was probably subconsciously making sure i was giving them time to call my dr. 

you see. 

our family would hold the record for her delivering the most babies to one family. i was going to GET that record! :) i’m pretty sure i mentioned it a few times during the labor as well. i was a chatty cathy during this labor! 

it was about 230 that i felt things were getting worse pain wise. i asked for more pain meds. in all honesty, i shouldn’t have. i knew they weren’t going to work. i knew i was getting close. but i took them anyways. and they helped calm me a little, but did nothing for the pain. 

when the resident checked me before that dose, i was about an 8. he said that it felt like i had scar tissue and that as soon as that sort of broke apart i’d probably be “ready”. and we’d have a baby soon. i said, well i hope so…if i’m still in this bed tomorrow i’m kicking you all in the face. ((seriously! i’m not a violent person! labor makes me sound like one)) 

my doctor came in a little before 3 to check on me. i was still about the same as i had been a little earlier. she said it shouldn’t be long.

i don’t remember how long it was…but it wasn’t long after that i knew i something was changing. i remember saying “i’m almost done.” and ashley said “yes. you are.” i told shaun press the button. i need to push. press the button! i told the nurse i need to push.

for the love of all things baby...GET the strap off my belly. once i'm ready to push i HATE the straps on my stomach! 

soon after the room is full of people. they start tearing down the bed. i am saying how i need to PUSH. i’m told to wait. i don’t think i did. i think i just relaxed myself and pushed a little. my doctor appeared. and then she told me to put my legs back. um. i’ll be completely real…i TOTALLY forgot i needed to do that. it was like. oh. yeah. DUH! 

shaun had one. the nurse had the other and my doctor told me to push. i let my body push. it was the first time i remember doing that in any delivery. i think my nurse was going to count to 10. but my doctor told her to stop. she said, you’re doing good. just keep doing what you’re doing. 

i adore this picture of my doctor. her smile says how much she loves her job!

and i did. well, my body did. i gently got my baby girl out. and at 315 we welcomed our baby girl into the world!

the look on my husband's face. the reason i wanted this pictures taken!

her cord was short and that meant she could only be put as far up as my belly button. i sat up as much as i could to hold her, but it was hard. my doctor had shaun cut the cord…at quite the angle according to shaun. 

i like the smiles/smirks on both of their faces. my doctor apologize for the lack of "room" to cut the cord. 

as soon as she was “free” i was able to have her up on my chest. she wasn’t crying too much and i think the nurses were concerned about how non-pink she was. it was a little while before they said we’re going to take her over and see if we can pink her up a bit. 

it does not matter how many times you've delivered a baby into this world. it is JUST as magical as the first, second and subsequent times!!

it was then that someone asked her name! 

and we shared…

and now i’ll share with you!

our miss G is…

miss Gloriana Louise

born at 315pm

May 18th

8lbs 1oz

21 1/2 inches

a "popp" kid for sure!

a cell phone picture. but one of her all stretched out. it's no wonder how she could kick me in the ribs and the hip at the same time! :) 

after gloriana was pinked up they gave her to me and had me do some skin to skin to warm her up. i also tried nursing her. she nursed like a champ! like seriously, the best nurser i’ve ever had right after birth. 

*sigh* one of my favorite pictures of the day. 

i was so happy to stare into her little eyes. 

can't believe we have another baby!

beautiful and precious.

we got put in our post-partum room about 2 hours later. the kids were there about an hour after that. 

and we were officially a family of 9.

this is a cell phone picture because i am too lazy to load up my camera pictures. 

i always take advantage of a 2 day hospital stay. i tend to push it too fast and this gives me the time to rest and recoup a little before entering the world of lots of littles.

ready to start our adventure!

there’s much more i could share. but this post is super long. and it gives me a reason to come back and blog. i miss it each time i do it, but then never get back to it! i’ll try to be back before Gloriana is a year old…