We arrived at our 39 Week doctor appointment with no signs of labor coming soon, but a lightness of heart knowing how close we were to the due date and that our baby was okay at this point if he or she came anytime!

Dr. A. measured me and did a quick check wherein she determined that my cervix was still closed and then asked “So, how long do you think I’ll let you go before I induce labor?” My response was, “Um, April 1st?” She laughed at this. I thought two weeks was the longest I could imagine going past the due date. She informed us that we were now in safe territory for delivery and she was not willing to risk things with the hematoma any longer. She was going to induce labor! My heart was racing! She wanted us to go over to the hospital that night, but we’d just come from a non-stress test and knew that things were crazy at the birth center….so we were allowed to wait until March 14th for our induction.

We called our parents and other family members and friends to advise them of the induction schedule and those who were previously unaware were informed of the high-risk nature of our pregnancy. We asked them to pray for the baby’s birthday and health. We spent the weekend doing what we could to get labor going: long, long walks, sitting on an exercise ball, eating spicy foods, “spending time together”…you name it, we probably tried it. No result. This child was not going to come out until she was forced out.

Sunday, March 14th, we called the Childbirth Center as directed and were advised that they indeed had space for us. At 6pm, they officially began the induction.Our birthplan was to keep things as natural as possible so although I was being induced, we asked that we would not be offered pain medication. I was hooked up to two monitors, the same monitoring that occurred during the non-stress tests. The evening progressed rather uneventfully.  We had a few visitors and “the last supper” and tried to rest.

We had dinner

I received the first dose of induction medication at 6pm and another dose at midnight. We tried to sleep during the night, but the bed was plasticy and I was HOT. I turned the heat way down in the room and thought it was still hot. When we awoke in the morning, I noticed that both Jonathan and Erin had the blankets wrapped all around them. I was clearly the only one who was hot-they were freezing!

At 7am, contractions were between four and five minutes apart and I was 1-2cm dilated. Dr. A. came in and broke my water, which was a weird, weird feeling. I ate my breakfast (yay!) and we were allowed to use a wireless monitor so we started walking the halls, squatting through contractions, praying and waiting excitedly for our little one to arrive!

Freedom!

Yep, I looked huge. I felt huge. I was huge.

Jonathan stayed with me the whole time.

Jonathan was a gem. He walked, squatted, supported, swayed and held me. He massaged me when I needed it. We were so thankful for our doula, Erin, who gave us great ideas on how to keep things moving and work through the pain.

Expert massage!

From what I recall, around 11am, I’d gotten to 3cm dilated. Not fast enough for the comfort of the doctor, they gave me an i.v. drip of pitocin. I was happy that the pitocin, which seemed so scary, wasn’t that bad. The contractions kept coming and I got more and more hopeful that we would be able to hold our baby soon! When I was checked around 2pm, I was 4cm dilated. Still progress! At 7pm, still 4cm. I got into the jacuzzi tub in hopes that it would help to relax things and open everything. After 45 minutes in the tub, I was checked again and had not progressed! While I was in the tub, Dr. A. called and spoke with Jonathan, explaining that she thought we should try an epidural, not for pain management, but to help relax everything. Since it had been so long and we’d not had much progress, we decided to go for it. Oh epidural. This was where things got tough. The epidural was administered at about a quarter to eight. At the same time, the pitocin drip was increased again. The epidural did numb my feet and parts of my legs, but NOT my abdominal area! The pitocin was making the contractions come fast and furious and there didn’t seem to be much space between them. Since I had the epidural, I wasn’t able to move around through the contractions. I was stuck in the bed and just trying to cope with breathing. The anesthesiologist was in a C-section, so he was unable to come adjust the epidural. I was given nubain, which numbed pretty much everything from the shoulders down. I was checked again around this time and at 9cm! Yay! Unfortunately, baby Beatrice had her little hand next to her head and it was keeping her from getting “down the shoot” so they tried moving me into various positions to get her to move down. After awhile, I was checked again and at 8cm….BOO! Further, the contractions were not coming closer together, they were getting more irregular and little Beatrice’s heartrate was getting funky too. Oh boy. At this point, we were advised by our doctor that a cesarean delivery was likely in our future. Since our doctor is not someone who generally offers medication or surgery as a first choice, we knew we were in last chance territory. My parents came in to say good-bye, we were given a few minutes alone to pray together and then we were rolled into the O.R.

Ready to go!

The procedure was very quick! Little Beatrice came out screaming in protest and we were SO HAPPY to hear her cry! After months of waiting, hoping and praying, our daughter arrived into our arms safely! Praise the Lord! We were able to see the placenta and were amazed at how she was able to survive. Our baby’s life is clearly a miracle! At 8lbs, 12oz, she was definitely not without adequate nutrition while she was in the womb. God’s hand is on this baby and we are rejoicing!

We have been home for two weeks now and honestly, recovery from the cesarean has been much easier than I expected. It hurt, but it wasn’t terrible and we came home with a living, beautiful, healthy baby whose little personality is being exposed to us more and more everyday. She’s a sweet, cuddly little one who doesn’t fuss much unless she’d like some more food or is having her diaper changed, but hey, I hate being hungry or cold so she’s not unreasonable.

In short, we are in love. In love with each other and in love with this little girl.

For you have been my help, and in the shadow of your wings I will sing for joy. My soul clings to you; your right hand upholds me. ~ Psalm 63:7-8