Charlotte Elise's Birth Story

I can't believe that I've already been a Mom for 1 week.

When people tell you that you can't describe becoming a mother, they are totally right. 

It's the type of thing that if you don't experience it, you won't know that you are missing it.

It completes a hole in your life that you won't even know you had until you have a baby.

And. It's. Awesome.

OH and please excuse the chalk board above. It's JUNE not July.

On Thursday morning, I went to the obgyn for my 41 week check up. The plan was that if Baby Casey didn't come by the following Monday, I was going to be induced. I really hated this idea and prayed that I would just wake up in a puddle of water. 

After this appointment I went to my chiropractor. He had been working with my sciatic nerve pain and regular wellness adjustments through out my pregnancy. If you've been following along you know that we started a baby pool. Kind of like a football pool but with dates and weights. My chiropractor was in on this and happened to have picked the same day as my husband. The date was June 26. I've been seeing my chiro for 10 years and never once has he given me an "ankle" adjustment. So as I'm getting my regular adjustment, he pulls out this block and tells me that I'm going to think he's crazy but I will be having a baby with in 24 hours. He adjusts each ankle with this block.

I leave the chiro and go home and clean my house and shower. FYI when  you are at the end of your pregnancy you will clean 24/7 and have good hair ALL OF THE TIME. As the day went on I was starting to get crampy and lost my mucous plus<----- I tried to find a better way to say this but there isn't one. So I called the Drs office and told them and they explained to me that this happens to some women at 30 weeks. I told her that I was 41 weeks and she then told me to get ready. 

Around 9 pm that night the contractions started to kick in. I got very crampy and at 1 am I called the doctor and told him that I think that I am having contractions. I went to the hospital for an exam and I was only 1.5 cm dilated. Which I had been for 4 weeks. So they sent me home. 

At 4 am the contractions were so bad that I couldn't walk through them. I called the Doc again and he said to go to the hospital and if it was false labor they could give me morphine so that I could rest. 

When I got to the maternity ward, I was 3.5 cm dilated, which was admit-able! Woop. My maternity ward has this awesome jacuzzi tub that you can use while you are having contractions. So after I got admitted and a bracelet on, I hopped in. This was good until around 7am. Then the contractions were so bad that I needed pain management. The nurse that I wanted was on that day and MY doctor, so my prayers were answered. With in 15 minutes my epidural was placed (3 different attempts).

With in 15 minutes my legs felt like I had been at the dentist and I passed out until around 3pm. 

Josh paced the hospital anxiously awaiting to meet his baby girl. A girlfriend of mine came and brought him a coffee while I was sleeping and she later told me that he was just glowing while waiting for our baby girl to come. He was also snacking on some beef jerky. 

 At 3 pm the doctor came in and examined me again. I was 9.5 cm dilated and almost there. They broke my water and gave 1mg of pitocin for 30 minutes and 2mg for the next 30 minutes to get me fully dilated. At 4pm the doctor came in and I was in full blown labor. She said to me that you are going to have a baby by dinner time. I said what time is that?

She told me 5:30. I said "F THAT!" FYI- The epidural does not help the pressure of labor. I did not know that. So laboring IS NOT FUN. After I told her I was not interested in laboring for an hour and 30 minutes, she said "Fine, let's have her by 4:15". I watched the clock through every push and 28 minutes later, Charlotte Elise was born. 

Although at this point in the hospital she is "baby what's her name" because we still hadn't made a decision on a name. After that moment, I didn't care what they did to finish up my labor. Once they handed her to me, nothing else mattered.

My husband sat next to me patiently through the entire labor. He was a great supporter. He knows how I am with pain. If I stub my toe, don't talk to me for a few minutes and he knows this. So he sat patiently waiting through every moment. And he's been amazing since we've been home.

I hope that everyone has a safe and hapoy Fourth of July. At this time last year I was making jell-o shots and sangria. I was getting a corn-hole score board put together. We we're blaring country music and playing horse shoes. This year is a whole different ball game. And we are totally ok with that.