Mia, our first born, our girl

Amelia was nice and comfy with no desire to come out lol

It’s Monday, and I wake up with very light contractions. At this point, I’m 41 weeks and three days, and I’m trying to avoid getting induced. I try to relax and pray to God this is it, because I’m so done being pregnant, and I just want to meet our little human! The contractions start getting stronger throughout the day; I’m walking, bouncing on my yoga ball, and running small errands trying to distract myself. Then comes 10 p.m. and my contractions start fading… no!!! I fall asleep straight through till the next day. No pain, no contractions, nothing! 

The next morning the same thing happens by 10 a.m. my contractions start picking up, but this time, I send my husband to work just in case it's another false alarm… and yup, it was! By 10 p.m., they’re all gone. So now I’m thinking that this baby is never going to come. I’m frustrated, and I give up on having any expectations. 

On Wednesday, the same thing happens. My contractions start picking up, but this time, they don’t go away. It’s 10 p.m., and they’re getting stronger. I try to rest and sleep knowing that if this is it I have to conserve as much of my energy as I can. By now it’s 2 a.m. and my contractions are three minutes apart, and they’re very strong. So we make the decision to finally go to the hospital to at least get checked. In my head, I thought that if it’s too soon I can just come back home and continue laboring. 

I‘ve learned that I have a very low pain tolerance and long labors.

So we got to triage and the nurse checked me and the baby. To my disappointment I was only half a centimeter. Half! Not even one! I couldn't believe it. Three days of false labor at 41 weeks and five days and I’m only half a centimeter. The doctor also told me that I was low on amniotic fluids, about 1.5cm. Not knowing what this meant, I started getting dressed and was thinking I’ll come back as my contractions pick up. But the doctor said that this was not a good idea and she recommended I get induced due to being almost 42 weeks pregnant and having low fluids. Adrian and I agreed, and we began the process of getting induced. I was given two doses of Cytotec and after eight hours, I was started on Pitocin. I labored for 12 hours, and I was still at only three centimeters, but I was DYING! (Side note, this is when I learned that I have a very low pain tolerance.)

Pregnancy doesn’t always go as planned.

  During my pregnancy I planned to have a natural birth with no interventions. I imagined being that “crunchy mamma” with the ability to withstand a long labor, contractions, and delivery. I didn’t want any interventions and even wrote a two page birth plan. Later, I found my birth plan tucked in the corner realizing that my nurses didn't even look at it… anyways, moving on. Needless to say, I did not live up to my expectations because at three centimeters, I was ready for the epidural. I hadn't slept since Tuesday night, and by now it was Thursday 2 p.m. As I waited for my epidural I looked at Adrian, and he gave me the most tender stare telling me it was okay. I felt disappointed in myself but knew that the baby needed to come soon. Little by little, I knew I was giving up control of how this baby would come into this world. 

Getting the epidural was difficult. My body had begun uncontrollably shaking, and I couldn’t sit still enough for the anesthesiologist to give me the shot. He even yelled at me telling me that if I didn't sit still he wouldn’t do it. My nurse grabbed my head, looked at me eye to eye, and calmed me down. I’m so thankful for that nurse because she did a great job at helping me relax. So I got the epidural and finally got some rest. 

As my body relaxed and I finally slept, I started to open up at 1cm an hour. I realized that during all of these contractions my body was so stiff it was working against my labor. At 7 p.m., I was at 7cm.I remember thinking that by 10 p.m. I should start pushing. Then came 8 p.m. and I was still 7cm. Then came 9 p.m., and I’m still 7cm. Then came 10 p.m., and I’m still 7cm. They broke my water at 2 p.m., and I knew I was on a time clock. Finally at midnight, the doctor came in and explained that I had a fever, the baby’s heart rate had started to go down, and I had meconium in my fluids. Me having a fever meant that I had an infection, and with this baby, I had no idea what that meant. So she recommended I go into a c-section as soon as possible. Adrian and I knew we were out of options and agreed that the main priority was to keep me and the baby safe. I broke down because I knew that vision of having a natural birth was no longer possible. I actually started to hyperventilate because I ran out of epidural and the pain of the contractions hit me like a ton of bricks. I couldn't calm down, and I knew I had to get myself together before I went into the operating room. So I took deep breaths and focused on seeing our baby. And it was like my mind became numb. I no longer felt sad or disappointed. Everything quieted down and all the fear of going into the c-section left. The epidural kicked in, Adrian changed into scrubs, we said a prayer, and they rolled me into the operating room. 

Getting a c-section broke my heart, but I chose to control my thoughts and focus on the baby.

As I laid there under the bright lights, I didn’t feel much. The only thing I could think of was that we were finally going to learn if it was a boy or girl, because we didn’t want to know until birth. I asked the doctors to let Adrian call out the gender, and they agreed. I also asked if I could carry the baby even if I was on the operating table, and to my surprise, they said yes. Next thing I knew, Adrian was next to my head and our baby was here. He called out the gender… It was a girl!! I immediately felt a sense of calm and happiness knowing that it was over. Adrian and I were over the moon in love with our new baby girl, and we were parents for the first time. 

Amelia has blossomed into such a loving and silly girl, she’s the laughter in our family.

Amelia turned four years old this past October, and she has brought so much laughter to our family. We are so proud of the loving and caring person she is, and I can't believe how much she loves her family. She has my tenderness and Adrian’s personality. She is a creature of habit and needs things done the right way at all times. I wonder who she gets that from (cough, cough… Adrian). She loves her baby brother and has been so strong since he was born. She helps as much as she can, she loves to hold his hand and dance with him, and she is his biggest cheerleader whenever he makes any type of progress. She's the best big sister and daughter we could have prayed for. She loves Jesus and believes that Jesus will protect her from anything she does, even if she’s jumping on top of a table. We are so blessed with her, and we love her so much. So this is Mia, our first born, our girl.