It's a Girl!

On Sunday morning, Trinity and I welcomed our daughter, Grace Elizabeth, into the world. It was a day I will never, ever forget.

Although I didn't realize it, Saturday morning I started going into labor. I woke up at 7:30 am after a long night of discomfort and sleeplessness. Little did I know that would be the last sleep I got for 36 hours! As we watched the UT/OU football game, I couldn't find a comfortable position for long, and I was having mild cramping and lower back pain. At one point I remember thinking that it might be labor, but it wasn't coming in waves like contractions should come...it was more like a constant, dull pain. So, I assumed that I was uncomfortable because I was almost 40 weeks pregnant and tried to distract myself with the game. At some point the pain subsided and I was able to get comfortable. Around half-time we'd planned to drive to a bar in Dallas to meet Erin for the Tech/Iowa State game. On the car ride there, I noticed the pain had returned but it was coming in waves this time. We made it to the bar to find it packed for the game-watching party, and because I was so uncomfortable we decided to just head back home.

By the time we were back at home, I figured out that they were definitely contractions, and Trinity started timing them. We walked up and down our street, and I would tell him every time I had a contraction. By the end of our walk they were averaging about 5-6 minutes apart, so we finished packing our toiletry bag and headed to the hospital. While on the way to the hospital, we talked about how embarrasing it would be to show up to the hospital and not be in labor at all. About 10 miles from the hospital, Trinity asked, "Is it insensitive to ask if I can get Chick-fil-A to go?" I laughed and told him that of course he could get him some dinner...it would be a long night if I was in true labor.

We arrived at the hospital, checked in with the charge nurse and were sent to a triage room to hook me up to the fetal heart monitor and contraction monitor. After answering numerous questions, the nurse let me walk up and down the ward for a few minutes to reve-up my contractions, as they'd slowed considerably after arriving at the hospital. After 30 minutes of monitoring, we were admitted to the hospital and realized we were having a baby in the next day!

The next twelve hours I was in labor...lots of pain, breathing, walking, then pitocin to increase the contractions, finally an epidural, and 3 hours of pushing. After pushing for almost 2 hours, I'd made great progress but the baby's head was stuck sideways in my pelvis. The doctor and nurse both tried to rotate her head while I was pushing, but it just wasn't going budge. They allowed me to try to push her through for another hour, but there wasn't much progress. So we accepted the fact that we'd have to have a c-section. That was a very frustrating moment, but I was also so exhausted from pushing that I was glad to know that our baby would soon be here! I was quickly preped for the surgery and wheeled into the operating room. I remember laying there a little nervous but reminding myself that our baby would be born in the next 30 minutes. After about 10-15 minutes, Grace Elizabeth was delivered at 8:51 am!

They allowed Trinity to stand up to peer over the screen as she was pulled out, so that he could announce whether it was a boy or girl. After looking at her for a good 5 seconds he announced, "I think it is a girl" in a not very sure voice. The doctors confirmed and tipped Grace's face over the screen so that I could also see her, and I just cried tears of joy. Her face looked so perfect, and I was a mom.

They allowed Trinity to hold Grace next to my head while I was stiched up, and then we all went to the recovery room together as a family. I was allowed to hold Grace for the first time, breastfeed her, and have about 20 minutes of skin-to-skin time, which was very important to me. Then they took her to the nursery for her first bath and check-up. I was given some pain medications and allowed to sleep in recovery for the next 30 minutes before I was wheeled to our postpardum room, where we will be until we are released on Wednesday.

We've now had Grace for almost 48 hours, and I already can't imagine life without her. She is truly a joy and blessing to us. Thank you to all our friends and family who have been supporting and blessing us with love over the past nine months. We cannot wait to introduce each and every one of you to our daughter.