Isabella's Birth Story (11-22-2012)

I found out I was pregnant in early March, when my sister, Angie, was in town.  We had been trying for seven months.  I had what I thought was a really light period, but it felt different than normal and was very short.  So, just to be sure, I took a pregnancy test.  It was super faint, but there was a line…I stared at it a lot to try to see if it was really there! I showed Angie and told her about it. I didn’t tell Jason that night.  The next day I took another test and it was a littler bit darker.  I didn’t want to get my hopes up, so I told Angie and said it was probably a fluke…we went to the mall that day and talked about all the possibilities of if it were really positive!  That night I took another test and it was a much darker line.  I told Jason that night!  I called the doctor the next day and told them about my spotting I had.  They wanted me to come in for blood work to make sure.  I think it was a few days later that I went in for the test.  I really was pregnant!  I did a couple more blood tests the next couple weeks, and got put on a hormone as a precaution.  At 5 weeks I had an ultrasound, but they couldn’t see anything…that was scary.  So the next week I came in for another one and they showed me the little peanut J  It was finally real and I stopped worrying so much!

This time around, I didn’t anticipate going into labor early at all like I did with Victoria, since she was born 2 days after the due date. I didn’t want to get my hopes up.  We also didn’t find out what we were having this time.  I realllllly wanted too, but Jason didn’t.  So, I honored his wishes since it didn’t really matter.  We talked a lot about the possibility of having a boy.  I had an ultrasound at 20 weeks and didn’t find out what we were having…although I almost snuck a peak!  I was super tired during the beginning of pregnancy because they had me on the hormones.  I was so tired at work, and nauseous again all the time.  After the nausea went away, I got horrible heartburn.  This time, I didn’t take any medicines for it because I wanted to be all natural, and Dr. den Boer said it would make my food not provide nutrients to the baby like it should.   So, I avoided spicy foods and lived with it. I craved bread and sweets, which was hard because I cook everything gluten free for my husband and Victoria! I sneaked some treats every once in a while (since I do the shopping ) J  I felt great other than that, and was very happy that I was eating much healthier and exercising during this pregnancy.  It was a super hot summer…record temperatures! I stayed inside a lot in the air conditioning.  But, I also walked outside a lot with Victoria when we played in the afternoons when I go tout of work.  

My parents came to Michigan the week beforehand and hung out Up North in case I had Isabella.  I worked all the way up until the end at DBC.  I thought I was due the 14^th of November and Dr. Luce said the 17^th.  The week prior, on the 14^th, I went to my appointment and Dr. Luce had to be at a delivery, so I had to see some random male doctor. That was weird.  No indication of when I’d go into labor. I was hoping that weekend because my parents were coming to town.  We went swimming on Saturday at the Sleep Inn in Grand Rapids where they were staying.  I decided to not go back to work that next week because I had an appointment at the doctor on Tuesday morning anyway. I was really tired often and didn’t want to have to get up at 5:00 AM anymore! On Tuesday I went to the appointment and had a “non-stress” test. Everything was fine and Dr. Luce couldn’t tell when I’d be going into labor. I was a few days overdue. I setup an appointment with them for the following Monday.  I didn’t want to still be pregnant by then, that was for sure! It was two days until Thanksgiving. My parents were in town (Grand Rapids) and were anxious! They didn’t know how long they could hang around.  The next day they said they might have to leave to go back home to South Carolina if I didn’t have the baby soon.  We made plans for the next day to get together for Thanksgiving in the morning for breakfast.

That night, I had some cramping feelings in the middle of the night, and woke up as usual to use the bathroom.  At about 4AM I thought I felt some extra “water” leaking, but didn’t think it was enough to be anything.  The next morning, I got up and started making oatmeal for everyone to eat for breakfast. My parents were on there way from the hotel.  All of a sudden, standing in the kitchen at the stove, I felt a big gush! My water broke! I was in shock. I had never had this happen before, so I wasn’t for sure that it was really my water breaking.  I said to Jason….umm, honey? I think my water broke! It was 8:30 AM.  He got very excited and I sat down for a minute.  I couldn’t believe this was happening on Thanksgiving day!  It was perfect it seemed, since my doctor was on call that day!  I also really wanted to go into labor in the morning after I had slept all night.  (with Victoria I went into labor at night)  Then it happened more…and more….and then my parents got to our house.  It kept happening.  So, I called my doctor and she said to come on in, but that I didn’t have to rush.  I didn’t have any contractions yet.  I couldn’t believe it.  I was making breakfast and now I was packing up everything to go to the hospital!  My parents stayed with Victoria and Jason and I headed out.  First I ate some oatmeal and had some breakfast.  We got to Spectrum Health at about 10:00 AM.  I went into the ER totally normal and not having any contractions. Jason dropped me off and went to park the car.  I rode up in an elevator with a family and a lady in late labor…very interesting!  We went into a private triage room and talked to a couple of nurses. It was so weird to be there and not in pain yet.  The contractions started a little in the triage room and by the time I got to the birthing room they were getting stronger. I remember it being around 12:00 noon when I was leaning over the counters.  I liked walking around and leaning over the counters.  

My plan was to do it all natural if I could. I was all set to do a V-Bac since I had a c-section last time.  I was hoping my labor would progress on its own so I wouldn’t need any drugs.  It was!  I had contractions very fast, every 2 minutes or so, right from the beginning.  My nurse, CC, was great. She couldn’t believe I was going to do it all natural.  They wanted me to do antibiotics also, because I was Group B Strep positive.  I signed forms to opt out because my naturopathic doctor said it doesn’t really get to the baby anyway.  They thought I was really weird for doing this, but I stood my ground.  It was interesting talking about my options and opinions when I was in labor!  I tried the Jacuzzi tub and different positions, but nothing worked great. I had horrible back labor…Jason had to rub my back every contraction I had.  The Jacuzzi tub was too shallow and hurt my knees.  I ended up leaning over the back of the bed most of the time.  The contractions were super strong, and I didn’t get any breaks…every 2 minutes or so the whole time.  In the middle, I almost wanted an epidural, but the nurse said I was doing great and I shouldn’t need it.  She motivated me. I thought of my sister-in-laws Andria that had her baby at home, and Rachel who did with two kids.  The nurse said I made her believe in true Womanhood again…that was motivating! Jason was a great support.  His Mom Corrine was there too.  Jason held my hand the whole time.  

Near the end, the contractions were so strong I thought I was going to die…the only thing that really gets you through it is the nurses telling you your progress. I as dilated to an 8 or so.  By then you can’t get an epidural, so it was like, well I guess I have to get through this! They called the doctor and she came in.  Everything happened pretty fast after that.  My contractions were so strong I felt like the baby was going to fall out!  They told me to not push.  I had to wait for the doctor.  By the time they were calling her, it was sooo hard to not push.  Then the nurse told me to lay on the bed to get ready to deliver…it was so painful I told her I couldn’t. I leaned over Jason until the very last second.  Then some guy doctor came in. They couldn’t locate my doctor! So I laid on the bed and the contractions and pushing started. Finally my doctor showed up.  When they told me to push, it took about 30 seconds and her head was out! One more push and she was out! It was so quick. I think I needed to push a lot sooner than that but had been holding it in.  I couldn’t even feel the pushing.  It felt great for it to be over!  I said “What is it?” and Jason said “Isabella!”  (we had chosen her name ahead of time). I couldn’t believe it was a girl! It was a totally different experience to find out what it was right then! It was amazing! They put her on my right away and I got to nurse her. She was born at 6:30 PM.  Our little Thanksgiving blessing!  They were really nice and didn’t do all the weighing and stuff for an hour or so.  It was amazing.  I had to get stitches because I tore, so that was annoying.  Afterwards I walked around right away. It was amazing to not have a c-section. I felt good.  I ate some dinner. Then I took a shower.  I must have had some crazy hot hormones or something, because I fainted right after I got out of the shower.  That scared everyone quite a bit!  My parents were there to see her, and Corrine. We decided to have Victoria come the next day because she needed to get to bed. It was an amazing day and I was so glad I was only in labor for about 8 hours!  I spent 2 days in the hospital because they needed to monitor Isabella because of the Group B Strep thing.  The nurses were great.  The room was quite small though…so we had less visitors.  We came home on Saturday evening, and there were Christmas lights everywhere! We had kind of skipped a holiday and moved on to Christmas.  It was weird to leave in the evening.  Victoria got to welcome Isabella home.  It was so nice for her to see her before she went to bed.  God was so faithful…Jason was there and we had our baby girl the way we had prayed. Natural and healthy :)