Isabella Faythe: Our Birth Story

Shamefully, I must admit that it's been quite a while since I made an update on my pregnancy.  Well, I am now happy to say that I will not be making anymore pregnancy posts for Bella because she has arrived!

At my last OB appointment at 36 weeks and 5 days, my doctor and I discussed inducing early because of all the complications that we were facing.  (Low fluid, gestational diabetes, cleft lip, anemia, etc.).  We had planned to induce the following Tuesday, July 2nd.  After speaking with her again, that date was changed to Monday, the 1st.

Since I was hospitalized at 32 weeks for extremely low fluid, I had been going to Maternal Fetal Medicine weekly to have my levels checked.  On Friday, June 28th, my levels had shown to have dropped back down to a 2, so we went straight from MFM to labor and delivery.  I was immediately placed in a room and my induction began at 4:00pm.

In the beginning, I was only 1cm dilated.  I labored throughout the night, was still at 1cm when checked the next morning and was given Pitocin to speed things up.  After a little while I was checked again and after dilating a couple more centimeters, my water was broken.  I immediately started having horrible contractions.  I lasted for a few hours before I asked for an epidural.  They decided to check the monitor to make sure it was working correctly because I seemed to be in a lot more pain that the monitor was showing during contractions.  When they checked my cervix, I was fully dilated!  None of us, even the nurses, could believe how quickly I finished dilating because of how slow it had gone beforehand.  And I began to push.

I would be lying if I said my delivery was anything like they show on television and in movies.  It began with two nurses, my husband and myself.  I pushed and apparently was doing very well because I only pushed a little before they stopped me to call in the doctors and nursery people.  She told me that if I pushed anymore, I'd be having my baby.  Once the doctor arrived and everything was set up, I pushed just a few times and out came my daughter.  As soon as I heard her crying, I began to bawl.  After so many attempts, so many years at trying and failing, an ectopic, and then with so many complications during my pregnancy, it was the most beautiful thing I had ever heard in the entire world.  She weighed 6lbs, 9oz and was 19 inches long.  She was born with a bilateral cleft lip and palate and is otherwise perfectly healthy.  Her birth-date is June 29th, 2013.

Since it was an unplanned induction, it was just my husband and myself in the room.  My dad arrived at the hospital when I was in the middle of pushing.  He and my sister left Arkansas and headed for Louisiana as soon as they could after I told them I was being induced.  My mother in law and mother arrived  in Louisiana the following Monday.

My labor and delivery definitely did not go as I had planned.  I wanted a soft, calm, natural water-birth.  Pretty much everything was different, but I am perfectly okay with that.  Getting her out and having her healthy was and is the most important part of the entire event.

She's home now, we were released on Sunday.  From here on, we'll (hopefully) be doing weekly updates until she turns one month old.  I will also be including my postpartum updates within those posts.

I cannot wait to see how she grows and learns and becomes everything she was ever supposed to be.  Thank you for sharing along with me.  <3