Tilly's Birth Story

The day I never thought would arrive finally did.. we had our sweet baby girl June 21, 2014. 

I'll start with a little back info to get things going.  I had my 39 week appointment on Wednesday, June 18 and left a little discouraged.  I was still just a little over 1 cm and there was no sign that I would be having her soon.  With that being said, once you are at that stage, the baby could come any day, but with no sure signs I was still a bit let down.  We left our doctor's appointment with another one scheduled for the next Thursday (a day past my due date) and left it as we would discuss options if I made it that far.  A few hours later as we were on the way to the airport to pick up my mom, I started having awful contractions, but they were so random.  They were about 10 minutes long and then would stop for 30 minutes, so not your typical spacing.  This happened most of the way to the airport and on the way home.  I didn't have any Braxton Hicks contractions or any labor signs my whole pregnancy so I wasn't too sure what to think of these.  Luckily for my pain sake, they stopped once we got home and I felt normal, just tired.

Fast forward to Friday.  I hadn't felt anything else since Wednesday night and felt pretty good (as good as you can at this point).  This was Lance's inventory day for the month at work... aka torture day.  My poor husband works so many hours and this day is the worst of the whole month.  He never knows how long it will take, and this month he was at work from 5:30am-11:30pm.  Yes, 18 hours.  I stayed awake all night until he got home so I could see him after his long day.  Once he got home and we all visited for a bit and then got ready for bed, it was around 1:00am.  As we are getting in bed he says exhausted, "Honey, please don't have this baby tonight."  Oops.

Around 1:30am (only 30 minutes later) I wake up coughing really hard.  I got up to go to the bathroom because during the cough I thought I peed some (yes TMI, but that is pregnancy lol). As I was up in the bathroom I noticed I felt really off.  I got back in bed and started having a contraction.  It lasted about a minute and then went away so I thought, ok maybe I am in the clear. Nope, about 30-45 seconds later it came back even more intense and I just knew this was it.  I woke up Lance and said, "I am so sorry but I think something is happening!" haha I just felt SO guilty that of all nights, it was this one.  He half asleep rubbed my back and mumbles, "you're fine just go to sleep." lol poor guy.  Right as he says this I get another contraction and felt a pop so I jump (as fast a pregnant girl can) out of bed and as soon as I stood up my water broke.  Me jumping up woke him up and he leaped up as I said, "Ok this is it.. it's baby time."  From that moment it was game on.  He threw his clothes on and ran to wake up my mom.  I on the other hand, just kind of stood in the same spot wondering how I was going to clean up the floor without making a bigger mess! haha  As they started running around getting ready, we got the floor cleaned, I got dressed, made sure my bag was all ready, and of course, had to make the bed and straighten up the room. I know, I'm weird.  By the time we left around 20 or so minutes later the pain was unreal.  As my mom is driving us to the hospital, Lance is timing my contractions and they are a minute long, every 30 seconds on the dot. I was getting no break.

We get to the hospital around 2:30am and they immediately get me sent back and in the triage room.  The nurse checks me and indeed my water broke and I am at 3 cm. It's baby time!  At some point as she is drawing my blood and getting things ready she asks about my plan for pain, I think I said something along the lines of GIVE ME THE EPIDURAL NOW! haha.  I have never felt pain that bad in my life. I could barely breathe and would just sob through the contractions. Maybe I am a wuss, but the women that go all natural are troopers.. and a bit crazy! :)

Finally around 3:30am I am moved into L&D and hooked up to everything. Since it was the middle of the night, my blood work was checked quickly, my IVs were already going, and it was epidural time.  Normally they wait and do them in between contractions, but since mine were so fast, I just had to get it through them.  As they came in with all the paper work to sign, I scribbled my name in about 1 second and could've cared less that the paper probably had about a million warnings on what could go wrong.  I hunched over, clenched my nurse, and got the most amazing shot ever in my spine.  I honestly have no idea if it even hurt because of the contractions. About 10 minutes later I was pain free and a happy camper.  I will say, I HATED feeling numb.  I was getting so claustrophobic and it took so strong on my right side that is was completely dead and made my skin crawl.  Now, pick battles.. labor pains or numb legs.. I'll take numb legs!!!  After the epidural kicked in and I relaxed a bit, the nurse checked me at 6am and I was close to 5cm.  She said things were going good and I could just relax because now was the waiting game.  I think I took maybe a 30 minute nap and then it was time for the nurses to change.  I must say, every nurse I had there was amazing, and I LOVED my nurse that helped delivery.  She also had a student with her that day and she was the sweetest girl.  They stayed in and chatted with us quite a bit.  Around 8 am she got done changing my bedding and gown (labor is not for the modest or squeamish) and decided she would check really quick and just see where I was. Well holy cow, she looked up with wide eyes and said, "girl, you are at 10cm!".  Lance, my mom, and I all were like.. wait what? Already???  At this point she told me she wanted me to do a practice push and see how the baby was going to do.  She didn't want to come down just yet, so the nurse propped me up and said to let gravity shift her the next hour and then we would try to push.

Around 9:45am she comes back and has everything set up for delivery.  She said she wants to get my pushing started to see how it goes and then will call the doctor in a little while when necessary.  Well, let's just say I pushed for 2 contractions and she had me stop so they could run and get the doctor because Ms Tilly was coming NOW!  The doctor came in and suited up about 5 minutes later, I pushed through 2 more contractions (around 10 minutes of total pushing) and at 10:01 am, our little princess was born.  All day long the doctor and nurses were just amazed and commented on how my labor was so fast and easy and they couldn't believe it.  My theory is, since I was so miserable and in pain for so long during my pregnancy, my labor gave me a break and let me just slide on through! It was honestly such a blur that we all somehow got through on about 30 minutes sleep from the past 48 hours.

1:45am- Water Breaks
2:30am- 3cm
6:00am- 5cm
8:00am- 10cm
10:01am- 10 minutes of pushing and baby girl arrives.

It was such a surreal moment when she came out and they placed her on my chest and I knew just moments ago she was in my belly.  The human body really is a miracle.  It's still so crazy to have her here with us after feeling her grow in side me the past 9 months.  She has to be the cutest baby I've ever seen and is the sweetest little thing.  She loves to snuggle her mommy and daddy, that's for sure.  She LOVES her sleep.. and then to eat, poop, and sleep again. What a life! :)


And now.. a few pictures from that magical day! (and a little snuggle one thrown in).

We love you little bit!