Eden's Birth Story

On Thursday, October 9^th, I went to my regular 36 week checkup.  My blood pressure was great, no protein in my urine, and my weight was in a good spot.  This was the first pelvic exam visit as well.  When Dr. Davis checked me, she stated that I was dilated 1 centimeter and 80% effaced.  She even chuckled that I might go early.  She also recommended that I have an ultrasound that afternoon to determine an estimated fetal weight, and that I stay away from sugar to ensure that we didn’t have a “too big for my body” baby.  Our ultrasound tech said that Eden was approximately 5 pounds and 6 ounces.  I was excited to have new pictures of her cute little features!

After the exam, I noticed that I was having menstrual-like cramps.  Everything that I googled stated that these cramps were normal for a little while after an exam.  That night we had our first band practice for Redeemer, and I continued to cramp throughout set-up and practice.  I even mentioned to Sabrina that I had been having cramps ever since my exam, and she said that she cramped for about 3-4 hours after her exam.  I had been cramping for at least 6 hours at that point, but I just thought it was the norm for me!

I continued to cramp throughout the day on Friday, October 10^th.  Mammaw came over to the house, and I didn’t overdo it.  In fact, I sat in the recliner on a heating pad for most of the day!  I started to time the cramps using an app Friday evening.  We had friends over for pizza and scary movies, and my cramps were getting longer and more frequent.  When we laid down for bed, they were 7-8 minutes apart and 40-45 seconds long.  Jeremy and I talked about going into Labor & Delivery or calling Dr. Davis, but I wanted to wait to see if the cramping continued Saturday morning.  It wasn’t too painful, and I didn’t really think the cramps were contractions.

We slept wonderfully that night.  At about 5:30 in the morning on October 11^th, I woke up and thought I had heard a pop.  I also felt like Jeremy had flicked me in the stomach (like when you test a watermelon for ripeness)!!  I even rolled over to hit him for flicking me when I realized he was asleep, and I was wet!  I woke Jeremy up to use his flashlight to try to figure out if my water had broke or I had just peed on myself!  He said he didn’t see anything strange, so he thought I had just peed.  Well, I couldn’t contain the fluid as I was trying to get to the bathroom.  As I was sitting there “peeing and peeing,” I realized that I had lost my mucus plug.  That’s when I started to freak out!!  I looked at Jeremy and said, “I’m not ready!”  He laughed at me and said that we were going to the hospital.  We did decide not to call our parents at that moment, just in case it was a false alarm.

On the way to the hospital, I was starving!  I wanted to go through Hardee’s because I knew that if L&D kept me that they wouldn’t feed me until either Eden came or they sent us back home.  We were second in line at Hardee’s when a more painful cramp hit me.  I quickly decided that we should hop out of line and head straight to the hospital.  We also decided to go ahead and give our parents a heads up.  However, my parents would not answer their phone!  By the time we made it to the hospital, we had probably called them 25 times apiece to no avail.  I finally decided to call Mammaw, and let her worry about getting in touch with my parents!  After Mammaw and Pappaw got to the hospital and realized they were still not there, and we still hadn’t been able to get in touch with them, Pappaw went all the way to Smiths Grove to get them.  Hearing my mom and dad tell the story of Pappaw driving around the house, honking the horn to wake them up, and then banging on the front door hard enough to knock the deadbolt off is pretty hilarious.  Mom, of course, called me crying hysterically and apologizing profusely, but it wasn’t a huge deal.  They made it in time to love on me before Eden arrived, and it does make a pretty great story.

So, at the hospital, they made me change into a gown and collect a urine sample, even though it would have been unusable if my water was actually broken, which it had!!  I clearly remember the nurse looking at me and stating, “Looks like you’re staying to have a baby.”  No, no, no.  Not on the agenda for that day!  I didn’t truly have time to freak out and go into full time worry mode about her coming early and all the complications she could have.  Jeremy told me that if she was coming naturally then this was God’s timing.  The nurse gave me a pelvic exam and determined that I was 3-4 centimeters dilated and 90% effaced.  She also told me that they had paged Dr. Davis who had just left from an emergency c-section that went all night long.  They hooked me up to the IVs and asked me to sit in the rocking chair while we waited for her to return.  Luckily, she was there within 15-20 minutes or so because the rocking chair was extremely uncomfortable.  Dr. Davis gave me another pelvic exam, and she claimed I was 5 centimeters and 100% effaced.  She also attached a fetal monitor to Eden’s head to keep a close eye on her.  She asked the nurse, Beth, to turn the Pitocin “wide open.”  She then stated that she was going to the lounge to sleep, and she would not be watching the monitors, so they would have to wake her when it was time.  Dr. Davis didn’t tell me that she was attaching a fetal monitor to Eden, so when she left the room, I asked the nurse if she had left something inside of me because it felt weird!  She laughed and explained what was going on down there.

My contractions started to get stronger, and Beth kept encouraging me to breathe through them.  I also became a hot box, so Jeremy got me a cool, wet cloth to lay on my forehead and the back of my neck.  I wasn’t really in the mood for encouraging touches or words at that point.  In fact, I bit my Mammaw’s head off for touching me on the side and telling me that I could do it!  I did, however, say get off me, please! J  In order to get through the contractions, I laid on my side, rocked back and forth, and sang “Our God Is An Awesome God” in my head (for some reason, it went to the tempo of Eden’s heartbeat on the monitor!).  They asked me if I wanted an epidural, and I said sure.  The contractions weren’t too bad, but I was a little nervous as to what it would feel like when they got worse!  After the anesthesiologist inserted the epidural, I was a much more pleasant person!  I was able to tolerate hugs, kisses, and words of encouragement.  I was also able to control my legs and things despite the epidural, I just didn’t feel pain…only some pressure.  They checked my progress soon after the epidural was placed, and I was at 7 cm!

I began to feel even more pressure and gushing of amniotic fluid when I moved.  When I let the nurse know that, she decided she needed to check me again, and I was at 8 cm.  Jeremy ran down to the waiting room to see our visitors and grab a biscuit for breakfast.  I had progressed very quickly.  She came back to check me again in about 10 minutes because I asked her to wait until Jeremy returned, and she happily said “let’s push!”  She gave me the instructions on how to push during each contraction, but they went in one ear and out the other!  I had to politely ask her to repeat them, so I could make sure to do it right!  Dr. Davis came in, and it was baby time!  We pushed three sets for each contraction.  On the third one, I was doubting my effectiveness, so I asked my nurse Beth if I was even being productive!  On the fourth contraction, Dr. Davis looked at Jeremy and said “are you going to take pictures of this baby?”  Then there she was!  I couldn’t even believe it.  We had survived labor! She was here at 10:09am!!

They laid her on my chest while Dr. Davis sewed me up, and we were in awe.  At times, I’m still amazed that God used me and Jeremy to create a tiny human being!  She had a little knothead action going on from being so low in my pelvis for so long.  The nurses assured us that it would go down quickly, and they were right!  The knot was much better even by that evening.  The nurse took Eden for her apgar scores and vitamin K shot, which she did not enjoy.  Her tiny cry sounded just like a billy goat!!  When she was cleaned off, they brought her to me for skin-to-skin and our first attempt at breastfeeding.  With the nursery nurse’s help, we were able to successfully latch on!  We stayed together skin-to-skin for at least an hour.  Then they gave me the choice of letting them take her to the nursery for a bath or taking her to the room with me for a while.  We decided to take her with us, so she could see her grandparents and great-grandparents, and then they could come get her when they were ready!

The nurses loaded me into a wheelchair, and my legs were surprisingly stable!  The epidural must have been perfect because I felt great!  We wheeled down the hallway towards Eden’s adoring fans where we paused for pictures before heading to our room.  The nurses helped me to the bathroom and showed me that lovely routine!  Then I settled into the hospital bed and learned how to use a breast pump.  Hillary, the nursery nurse, told us to try to get her to latch at each feeding, but to then pump and give her that colostrum/milk as a supplement through a syringe.  This seemed to work for us!

Eden had tons of visitors in the hospital!  We are so thankful for each and every visit and text.  We are especially grateful to our friends who ran to our house, took care of Cam, washed clothes and sheets, bought us essentials, and brought us food.  God has richly blessed us with great family and “framily!” 

P.S. Happy 2 week birthday, sweet girl!