And now, for the rest of the story...

I always enjoy hearing the whole story behind the birth, so I thought I would share for anyone who enjoys birth stories too.

Well, bedrest was fun, but I said goodbye to it at 37 weeks. Now free to do whatever it was that I wasn't doing, I found I didn't care much to increase my activity level. I was tired of being pregnant, but not so sure I really wanted to get to the labor part yet. The whole time I was on bedrest I did not dialate past a 1 or 2, and then at my next Dr. appointment, I was a 4-5. I went grocery shopping and ran errends all week. At 38 1/2 weeks I was finally miserable enough to overcome my fear of labor. It was the day before Thanksgiving, Brian had the day off, we weren't doing anything in particular, and I had a Dr. appointment. I curled my hair (for the first time in at least a year), put on my makeup and contacts and brought my hospital bag to the appointment.

So, I was now 5-6 cm dialated, the Dr and I worked out a deal. Lets have the baby today he said. I said ok. So we went home, called our families to announce the good news, told the kids the deal, got a few odds and ends and headed up to the hospital after eating lunch (I anticipated being starved by the hospital staff until the baby was delivered). So peaceful.

You see, I had been expecting some real drama for labor - like living 2 minutes away from the hospital and not making it with labor progressing too fast. I had several preferences I wanted honored and had worked it all into my chart already, but knew that if I came in in a rush, it would all fall apart. Also, I was B Strep positive, so I had to get the antibiotic IV, however, if labor only took 30 min. like the last one, it would have been pointless to do the IV and the baby had a chance of getting pretty sick. Well, we got that taken care of too.

I went in, they gave me the IV right where I wanted it. I spent 4 hours getting antibiotics into my system. Boooorrrinnngggg... Had to be on the lame-o monitor the whole time. Almost tied to that uncomfortable hospital bed. IV on one side, monitors on the other. I was very happy when I could take a break from the monitors and walk around with the IV trailing behind. In fact, the nurses found it difficult to get me back onto the hospital bed once I was up. Finally I sat back down on the bed and the monitors were left off of me. (I really felt like I got away with something!)

Not long later the doctor came in to break my water. Let's see, that was about 7 PM. Interestingly enough, just sitting in that hospital room all after noon, I dilated to about 7 - it looks like the baby was going to come that day anyway. Well, that was a piece of luck we were already in the hospital. With the water broken, the contractions became more intense. I made sure that I was sitting up to endure them rather than lying down on that bed. There weren't many contractions before, beginning with my tongue, my whole body lit on fire (just like last time only not as bad). The nurse called for a fan, and then it was time to push. They called in the doctor, and he hurried to get ready, surprised at the speed at which this baby was coming (in spite of repeated warnings from us). We managed an upright position for pushing, and a couple pushes and she was out - at 7:31 PM. I didn't have as much pain as the previous times, and I was very satisfied with the whole event. Not lying in that bed was a great decision. The doctor was glad he didn't go downstairs for a soda - he had no idea the baby would come so fast.

As the doctor was finishing up with me, another nurse came in with the fan.... kind of late. We all had a good laugh. Hannah had a little trouble with breathing at first, but after a few minutes she came to visit me. Such a beautiful dark haired girl!

And the rest... is still being written.

Heaven just sent us...

A brand new beautiful baby girl!
Announcing Hannah Mary Critchfield
Born: November 25, 2009 at 7:30 PM
Weight: 6 lbs 14 oz
Height: 19 inHead: Thick, dark hair!