I'll try to make the birth story as short and sweet as possible, but no promises. ;)
At about 11pm Sunday night I started have severe back pains so I drew up a warm bath and tried to soak it away like I always did for back pain. The pain didn't subside, so I drank a ton of water and tried to go to bed. (Casey was already fast asleep. Lucky duck) The pain continued to get worse, and I started having abdominal "pinches" (best word I can think of to describe them). They weren't terribly painful, but they wouldn't go away. I called one of my doulas, Evelyn, and she confirmed that they may be contractions and had me start timing. At about 2:30 a.m. it was clear the pain was getting more severe and the contractions were steady at 4 minutes apart. At 3:00 we headed to the hospital! I was completely admitted by 4:00 and was checked in at 5.5 cm- I was so glad to be more then halfway done before it really started hurting! (I was 4 cm and 80% effaced on Friday). I had an epidural shortly after my water broke (on its own!) at 7 cm and it was smooth sailing from there! The worst part were the contractions right after my water broke, they just got much more intense, but I had great support with me through Casey and our doulas, Evelyn and Pam. They all stayed so calm and helped me manage the pain with pressure points, etc. I couldn't have done it without them. No way. At about 8:00 a.m. I was told I was "just about a 10" and was a +1 and was asked if I wanted to do some pushing. I opted out until she was at a +2 (I felt great, no need to rush!) I was check half an hour later and found out she was turned facing my right side and causing the back labor I was experiencing. The doctor had me push a couple times and she turned the right way immediately. At 9:20 a.m. we started pushing. That was a much longer process then I thought it would be! My epidural had me numb so it was actually pretty funny to me trying to push when I couldn't feel anything below my belly button. But it all worked, because Malachi was delivered at 10:20 a.m!!!
I just remember watching Casey watch the nurses clean and examine our little girl. He never had been so handsome to me. That man standing there is my love, my best friend, my support, my child's father, and the best team mate I could ever imagine. God has blessed so much with him.
Malachi was perfect. A perfect big, crying, baby. Casey brought her to me so I could hold her and that was it, life ceased to exist as it was- I had my daughter in my arms. I just love her so so much.
We stayed 3 days in the hospital because I was a first-time mom and they wanted to make sure I was recovering well and breastfeeding well. The only concern was that Malachi was a little big for her gestational age (39w5d) and they were worried about her blood sugar. She had 4 different heal prick tests that first day to test her blood sugar. Let me tell you, I wanted to deck the nurse for making her scream so bad even though I knew he wasn't hurting her. Call it the "mama bear" syndrome. :) They all came back perfect. Praise the Lord!
We're just so blessed that everything has gone so smoothly throughout the pregnancy, delivery, and since! God has blessed us so much and has taken care of us in ways we couldn't have imagined. We just adore our little girl and love being new parents!
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