Mara's birth story

We're so happy to welcome our sweet daughter to our family! Little Mara Grace has been with us for almost four weeks now - unbelievable.

I have rather prompt children, I guess! Both my son and my daughter were born on their due dates, an experience that I'm told is rather rare.

One day old!

On Friday the 16th, I had my 40 week obgyn appointment. My due date was Saturday, January 17th, and my doctor said she would sweep my membranes to try to get things moving. It was painless for me, which was great! I had a few contractions after that and throughout the evening, but they were inconsistent. My mom had come into town, as she had planned, and we had a nice time together. It was good for her to follow Joshua's regular schedule with me, as she would be caring for him when we left for the hospital.

I awoke at about 5:30 the following morning to real contractions. Time-able. Had to breathe through them. I woke Brad and had him pass me his phone so I could download and use a contraction timer app. As I breathed through the pain, the first words that came to mind were these from Isaiah 41:10: "So do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with my righteous right hand." Over and over. I focused on those words of truth and felt peace settle over me through the pain. God is my strength. He is my help. He holds me. Do not fear.

I timed for about an hour before I realized that the contractions were already between three and five minutes apart - time to get to the hospital! 

Meanwhile, Joshie and Nana had already gotten up and started breakfast. The smell of coffee was familiar and comforting, reminding me of my childhood. I don't drink coffee, but it was calming. So good to have my mom here.

I dressed myself between contractions and got downstairs to the armchair to wait for the on-call doctor to return my call and to tell me to come to the hospital. I waited and breathed and centered myself on the scripture. Joshua looked over at me from the breakfast table and wondered if Mommy was okay. Mommy's belly hurts, I said. But everything is okay. The baby will come out today, and the doctor will help. Mommy and Daddy will go to the doctor, and baby sister will come out.

The ride to the hospital was a mere 20 minutes, but felt so long with contractions every three minutes or so. And oh, was it cold! But it was a clear, sunny day, with passable roads. Just what I had prayed for. And I remained peaceful.

The triage experience was less than fun. They require a urine sample as soon as I set foot in the door. That was difficult to manage during my frequent contractions! Then the belly monitors were put on me for a fetal non-stress test and to time my contractions. As I waited for that, they also tried to insert an IV. And failed. It took three attempts and two different locations and two different nurses to get my IV started! So frustrating. It became difficult to focus and center myself with the bright lights, people talking to me through contractions, and the extra pain from the needle pricks. And I was already at 4.5cm dilated - all on my own, with no drugs. I felt proud of that, but was already beginning to feel less than strong. It was probably about 45 minutes there in triage before we were taken to a birthing/recovery room and I was given a steroid to take the edge off my pain.

Since things were seeming to progress quickly, my epidural was started by about 8:30am. Instant relief. The anesthesiologist who gave the epidural was calming, confident, and quick. I felt so much better and slept a bit. I was able to read a book and text and laugh - and didn't feel a single contraction - until the insertion point got bumped and started to come out. I ended up needing a second epidural.

My water did not break for hours and hours; the baby was sitting so high, and hadn't descended into my pelvis to cause the water to break. The doctors didn't want to rupture it for me, as it could've caused the umbilical cord to get stuck in the birth canal and cause a dangerous situation for the baby. So we waited. And waited. The nurses were wonderful about helping me.

I was fully dilated by early afternoon, but was not allowed to push because of the baby's position. I was getting frustrated and tired, and felt emotional. I asked to sit upright, and had my feet lowered. A couple hours later, my water finally broke on its own, and things began to move quickly.

By 8pm, it was time. Nurses brought in the delivery items, spread out instruments on the tables, and laid out smocks for the doctor and nurse practitioner. The baby's isolette was brought in, as was the scale and other items to clean her up when she was born.

At 8:15pm, I began to push. Not more than eight pushes and four contractions later, little Mara Grace was born at 8:31pm! The cord was around her neck, so it had to be cut early. I'm glad for the doctor's quick attention to her and to keeping me safe, too. I didn't tear at all, and didn't have to have any stitches this time. So thankful.

Mara was whisked to the table and dried vigorously, and then she began to cry. What a strong cry! She was adamant about wanting to nurse. She weighed in at 7lbs, 12oz, and was 20.5" long. As soon as she was ready, I started to nurse her. And she nursed for an hour and a half! Poor Daddy didn't get to hold her for that long. He made many phone calls, though, and was elated when he finally got to hold his little princess.

 

Joshua's birth story

On our due date, December 4th, I woke up with pain in my hips and lower back. I definitely felt different, and wondered if today would be the day that I'd get to meet my baby boy.

It was a balmy day for December - in the 50's and 60's in western New York! Brad recommended that I take a walk to see if that would jump-start labor. I had wanted to get out anyway, so I did a long, brisk loop around the neighborhood and went on with my day.

That afternoon, my friend, Kelly, took me to my nonstress test appointment, at which the doctors continued to make sure that our little one was thriving. All was well, so Kelly took me home. I felt extra tired, and laid down on the couch to rest a while before Brad came home from work. I had planned a simple meal of burritos for that evening, hoping that spicy food, too, might encourage Baby to come.

However, I never got to making dinner! As I stood up from the couch, I stretched to ease the pain in my sore lower back, and my water broke. Talk about a mess! I made it to the bathroom, called my doctor to confirm, texted Brad, and waited for him to come home.

In the meantime, I washed the dishes and made a sack lunch with extra snacks for Brad to enjoy during the delivery process. I felt that, surely, our baby would be born tonight! I even remembered to pack chocolate for the nurses to snack on as we waited for Baby.

We arrived at the hospital at 7pm, and waited a little while to confirm that, indeed, my water had broken and that labor was in progress. Once that was done, we were officially admitted, and we moved to room 1105 to have our baby! They put up a little blue sign on our door: "stork at work!"

We spent the first couple of hours walking the halls as I worked through contractions. I sipped apple juice and cranberry juice, and enjoyed using the birthing ball for a while, closing my eyes and breathing slowly through each wave of pain. Brad held my hands, helped me stay covered in the hospital gown, and continually told me I was doing a good job.

staying covered...haha!

As pain increased, I decided to try using the jacuzzi tub to work through the contractions. It felt good, but didn't help much. We soon decided that it was time to take the edge off the pain with a narcotic, and to get some rest. I was given Nubain, and I was able to sleep in between contractions. Brad was still right there with me! Our nurses were wonderfully helpful and encouraging, doing anything they could to help me stay comfortable. So far, so good.

In the wee hours of the night, it was finally time to get the epidural put in. The nurse and Brad helped me to get up and use the bathroom...and I leaked the rest of the amniotic fluid all the way to the bathroom. It was embarrassing and messy! Our nurse did so well at just taking things as they came, and cleaned up right away.

I initially felt some relief with the epidural, but it only numbed my right side, leaving my left side in pain. For about a half hour, I felt better, but the pain began to increase. The nurses and doctors had trouble tracking Baby's heartbeat, and decided to use an internal monitor. I was starting to lose my courage and got progressively delirious. I remember it being reassuring to hear Baby's heartbeat on the monitor, and I remember gripping the handrail of the bed through contractions. I know I asked for a C section more than once, saying that I just wanted this baby out. Brad stepped in and took over as my voice, asking questions about medications, procedures, pain relief, and everything. He remembered how much I really didn't want to have major surgery, and did everything he could to be sure I didn't have to! I vaguely remember them trying to give me a dose of Pitocin to speed up labor, and that I didn't react well. Brad says I was having contractions right on top of each other, with no relief. That sounds about right to me. It was so very painful.

Sometime in the morning, the nurses and doctors realized that the epidural had only been inserted skin-deep, which is why I wasn't feeling any relief. They decided to re-do the epidural, this time with a different anesthesiologist. She was so careful (which felt like beyond slow) and was so upset at the previous doctor's work. I could barely function - trying to stay still, contracting, hunched over a pillow and grabbing the hands of the TWO nurses they had assigned to me. Brad couldn't be in the room because of the sterile nature of the procedure.

Immediately after the epidural was in correctly, I felt relief. I fell asleep for the first real sleep I'd had all night, and woke up at about 2pm to sunshine and the announcement that I was fully dilated. What?!!

Evidently, I had been having continued contractions that were effective, making it time to push. I couldn't feel a thing, not even pressure. It was a serious gift to me to have relief like that. The nurses had to tell me each time I began to contract, so that I could start pushing. It's a good thing that I've practiced Pilates and can isolate different abdominal muscle groups, because I may not have been able to push well, otherwise!

An hour and 39 minutes later, baby Joshua was born! We discovered that the reason his heartbeat had been so unstable was that his umbilical cord had been wrapped around his neck three times. It's a miracle that he was alright. The delivery doctor said that he had an exceptionally long cord. I had to have an episiotomy - and by that time, I had begun to be able to feel what was going on. Thankful for local anesthesia. As soon as Joshua was born, they whisked him over to a warming table, since he didn't cry right away. They checked him over, and he reportedly proved that his little bowels were working properly.

He did begin to cry, and soon, he was wrapped up and in my arms. Brad and I both shed a few tears over him - somehow shocked, in awe, relieved, grateful, and afraid all at the same time.

We took a few moments to ourselves with our precious baby boy - so much hair! Sideburns! Long fingers! Deep blue eyes! Perfect little lips! And then we decided on his name: Joshua Garron.

Minutes later, everything was cleaned up, our parents arrived, and everyone took turns holding our little miracle.

The nurses helped me to the bathroom for the first time since late the night before, and I finally got to put my own clothes back on - a pair of maternity workout pants and a long pink sleeveless top. I was surprised that my feet, hands, and face were so swollen! I didn't know how much fluid they had given me.

And I was so hungry! It felt like forever until dinner was to come, and a nurse brought me a cold turkey sandwich. When dinner finally arrived, I ate all of that, too! Our parents bought DiBella's subs for dinner and ate there in the room with us.

What a blur of a day! And so, suddenly, we became parents. And our hearts are fuller than ever.