Baby Georgia Maye's Birth Story, Part 1

My 39 week checkup on Friday, July 22 showed no new progress, so I was pretty disappointed. I started to think I would be one of those people walking around at 41 weeks, waiting to explode. The good news was that I was holding strong under 150 lbs...That evening I told James that it was time to start eating all those things that "they" say starts labor. That evening we got Chinese take out. No baby.

Saturday we continued getting the house ready, running errands, etc... We had leftover Chinese for lunch. Still no baby. That evening around 8, as we were watching a marathon of True Blood, I started having slightly uncomfortable contractions. I didn't mention it to James because I was sure it was in my head, and I didn't want to worry him. During the weeks leading up to this, anytime I moved in the night, he was alarmed, thinking it was time. So I thought it best to wait and mention it when I was sure. I kept watching the time, and the contractions were regular, at about 20 minutes apart. We had been told numerous times to wait until they were 5 minutes apart, and so painful that I could not walk or talk through them. This was not that...After he caught me looking at the clock over and over, I told him about the contractions, and he was shocked that I was hiding it from him. I told him not to worry and that it was probably nothing. We went to bed that night around 11 or 12, and I woke up at 2AM in pain. The contractions were about 10 minutes apart, and were really starting to hurt. I sat, awake until about 3 and downloaded a contraction timing app. I got to where I could fall back asleep, but every 8-12 minutes would be awakened by those painful contractions. After it passed, I'd fall back asleep, and in a few minutes wake up again. It was the worst sleep ever, to say the least. But I had read so many stories on Baby Center about ladies going on like that for days, or being sent home from the hospital. So I didn't get my hopes up. When the sun came up I did some laundry, just in case. By the time James woke up and we started with our day, they were getting more and more painful. But they were staying around 7-8 minutes apart. James did some more work around the house and I laid on the couch and slept for 8 minute increments. Around noon he was going to start a concrete project in the mudroom, and my contractions were so painful that they were starting to make me cry. Luckily before he could mix up the concrete, I started spotting, so we decided to go to the hospital - just in case. We felt like we would probably  be sent home because the contractions were so far apart, but we decided to go to be on the safe side. We took our time packing up our stuff, and left around 12:30 or 1. We got to the hospital, and didn't even park in the laboring mothers section. We got a regular spot and went in through the main entrance, not the short cut laboring mothers entrance. All this to say we really didn't think it was time. 

Hooked up to the monitors in triage

We made it to triage, and I had to change into a gown. James took care of most of my paperwork while I was changing. The nurse hooked me up to the monitors and checked out the progress. After she checked, she said with a smile that I will probably be sticking around and having a baby that day. She said I was 5 cm, and she asked why we waited so long to come in. Great. I totally didn't have to suffer that long. Before the day was over, we were asked several more times why we waited so long to come in. 

In the labor and delivery suite.

Once the nurses got the paperwork done and I was admitted, they moved us to the labor and delivery room. The nurse checked my progress and took my blood to be sure I could get an epidural. I had progressed to 7 cm, and they thought I would probably have the baby by 6PM. It was about 1:30 or so. I got my epidural by 2PM. Lucky for James, they send the dads away during that procedure. I guess too many of them had passed out that it became an issue. The process wasn't fun, but it wasn't the worst either. I did jump when I felt that thing moving around in my back. It didn't hurt, but it was just a weird feeling. It took about 20 minutes for her to get it in and put tape all over my back to hold it in place. They suggested I spend the next couple of hours napping because I would need the energy later. 

While James was gone, I asked him to pick me up a pack of gum from the vending machine. When he came back, he had 3 types of gum and breath mints. He panicked at the machine, not knowing what kind I wanted, so he got them all. He also made phone calls to let everyone know we were having this baby. My mom didn't answer and his parents didn't answer. The only one he could get in touch with was his sister. So she was on her way to the hospital and doing her best to contact their parents, who were 3 hours away at the lake. After calling several people, they realized that they were on the water, so they contacted them over the boat radio and let them know that they'd be grandparents soon. They rushed home right away. Eventually my mom called back as well, so everyone knew what was up. James had one friend be the relay for the rest of his friends. So he would text Chris with an update, and Chris would forward it to everyone else. 

Resting, waiting for more progress

I slept off and on for the next couple of hours. My epidural had gone to the right side of my spine, so my right side was dead, and my left side was still usable. They kept me laying on my left side since the epidural works on gravity. They hoped it would make my right side less numb. Normally they want you to switch sides occasionally because that encourages baby to get in position to exit.

James was back and forth in the waiting room and with me. He had several family members there waiting. As 6PM grew closer, we realized that we wouldn't be having this baby anytime soon. The epidural had halted my progress, and I was stuck at 7 cm. We waited and waited, and the doctor decided to go ahead and break my water. Besides commenting that it was thick and felt like it was made of teflon, that went smoothly. But it still didn't make me progress any more. By 9PM they decided to start giving me Pitocin, which makes you have more, regular contractions. My contractions were weak and sporadic, so the baby wasn't moving. They started me on the lowest dosage and every 15 minutes or so would increase it a little. Around 11PM it was finally time to start pushing. I felt the pressure of the baby's head bearing down and knew it was close.

They just told me I was about to have this baby and were preparing for delivery

 So James texted Chris "We're about to push." And apparently everyone got a text from Chris that said, "We're about to push." People found it funny that he didn't change the wording, that it sounded like he was in on the effort. They put my legs up in the stirrups and taught me how to push. Since my right leg was completely numb, James was in charge of moving it for me with each push. One time the doctor and nurse told me to push and started counting, it caught James off guard. I pulled my leg up, but he didn't have my ankle, so my leg flew wildly at the doctor's face. Luckily I didn't kick her, but it was close. After about 30+ minutes of pushing, the baby's head...and arm came out. I guess I tore pretty badly because the doctor just went ahead and pulled her out the rest of the way. They cleaned her off a little and put her on my chest and gave me a cloth to continue cleaning her. Once she was on my chest James and I had a moment where everything around us disappeared and we looked in each others eyes, both crying, and smiled. He said that she was beautiful, and I asked him what we wanted to name her. We had narrowed it down to two names. He picked Georgia Maye.

Born at 11:44 PM, July 24, 2011

A few moments later they clamped the cord and asked if Daddy wanted to cut it. James has a history of passing out under bloody circumstances, so up until this point, we weren't sure if he would be able to do it. But he was totally under control. It even sprayed a little blood on him, and he handled it like a champ. I'm also happy to say he handled the whole delivery process very well. He was nothing but encouraging and supportive.

An apprehensive Daddy cutting the cord

Still cleaning off the baby and admiring our creation

After a few more minutes they took Georgia across the room to weigh and measure her. James followed with the camera, and I hung out while they stitched me up. Which seemed to take forever. I don't know how many stitches I got, and I don't really know the extent of the damage. Nobody told me, and I didn't ask. I did overhear the words "third degree," but that was all.

7 lbs 1 oz

20" long

 When they were finished measuring and weighing her, they gave her a bath, which she hated. And still does... They finally finished stitching me up, and the room started to clear out. Daddy finally got to hold the baby.

Daddy holding Georgia for the first time

First family portrait

Georgia was finally calm

Around 1AM James' parents and brother and sister came in to meet the baby. They hung out for a while, taking turns holding the baby. And his sister brought me food! I hadn't eaten in well over 24 hours, so I scarfed down chicken fingers, macaroni and cheese and mashed potatoes and gravy. Around 2:30AM or so we were moved to our room. We had to stay for 2 days, and to tell the truth I would have liked to stay for longer. It was probably 5 AM before the nurses were done with us and we were left alone with this little baby. After the door closed for the last time, we looked at each other, terrified, and were wondering what to do. We didn't know how to take care of a baby!

End of part 1.