Isla Rose - Birth Story

Brady and I welcomed our gorgeous, fiesty, redheaded, first born daughter into the world on June 6th, 2017, an hour before midnight. She came out healthy and huge and with a lovely head full of hair. I don't know quite how to describe the love I have for my little Isla Rose, but it is one that grows every day that I get to know more of her spunky little personality.

The day before Isla made her appearance. (42 weeks)

I had three askems of God, leading up to the big day. #1 Could my labor please start in the morning (because I am not a night owl). #2 Could my baby please come out before midnight (because ain't nobody got time or energy for a longer labor then that). #3 And most importantly, could my baby have lots of hair please!

God sure delivered on all three of those very specific prayers!

The details of the day were as following:

I woke up around 4 AM with a bit of a tummy ache. I went back to sleep thinking little of it. At 6 AM, I was beginning to become very uncomfortable. Around 9 AM, over cereal, my mom and I decided I must be experiencing the first of my contractions. At last! I was receiving "the phonecalls" announcing that my baby was soon to make her arrival! Shoot, I was so nervous!!! 

Jonita was timing my pain (waiting for the 50 second long contractions, every 5 minutes) while she threw things in her suitcase. It seemed that her little neice would miss her by just a few hours. She was off to her summer job in North Carolina. So as my mom drove my little sister to the airport, Brady excitedly had come home early from work, and took over the job of timing my intensifying contractions. I was snacking on watermelon and walnuts in between bending over a chair, or leaning on Brady. Although we had established the fact that I was supposed to leave for the hospital I was quite stubborn. Maybe because I knew I would just be walking the halls there as well, or maybe because it would make it more real that this baby was going to be coming out of me anytime now.

All I wanted to do was take a nap, but I also wanted to keep my labor progressing. When my mom arrived back at 3 PM, i began to tell Brady to put our bags in the car. I remember I was laying on the couch, when our landlord stopped by to collect our rent, and when he saw me, exclaimed to Brady, "You best be getting her to the hospital!"

My contractions face.

So at 6 PM, we all headed over to Saint Alphonsus Hospital. I could barely make the 5 minute car ride, and the walk up to the OB.

When I was omitted, my midwife came in to check how far along I had dilated, I was at 6 cm. Whenever I wasn't confined to the bed, with the contraction bands around me, I was trying to move around as much as possible. The nurse ran a bath for me, and I wanted more than anything just to soak in the tub all night, but I also knew that might make my labor longer. Brady sat next to me and read Psalms and prayed with me. I just remember at one point wanting him to read and then at another point wanting him to shut up (Haha, the irritability in the middle of labor is real!)

My mom or Brady were constantly by my side, encouraging me, sending for more water, praying with me, swaying back and forth with me. Hanging directly in eye sight was a big clock, and I watched it in agony as the time ticked by. To make things worse, the anesthesia guy kept peaking his head in and asking me if I wanted an epidural. It was my plan to do it all natural, and I felt like telling him to go away, because he was interfering with it!

At 9 PM, my midwife came in and checked my progression. I had dilated to 8 cm! Brady told me later that she was on her way out when suddenly she turned her head and came back in. I had just had another wave of really strong contractions. She hurried over to my bedside and asked, "May I break your waters?" She assured me that the baby would come out soon after doing so. I was eager to meet my baby at this point so I agreed. I was expecting for it to hurt, but it didn't, and soon the nurses were rushing around the room getting all ready for delivery.

Soon I was pushing. Man was I bad at it! My midwife was encouraging me and also telling me off at the same time. I was breathing all wrong, she said. I eventually figured out how to use my breathing to help with pushing instead of hindering it. The whole time (40 minutes) I kept thinking I was going to black out. Had any other pregnant ladies passed out on the delivery table, I wondered?

When Isla's head appeared all the nurses rejoiced and exclaimed that they could see her hair! And asked "Do you want to touch it?" To which I shouted back, "No!!!! I  just want this baby out of me!" (I guess that was the comic relief for everyone in the room, which was quite a crowd of nurses, I heard later.

Wow, the first moment I held her in my arms, she started breast feeding immediately. I was experiencing so many emotions all at once. After I was all sewn up and Isla was all cleaned up, I was going to try and stand up. Everything went black though. One of the nurses (who was an angel who had been by my side through the entire labor and birth) asked me when the last time I had eaten was. By this time it was 1 AM and I was so weak from giving birth and not eating all day. I also was feeling really loopy from the pain meds they had given me. After eating a sandwich we went to give Isla her first bath. I remember talking the whole time, so relieved to have my little baby with all that gorgeous hair, finally in my arms!

What does complete joy and complete exhaustion look like?

Our sweet 9lbs healthy baby girl

My body felt so broken when we finally made it to the recovery room. I had torn pretty bad and was exhausted. We put Isla down to sleep in the bassinet, and I couldn't hardly sleep a wink. All I could do was listen to the beautiful squeaks she was making in her sleep. I remember feeling so incredibly empty, because my little baby wasn't inside me anymore. A bitter-sweet feeling.

The next few days were hard, because the verdict was, that Isla's beliruben was high, therefore she was extremely at risk for jaundice. The doctor put her "under the lights". She had to wear a mask to protect her eyes, and she hated it! She kept batting at it, and crying. The worst part was, I wasn't allowed to pick her up unless to nurse her. It was torturous!

Isla under the lights...so sad!

Finally when we were discharged from the hospital, 3 days later, we arrived at our home with a little bundle of blessing. It was already 10 o'clock at night, so we put her down in the bassinet directly beside our bed. What a crazy and unreal feeling it was to finally have our baby home, safe and sound. We were a family of three now. Brady, Isla and I.

Before 

After