Hannah Mae - Her Birth Story

Okay, ya'll.

Here's the oh-so-fascinating birth story of my little bundle of joy. Hold on to your socks!

Hannah Mae was born on November 29, 2011 at 12:45 pm. She weighed 6 lbs 15 oz and was 20 inches long. 

It was definitely love at first sight, folks. Luckily I had the presence of mind to warn everyone just prior to her arrival that I was likely to be a complete emotional blubber-face when they put her in my arms. I was right. :) 

On Monday night, I was having Braxton Hicks contractions for most of the evening, but it wasn't anything too crazy until about 12:30 am. At that point I woke up thinking, "Ummm, ouch. These aren't Braxton Hicks. Ummmm, ouchie." 

At around 1:15 am, I woke my husband up (unintentionally) because I was laying next to him saying "Ouchie. Ouchie. Ouchie. Ouchie." over and over.

We made it to the hospital around 5:00 am, and hit almost every single red light on the way there. Shhh, don't tell, but my husband ran a couple of them. Desperate times call for desperate measures, after all, right?! But don't worry, we were as safe as running a red light in the middle of the night can be. 

"Is it normal not to be able to feel my hands and feet?" I asked the nurse as she wheeled me into the labor room in my wheelchair with no feet (that was fun, btw). "Sure!" she said cheerfully. "If you're hyperventilating during your contractions."  

"Oh."

We got there just as the anesthesiologist was coming out of a c-section. In about 10 minutes, he was putting the epidural in my back. Bless him. It didn't fully kick in until he came back a while later and gave me another little dose of 'good stuff'. Then I was a happy camper! I was in much better humor at that point, just ask my husband! Although, throughout the entire ordeal (pre-epidural included), I did try valiantly to be chipper despite feeling like my entire innards were coming out through my belly button. Hopefully I didn't do TOO shabby. 

When I first got to the hospital, I was dilated to a 3. An hour later, I was dilated to an 8 with a bulging amniotic sac.

Yeah. 

You heard me. 

It was pretty wild. 

The sweet nurse who was with me at the start told me before the shift change not get too upset if they checked me and I hadn't dilated much. Yeah, well, that didn't happen. The only problem was that I tested positive for Group B Strep and I hadn't had my antibiotics in for the required 4 hours at that point. If memory serves me, I still had a good 2 hours before I could push.

{Flattering pictures, I know. Labor does have a tendency to bring out the most glamorous side of a person, after all. :) And yet again, please just overlook the inaccurate date stamp on some of these pictures.}

We tried pushing for a bit when I was fully dilated (about two seconds later, it seemed), but Hannah's heart rate would drop seriously low. I would have to lay on my side and let her recover before trying to push again. We also found out that she was posterior (the punk) and refused to turn. And she also hadn't fully descended in the birth canal. Soooo, basically, pushing at that point was like beating my head against a concrete wall.

We rested for an hour or so to let the contractions do their job and scoot my little girl down. Then the fun started! My epidural seemed to start to wear off 'round about that point, and so I started eyeing the epidural button with a frenzied passion. However, before it could really kick in again, I was pushing. 

And pushing.

And pushing.

And pushing some more. 

Her heart rate kept scaring the poop out of all of us, and so the nurse ended up putting a lead in her noggin to monitor her that way. That seemed to work well, until I pushed it out and they had to put in another one. Whoopsie! 

After a combined total of an hour and a half of pushing, our baby girl was born! It's impossible to adequately describe the sensation that completely engulfed me the second I saw her. She was covered in gunk, of course, but she was still the most beautiful thing I had ever seen! It was surreal, folks. Absolutely surreal. Before the day was out, I already knew that I would go through labor again a million times if it meant bringing another son or daughter into the world.  

And, of course, Chuck was (and is) as happy as happy could be. He was SUCH a good labor coach. I just love him to pieces. He and my mom were there with me the whole time, and they were the best! I couldn't have done it without them. And on a relatively sappy note, I couldn't have done it with the help of my Heavenly Father, either. 

   

Afterward, my husband mentioned that he tried holding his breath during each of my 'pushing sessions', and he had a hard time doing it. hahahaha! He said something along the lines of : "I was just holding my breath, too! I wasn't even pushing! I don't know how you did it."  I have to agree with other women who explain 'surviving' labor this way : your body literally takes over in a sense. Your mind is still very much there, of course, but you can suddenly do things -- dredge up strength from your toes-- you never imagined.

They immediately placed her on some blankies on my chest, and she calmed right down and started looking around with her big beautiful eyes. And speaking of her eyes, I think she looks so much like Chuck! People say they can see me in her as well, but I would much rather she look like her papa :) We were floored to see how light her hair was after they got her cleaned up. Chuck was a towhead all growing up, so I would tease him while pregnant that Hannah would be as well. Turns out I know what I'm talking about! 

Grandpa Carl (my dad)

Grandma McAllister and Scott (my mother-in-law and step-dad. . . in- law :D)

I am simply overwhelmed with a sense of contentment. That's the best way to put it. There have been hard times, don't get me wrong. There have been tears. There have been times of frustration, and I'm positive there are many more similar times down the road. But the good far out ways all of the bad. 

I'm a mamma, a wife, a dog wrangler, a homemaker; and I have the best job in the world.

{Click HERE for Part II where I go into a bit more detail about what happened in the hospital after the delivery}