We went to the doctor on Wednesday, November 3, for my 39 week check up. I was dilated 3-4cm..in labor, technically (but I had no clue! ha!)...so Dr. Prigg stripped my membranes (to help speed things along, naturally) and told us to go to Livingston Hospital on Thursday, November 4, so she could break my water (if it didn't break that night -- which she thought it probably would). I thought it was funny that I didn't know I was in labor and 4 cm, when most people get their epidurals at 4 cm...I was thanking God!!
So we arrive to the hospital on Thursday, November 4, at 6AM. We get checked in and put in room 203. I got the IV (OUCH!) and Dr. Prigg checked me again..still at 4cm. She broke my water around 7:30-8AM. Such a weird sensation...a gush of warm water (like I peed myself). From that point on we just watched the monitor to see the contractions and waited for Dr. Prigg to get back after small surgeries to check me for dilation. Apparently, I kept having contractions, but I never felt them. Time kept passing. After a few of hours and no progression, Dr. Prigg gave me pitocin (which I didn't want), but we needed to progress because after breaking your water, you can't wait that long before the baby comes. The pitocin worked a little. The contractions came sooner and sooner...I dilated a little more throughout the day. Contractions still painless -- praise God!
Mom, Amanda, David and Norma hung out with us until lunch. The rest of the afternoon was spent listening to my meditation cd and hanging out with Jeremiah, mom, and Amanda. Around 7 PM or so Dr. Prigg expressed some concern that Emery was not coming down, which was keep me from dilating as much as I needed to. (The concern was that Emery was too big or I was too little for her to move down) She kept up-ing the pitocin, which intensified the contractions, but they were still very manageable with breathing. I would stare at Jeremiah in the eyes during a contraction and rub his leg with my foot as he stood at the end of the bed. For some reason, that just worked for me. He was my focal point. Mom and Amanda would let me know when the contractions were going down. I had planned on getting an epidural, but it really wasn't necessary -- the pain was maybe a 3-4 out of 10. Again, I was thanking God!! All the nurses were in disbelief at how I was laughing and smiling during contractions. They couldn't believe that I really didn't feel pain. I just told them it was all God! We're no longer under the curse -- Jesus took the curse for us -- including painful child labor!
Emery still wasn't coming down, and Dr. Prigg said she might be too big for me and just to keep in the back of our mind that an emergency c-section might have to take place if she didn't come before time was up. We prayed against it. I did not want a c-section. I slowly kept dilating, but not at the wanted speed of 1 cm/hour...it was more like 1/2cm/2 hours.
Around 9 PM and at 8 1/2 - 9 cm the contractions were intense (but manageable with breathing) and the pitocin was very high. Dr. Prigg suggested I get the epidural (which I was going to go without, but we think Dr. Prigg was really anticipating the c-section, but was keeping it on the D.L. because she didn't want to make us nervous). So, I got the epidural, which couldn't have come at a better time; I got a chance to rest an hour or so before time to push. The epi was just what I needed to relax and let Emery come down. She came down within a couple of hours and it was TIME!
Around 12:30AM (November 5) the team set up the room for delivery. (They were also preparing me for a c-section -- which they kept kinda secret, still not wanting to freak me out.) Around 12:50AM Jeremiah held one leg, Nurse Gail held my other leg...I pushed about 4 sets of 4 when Dr. Prigg made Jeremiah move quickly and another nurse grab my leg to let Emery out at 1:07AM.
I really think that at this point, the Lord was protecting me -- I didn't really know what was going on. Some of this information is what my mom told me after-the-fact. Emery came out very traumatically - kinda purplish, not crying, and not moving. In a frenzy, Dr. Prigg had to cut the cord (which was supposed to be Jeremiah's job, but it was a stressful moment -- they were all moving quickly), and there was a lot of nervousness about her condition. After cutting the cord, Emery was immediately handed to the nurses to be checked on...the birth was very traumatic for her. Dr. Prigg's biggest fear was that Emery had Brachial Palsy (loss of the use of arms due to nerve damage at birth) or a broken clavicle. Amanda literally rebuked the negative words spoken about the Brachial Palsy as Dr. Prigg handed Emery to the nurse. Amanda and momma prayed over her and loved on her while Jeremiah stayed by my side and comforted me while waiting to see Emery. I wanted Emery's first experience in this world to be LOVE, and I thank my momma and Amanda for giving her tons of it! Again, at this point, I was still on a high from just having my baby girl and I really believe God was protecting me from all of this. God was good! I just thought she needed to cry or something before I got to hold her.
The nurses checked her and she started crying. They felt like she was ok (no paralysis!)...just had a very traumatic entrance.
After a few minutes, I got to hold her, love her, kiss her, cry over her, beam over her with her daddy right by my side. I nursed her immediately after I got her and she nursed perfectly on each side for about 20 mins...she was a hungry girl!
After some alone time with her, we passed her around, everyone loving on her. My dad was there. Natalie was there. Jeremiah's mom and David. His granny Miller and dad were there earlier but didn't get to stay for the birth. She is amazing. 8lbs 3oz...21 3/4in.
Within a couple of hours, everyone left and it was me and Jeremiah and the baby. Sweet moments. :) After 19 hours of labor, we needed some rest, so we sent her to the nursery. About 3 hours later she came back to nurse and the pediatrician on-call checked her. He told us her left clavicle was broken. We were devastated and very emotional that our sweet baby girl had a traumatic experience and a broken bone. We just cried and loved on her. We prayed over her as did our families, the Blaylocks, and Lyndsey. I knew she was ok.
Around 8 AM Rob Riddle was our first visitor of the morning :) He brought chocolate and deer jerky for us. It was a blessing to see him after such a rough morning.
I got to get cleaned up, FINALLY. My mom and sisters came, Wayne, Audrey and the boys and Lyndsey came. Natalie and Josh came. All the parents came :) Michael and Susan with the babies. Jeromy and Abbie came.
We stayed the night again, and Saturday morning a different doctor came in and said Emery had jaundice and had to stay another day under the lamps. We were upset about it, but wanted her to get better. They brought her to me for feeding, otherwise she stayed under the lamps in the nursery. We missed her!
Sunday morning they said we could finally leave the hospital. We were ready. It took us 3 hours to get ready to leave the hospital with nursing, cleaning, packing, etc. She slept the whole way home. Walking in the front door with her was wonderful. We showed her around the house :) and her room. We were so blessed to have her and have her home.
She really is such a good baby. :)
We got her clavicle checked on Friday, December 10. It was completely healed - ahead of schedule! The doctor didn't even want to do an x-ray -- he said there was no point! :) Thank God!!
