Hey Sweet Friends. Long time no see. As you may have noticed by now, I have been a little MIA here on the blog. And by a little, I mean it has been over a full year since I made a post. If you don’t follow me on Instagram, then you may not now that I decided to take the year off after having Daisy. I haven’t done any artwork or blogging since she was born. I wanted to take this special time to give her my undivided attention. My original goal was to just go for a year. I went a tad longer, as she is now 14 months old.
Now, I am ready to dip my toes back into blogging. Before I get back to regularly scheduled programming, I want to share a few diary type posts just to catch up and document what the last year has looked like over here. I thought Daisy’s birth story would be a great place to start.
Okay, where to start? My due date was August 7, 2019. I never actually expected to make it to my due date. By my calculations that was late. Thank goodness too, because Jereme was really rooting for a July baby so that he could share a birthday month.
On July 27, 2019, still a little ways from my due date, I started having a few contractions around 10 at night and she was born the following night at 7:51.
All week long, I felt like she could come at any moment. A few days before, we had a false alarm that ended us in the hospital. We were on a walk with Jereme’s parents and I kept having to stop because of contractions. Thank goodness it was a false alarm. The hospital slammed with births that night. So many that I had to be placed in an area of the hospital that wasn’t where I should have been. It might have been bad, if I couldn’t get to a doctor. My contractions were about five minutes apart, but then they stopped. It’s interesting that those contractions were actually more painful than what I had when I was actually in labor.
On the 27th, they started back up. They weren’t super painful though. I kept timing them and they kept getting closer together. I mentioned to Jereme that I was having them. He said to time them. So I did. Around midnight, they stopped. So I decided to go lay down. I thought it was another false alarm. For some reason Jereme stayed up later playing a video game. Then he came to bed just before 3 in the morning. (I know. I know. That’s late. Ha.)
When he did come to bed, it woke me up. I felt like I needed to use the bathroom. And our bathroom is right off of our master. I went into the bathroom to pee. Then when I stood up, my water broke, or it did a little. Jereme said “That wasn’t what I just think it was, was it?” Eek. But it was. Everywhere.
As with everything throughout the pregnancy, I called his mom right away. In case you didn’t know she also happens to be my best friend. And I told her that my water broke and that we were getting ready to go to the hospital. At that point I was timing contractions pretty closely together. And I told Hope to get ready to meet me at the hospital.
Little did I know, that my water actually didn’t fully break. We hopped in the car and made our way to the hospital. (Jereme made it there faster than I even knew was possible.) Fun story, I was always terrified of it breaking in our car. Our family car is a Porsche and Jereme really likes it. So, of course I was afraid of it happening there. Then, sure enough, that’s were it actually happened.
Honestly no one prepared me for the water breaking situation. I just thought it would be like the movies, and you would just randomly look like you peed yourself. It wasn’t like that for me AT ALL! Like, not at all. I don’t even understand how so much water could come out. And out it came the whole way to the hospital. The whole way down that long huge sky bridge at Baptist. The whole way through the long winding hallways. All the way, until I got in my bed. It came in gushes consistent with my contractions. For a good twenty minutes.
A little pee. HA. Not even close. Even worse, as I was changing into my gown to get settled in, I gushed all over the nurses feet. I was so embarrassed. She was so sweet though. She assured me that it happens all the time.
Upon checking in, I wasn’t actually dilated very far. Thus began the waiting game. It was my plan all along to get pain meds. When I checked in there was some confusion about me getting the meds, and the epidural. For some reason I was under the impression that I had to wait to get them until I was dilated further. I’m not for sure exactly why I was under that impression. It made things get pretty interesting.
A few hours later, my contractions really kicked in. They were all in my back. I didn’t feel anything anywhere else other than my back. I legitimately think I would have died or my back would have broken or something, had I not gotten the meds. I know that sounds dramatic to all the women who birthed au naturel. I truly think it would’ve been bad.
Once I realized that I could indeed actually get the epidural, we went ahead with that. I’m still not for sure why I waited so long. It was my intention to have it all along. It was so crazy. By the time they got in there to give it to me, my whole body was violently shaking. No one ever told me about the shakes either. I had no clue that was even a thing. It’s hard to even describe it. Literally my entire body was shaking as if I had the chills, but worse. My teeth were chattering, but I was far from cold. I was afraid they wouldn’t be able to get the epidural in because I was shaking so bad.
This was all happening over the span of a few hours, but I still in my mind remember it as only a few minutes. I don’t know how that happens. Once I got the epidural, things got so much better. What a miracle epidurals are. I got so relaxed and I actually went to sleep a few times.
Everything from that point on went really smoothly. I did have random bouts of throwing up though. I don’t remember exactly how many times but it seemed like a lot. Eventually they had to give me some anti-nausea medicine. Apparently, I didn’t do very well with the medicine. And apparently, it made me a little loopy and silly. At one point I asked them where my pearl necklace was. I don’t even wear pearl necklaces anymore. So that was kind of funny.
I’m so grateful for the epidural. I was able to bring Daisy into the world in such a calm and peaceful way. It was beautiful.
We arrived at the hospital at four in the morning, and I had Daisy at 7:51 pm, that same day. To me the whole thing happened really fast. Once I started having the crazy contractions, I had Daisy within 30 minutes. It seemed more like five to me. It happened so fast, that the doctor made it in just enough time to put on his gloves and catch her. One minute later, and my nurse would’ve actually delivered her. And I loved her so much, that I almost wish she would’ve. The doctor wasn’t my actual doctor that I had dealt with throughout my pregnancy anyways. My doctor was actually on a planned vacation, that I had known about my whole pregnancy. We joked that I would sure enough go into labor while he was gone, and I did.
She came out so perfect. And I have to share this somewhat revealing photo of Jereme cutting the cord. It’s such a beautiful picture to me, but it was so crazy. Her cord was so short that they couldn’t even get her to my chest. You can see her laying on my stomach. I got to witness my sister-in-law give birth to her first baby, and her cord was so long. So I just thought it was really interesting how that varies from woman to woman.
The moment they laid her on me, I burst into tears. It’s such an indescribable feeling. Tears of complete joy and happiness. Definitely not pain. Ha. I really didn’t feel much. A tiny bit of stinging right at the end. Unfortunately I did tear up a little. Praise God that she wasn’t a bigger baby. It could have been much worse. No, the tears were pure joy.
I’ll never forget Jereme’s face the moment he saw her. He was in awe. It was an instantaneous love, that I could see just pour out of him. A complete natural father. I was worried that he might get sick from seeing everything. He didn’t though. He wasn’t a fainter. Although I was prepared to laugh at him forever if he was. He was so supportive and there for me every single moment.
This next bit may be way too much information, but I’m assuming if you’re reading a birthing story, you’re prepared for such. Her placenta was smaller than a typical one and in the perfect shape of a heart. I so regret that I did not get a photo of it. It was a literal perfect heart.
This is so significant to me, because of what it took to get her here. And her placenta being part of the issue. Apparently my body struggles to make the hormone that supports a pregnancy up until the moment that the placenta takes over. Hence my previous miscarriages. With Daisy’s pregnancy I actually had to take progesterone to keep the pregnancy. I believe the Lord gave me a special wink in it. Not to mention, her middle name is Heart. I just wish I would’ve gotten a photo. As weird as that is.
She came out looking JUST like her daddy. It’s funny how I just knew that she would look just like me. Funny how wrong I was. I love that she looks so much like him. I think it’s obviously a special thing that the mother births the baby, but for the daddy to immediately see himself in the baby too. I think that is so special.
She came out so perfect and so tiny. I knew she was tiny. From the very beginning when she measured behind what she should have (hence them estimating the wrong due date) I knew she would be.
Her little cry was music to my ears and I was completely in love. An unexplainable love. The happiest moments of my life. She came out and nursed for a hour with no issues. Now, here we are.
She was born on July 28, 2019 at 7:51pm. She was 6lbs 2.8oz and 18.9in. Perfect in every way.
