{ edith nancy :: birth story }

Well here it is only a month after the fact, my Edie's birth story. I am dating this for April 13th, but I am writing in on May 17th. Unlike Garrett's and Eli's birth stories, this one was very uneventful but it was my easiest and most pleasant. The night of April 12th around 7pm I started having contractions. I had been having contractions worthy of timing for about a week and these were no different, but I decided to time them anyway. Around 8pm I settled in with a favorite movie, Dirty Dancing. I was timing contractions but they weren't very regular and they weren't lasting very long, but they were pretty painful. Just like other days and nights they fizzled out by the time the movie was over. I went to bed around 10:00 just like every other night. On this night I kept waking up every hour to painful contractions but they would go away once I went to the bathroom. I woke up at 3:00am on the 13th to a pretty painful contraction, I went to the bathroom and had another while on the toilet. I also had a major bloody show that time, but I had been having a bloody show for a few days on and off. I did start having more contractions and I decided to time them. They were coming about every 5 minutes but were only lasting around 45 sec, but they were pretty painful. I didn't know if it was real or not so I just kept on timing. At 3:30 Eli came upstairs to tell me he had a bad dream and needed to snuggle. We snuggled for about 10 min all the while I was still timing contractions and they were getting more painful and closer together. I took him back downstairs about 3:45 to tuck him back in. Marcus had been sleeping in the guest room due to him snoring so I decided while I was downstairs to wake him up to let him know it might be time.

We decided to go ahead and call my sister Shirlee to come over and stay with the kids, we decided to go to the hospital just in case. He called her and packed my list while I was in the shower getting cleaned up. Sometimes a shower can stop contractions but mine just kept on coming stronger and stronger. Shirlee got to the house around 4:30am and we headed to the hospital. It was an intense ride as my contractions were about 3 min apart and were very strong and painful. I was admitted quickly with one observation of me having a contraction and they checked me, I was at a 7 and progressing quickly. I never even changed into a hospital gown. It took about 30 or 40 min to get my epidural but they were trying to slow things down because I needed to get one round of antibiotics as I was GBS+.
Here is am in all my pregnancy glory with all my swelling and giant belly. 

The epidural worked quickly and made me much more comfortable. I was able to rest a bit and laugh and talk with Marcus while we waited. My Dr. came on shift at 7:00am so he was able to deliver Edith. It was nice having my Dr. there. He came in and checked me, I was at a 9. He said we should be close now and to let the nurses know when I felt like I needed to push. Around 7:30 I started to feel the urge coming. Just after that he came in to check me again and I was fully dilated. He had me do a test push to see about how long he thought it might be. I predicted about 30 min of pushing. During my "test" push he changed his tune as she came right down with that push. I think I pushed for three contractions and she was here. It was so easy and smooth I almost could not believe it.

She was tiny and perfect. She was born on April 13, 2016 at 7:51am, she was 6lbs 12oz and 18.5 inches long. She was beautiful and so cuddly. She nursed right away and then settled in for a good nap.

 

Marcus left after a while to relieve Shirlee and pick up Eli to come meet his sister. We thought he might need some one on one time with Mommy and baby Edith. He was a little shy at first but then he just wanted to hold her and love her. He was so sweet with his little sister. I was so relieved.

After the big boys got out of school Daddy brought them back to meet her. Garrett could not stop smiling and Marcus was afraid he was going to hurt her, but they were all so sweet with her. 

Daddy left us for the evening to take care of life at home and me and Edie settled in for the night. She just ate and slept and didn't fuss very often at all. She was a dream from the very beginning. We were all instantly in love with our sweet little girl who was beautiful and perfect in every way.