Throughout my pregnancy, Luke absolutely adored my belly & the baby growing inside. Talk about endearing. He would cuddle my belly & whisper to baby, lotion my belly poolside & before bedtime, loved feeling baby's movements, and I could always count on him to rip up my shirt in public in order to give baby a big hug, kiss, or zerbert! In the weeks leading up to baby's birth, Luke began asking me "when's ours baby coming?"....."when's ours baby gonna be here?". He was as anxious as the rest of us to finally meet "ours baby"! I knew I didn't have many, if any, photos of him with my belly...so we decided to take a few....and 5 hours later I was in labor!
I started feeling contractions around midnight. They weren't more painful than braxton hick's can be, but there was an intensity there that I couldn't deny...although I was trying too. After 5 natural births, I remember everything, & fear...of the known and unknown...begins to creep in. I told Jed we might be heading up to Titusville...he knew we would. I finally packed my hospital bag....Jed took a nap. Then, I took a shower & laid down & realized that I couldn't delay the inevitable any longer...it was time to go. Jed's parents came around 2 a.m. & we started the hour drive to the hospital....with contractions 4 min. apart. We arrived at the hospital around 3 a.m....I was 3 cm. At 4 a.m., after all of the normal paperwork & monitoring of baby, they let Jed & I walk the loop of the maternity wing, which, along with Jed, is a staple of my laboring. We walked, breathed through contractions together, & tried to figure out a boy's name! Around 5 a.m. the nurse said it was time to monitor baby another 20 minutes. At 5:20, just before getting ready to walk again, she checked me, I was 4-5 cm. I was a bit surprised I wasn't further along because contractions had been much stronger....I looked at Jed and told him we might be in this for the long haul....he shook his head no. At 5:30 a.m., one of the other nurses, Michelle, came in to check me too & asked me about when my water broke with previous births.....as we talked, my water broke! She checked me and said I was 6+ cm!!!! Of course, I couldn't walk the halls now & there wasn't much Jed or anyone could do....so I had to just get out of my head and let my body take over...extremely difficult to do as contractions are doubling up and coming less than a minute apart...Jed had to remind me to keep breathing through them. Around 5:50 I felt the urge to push & I told Jed I think they needed to check me...the nurse heard me and ran in & checked me, she said I was at 10. Dr.Ferreira had just arrived and he heard from the hallway that I was at 10....he came in immediately to check me and also discovered that the baby was breech. No one was expecting that...especially me. I asked if I needed a c-section and he said the baby would be here too quickly. He mentioned that there were risks but he felt things would be ok being that it was my 6th baby..."we're just gonna go ahead and deliver this baby breech", he said. And we did. Because baby came out bum first and bent in half, no one could tell the sex of the baby until she was unfolded on my belly...that's right, "she"!!!! We had a healthy and beautiful baby girl to love:
Jenna May
Tuesday, September 25, 2012
6:02 am
7lbs. 11 oz., 20 in.
Can't even describe how blessed and thankful we felt to be holding our sweet, long awaited,
Jenna May.
The kids skipped school and came to meet "ours baby"....it was love at first sight!
Jenna and I were discharged on Thursday, Sept. 27th and Jed & the boys came to bring us home.
They are so proud of their baby sister! She has no idea what a lucky girl she is.
And Luke is taking his new role as Big Bro seriously: someone has to remember the diaper bag!
The girls welcomed us home with the biggest smiles I've ever seen! This is one of my favorite pictures...they haven't stopped loving on her :)
