The 'M' That Started It All

- January 02, 2014

We had a wild and crazy December- and not so much in a good way. But, the one wonderful thing that did happen was our oldest turned 4!

Here she is, just a day old!

Baby was due to arrive on December 15 2009. I asked my husband if he wanted to keep the baby's gender a surprise since it was close to Christmas. What a fun sweet gift, I was thinking! He responded with, "There is NO way you can go 9 months without knowing." In my true stubborn fashion, I responded with "Watch me!" And so, due to the challenge put before me, no one knew the gender of the baby until she arrived.

She measured big and 3 weeks ahead of schedule almost the whole pregnancy. My Ob gave me a choice, induce a week early or have a scheduled section at 40 weeks. I asked to be induced. I wanted to so badly to have a natural birth. No meds, no epidural.

I went into start the induction and everything was great at first. I dilated to 3 cm almost immediately. But then here was no more dilation. We broke my water to speed things along, but that didn't help either. Then the Pitocin that they had me on kept creating stronger and stronger contractions. I was in a lot of pain. My hubby sent in a few nurses to talk me into the epidural. I was reluctant- this was not how I wanted the birth to go at all! I did get the epidural, and then slept for 3 hours. (Little did I know it would be the last bit of sleep I would get for a while.)

My OB came in and said that we needed to do a section. I still wasn't dilating and now the baby's heart rate was dropping. I cried. After my OB left I asked the nurse if it was bad, she said, "No. I'm not sure why she wants to do the section."

During the surgery I was thinking about that nurses comment and wondering if I made a wrong choice. Then my OB yelled, "The cord is around the neck! Get the cord, get the cord." Soon after that she announce "It's a girl! And she's huge!" Our sweet girl was here. She was 8.14 lbs. and 22 inches.

I told my hubby, "I'm sorry. I know you wanted a boy."

"Don't be sorry, she's beautiful!" I had never, in all our time together as a couple seen him so excited!

She was born during the Swine flu epidemic. There was a restriction on visitors to the hospital during this time. Anyone who didn't need to be there could not come visit. My mom and dad got to meet her because they were employees (thank goodness!!) but none of my friend or family could come. For the first few days I was lonely and scared. I had never been a mom before. Was I doing it right? I was in pain, insecure and alone. (hubby needed to work). Thankfully they did lift the ban for a few hours a few days into my stay so my in laws came to see us briefly.

Although her birth didn't go the way I wanted, right down to her gender, God provided and protected in many ways.

He knew she was just the start. He knew that before her 4th birthday she would be a big sister 3 times over. What an amazing help she has been to her little siblings. She would get diapers and wipes. She helps by entertaining the younger ones so that I can get dinner ready. She is mature and smart and a true blessing!

He also provided by having her delivered by C-section. I have always felt bad that I didn't get to deliver naturally. I wanted that experience of holding my little one the minute she came into this world. I always kind of wished I had some how done it differently. Then when I became pregnant with twins, I would have to have another section. That was God's protection. Our little girl twin had the cord around her neck as well. The assistant said it was so tight that I was "lucky I didn't go into labor." Yikes!

Then, when I was trying for a VBAC with our fourth child, I needed to get the birth records of the last two deliveries. When I looked through those, I saw that not only was the cord around our oldest child neck, but it was so tight that they had to cut it just to get her out. Wow. I had, for years, been sad about having to have C-sections and now I realized that it was a blessing and God's protection over our family! It's amazing how He is always working, even if we don't see it!