Ameliya Darby's Entrance {a birth story}

On Friday, March 28th I woke up and decided to work hard.  Maybe it was nesting - it felt like "mom on a mission."  The children and I worked hard on getting through all the laundry, we went to a yard sale 30 minutes away and then came home and I sorted through their closets and drawers, taking out all the too small stuff. 

When Mike came home I was knee deep in the kids' clothes with no supper on the table.  He put together hamburgers and hot dogs for supper and I ate.  At around 7 I turned on the handy dandy contraction calculator app that I downloaded for free on my cell phone.  I'd had "twinges" all day but it wasn't until then that I realized they were getting closer.  They still weren't consistent so we ate supper, tucked the children in, took showers and went about our evening.  

At 10ish I realized the contractions were coming about every 5-7 minutes.  I was able to get through them without much trouble so I still wasn't too very concerned.  An hour later I was having to breath through the contractions so I sent Mike to bed, texted my birth buddy sister, Lauren, and laid down on the couch to try to rest.  I read for awhile - the book a good distraction from the contractions.  They were still coming every 5 or so minutes and lasting for about a minute.  Having never had labor like this I was afraid I was being a "sissy" and that they weren't actually that strong.  Luckily I had talked to my doctor before hand about when to come into the hospital and remembered her warning that when the contractions were 2-5 minutes apart I should come, even if they weren't bringing me to my knees.  

At 1:30 the contractions were getting stronger and coming every 3-4 minutes consistently.  My body was also showing other signs that this was real so I calmly woke Mike up and finished packing the children's bag.  Mike called my mom who came in to be with our big kids and we headed out, calling Lauren before we left.  We arrived at the hospital at around 2:35.  Still not wanting to psych myself up for being further along than I was, I kept calm, breathing/praying/and mentally quoting scripture through those minute long contractions.  Lauren arrived just minutes after us at the hospital. 

We were blessed with a terrific nurse.  When I called in to tell her we were coming I told her we had a birth plan on file.  When we arrived she'd read it and was totally on board, willing and ready to help us have the delivery we wanted.  Something she hadn't anticipated was how quickly I would go and when she checked me I was at 8 cm already.  She bustled off to call Dr. Brigitte, who had a 30 minute drive to reach me.  The time period from 8-10 cm went quickly and my body quickly took over.  Dr. Brigitte arrived as I was bearing down with my body, ready to meet our sweetheart.  I'm so grateful for my sister, Lauren, who heard me when I roared that I needed to push and quietly repeated, "let your body work for you, do what you need to do."

I heard Lauren's voice several times and was thankful that she guided me and told me how much more was left to be done.  As baby was crowning and I kept thinking I couldn't push any longer, I heard her say, "you're there.  you've got it."  That's all the encouragement you need to finish the job, let me tell you! 

Ameliya was born at 3:45 a.m.  After her head was delivered, Dr. Brigitte quickly went to work suctioning, as she had passed and swallowed a great deal of meconium and wasn't breathing.  Following the birth plan, however, after I finished delivered her shoulders & body, they never took her from me.  Ameliya remained on me, as they suctioned and roused her to use her lungs and clear the gunk from them.  

We chose to do a delayed cord clamping and after baby was suctioned and lungs cleared we were able to go skin to skin.  Within a short period of time she was nursing like a champion - having never experienced a delivery like this I was in awe and so very very pleased!

 

Ameliya remained with me until she had nursed well and was calm and relaxed.  After that time they weighed and measured her and did her little baby assessment.

Baby girl weighed 8 pounds 6.4 ounces and was 22" long.  The camaraderie and kindness in the birthing room as everyone strove to follow our birth plan was AMAZING.  We were blessed with a terrific team.

Because of the immense amount of meconium (and I mean immense - baby girl smelled like she should have been born in a calf lot) we went ahead with a bath using the tummy tub.

Lauren and Mike handled this while I watched from my resting point in bed.

From this point the day seemed to flow quickly.  We napped and waited awhile to call parents (after all, although we'd put in a full day's work, it was still EARLY!). 

Overall, Mike and I are so pleased that we wrote the birth plan and that everyone strove SO hard to follow it.  Huge shout out to Dr. Brigitte and our nurses, Tonya & Kristi, who worked with us, didn't judge our choices, and supported us through the complete labor and delivery process.  I'm very pleased that I was an 8 when I got to the hospital, that I'd labored so long at home, and that we were only there an hour before Ameliya arrived.  I'll ever be grateful for the support of Mike and Lauren - fast moving labor is intense and a good support system is really important.

Overall, we give praise to God for Ameliya's safe and speedy entrance into the world.  She's a perfect addition to our little family and we are over the moon in love!