I Am Wonderfully Made!

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Now......the REST of the Story!

For those of you nail-biters who have been hanging on to the edge of your seat to find out whether or not we actually made it to hospital in time, this ending is going to seem a little anti-climatic I am afraid.  For the rest of you....here's the rest of the story...

By the time we left Del Rio early Tuesday morning, I had been having regular contractions about ten minutes apart for a good four hours or so.  My water had broken, I had lost my mucus plug...all signs were that we would be delivering a baby...and possibly sooner than we really wanted.  But, by about 5:30-- an hour and a half into our three hour trip-- my contractions had COMPLETELY stopped!  In fact, I took a good long nap until the sun came up while my faithful hubby drove carefully through the darkness to get us to Fredericksburg.  As a side note, I literally woke as the sun was coming up and it was a magnificent morning!  We had made it to I-10 by this point and for any of you who know Texas at all, the vast difference between where I live on the Mexico border and the beautiful Hill Country is literally like entering a different country.  The beautiful, misty hills as the sun was rising were breathtaking.  All the kids were also slowly waking up and it was fun to be driving along at sunrise on such a beautiful morning on such an exciting errand.  I was completely filled up with God's goodness and the way His glory is revealed in His creation-- including all the little blessings in my car and in my womb!

We got to my parent's house just as Mom was pulling breakfast from the oven...another wonderful blessing!  Everyone was excited to be at "The Ranch" as it has always been a favorite place for all of us!  My contractions still hadn't re-appeared and I was thinking I was probably going to just have to wait it out like I had for Boden (did I mention he was two weeks late?)  I called a friend of mine who uses a mid-wife and asked her opinion on the whole situation.  I also called the nurse at my doctor's office to see what she thought.  The nurse was very quick to encourage me to rush to the ER as quickly as possible!  My friend also encouraged me to go ahead and go to the doctor to make sure it was in fact amniotic fluid I was leaking and not something else.  In any case, I had strict orders NOT to try something dumb like a trip to Wal-Mart since the chance of infection seems to severely worsen once your water has broken!  I doodled along as slowly as I could, hoping my contractions would start again soon.  I took a shower, got the kids settled, took a little walk, did everything I could to put off going to the hospital...I HATE hospitals and my anxiety level rises about 100% once I am inside one so in my mind I was thinking..."it is NOT my plan to be in the hospital BEFORE I am having any good contractions!  I want to go into the hospital dilated to about a seven or eight....NOT at a zero or one!"  Finally, we slowly told everyone good-bye (I even mentioned that I would probably be seeing them in an hour or two as I thought I would get to the hospital and they would let me come home until I was progressing more quickly! ), slowly got in the car, and slowly drove into town.   Ryan drove about 40 miles an hour trying to help me out with my stalling-- such an understanding guy!

When we got there, I was shocked to learn that they were NOT going to let me go home again!  I said, "But I haven't even had any contractions for several hours....I could be here for days!"  Their response?  "No.  You won't be here for days."  By the time they did all their checking and question-asking, my water had been broken for about twelve hours.  So, they informed me that I really needed to deliver within the next six to twelve hours.  If I wasn't showing progress soon, they were going to put me on Pitocin.  Now, for those of you who know me well, know my response to this!  I was like, "Oh, no!  You are NOT going to put me on Pitocin!  I will do everything I know to do BEFORE you even try something like that!"  In my mind, Pitocin was the evil drug that makes labor so much harder and increases the risk of C-section substantially.  I would do EVERYTHING I could to avoid it.  And in fact, had done EVERYTHING I could to avoid it with four other births, including staying in labor for many many many hours longer than the nurses thought were necessary.  Thankfully, I have a wise husband and an understanding nurse.  The nurse was so great to work with me for several hours to do all the natural stuff we could to try to get my labor going.  (She is also a doula on the side so she was really an answer to prayer!)  After several hours with absolutely no progress, she told me my doctor really wanted to start me on Pitocin.  I was adamant.  No!  I will not take that evil juice!  Ryan, sat down and had a good talk with me and by the time it was all over, we decided I would start the Pitocin on the lowest level possible to see if it would get my body started doing what it should be doing so that I could deliver a baby sooner rather than later.   I finally came to the realization that I could cooperate and start on a smaller dosage now or be uncooperative and have more of an extreme situation later as my "time ran out."  Within about two hours I had dilated from a 1.5 (what I was at when I came into the hospital) to a 5!  But, these were not the contractions I remembered from days past!!!  "Oh my goodness!"  I kept saying, "These contractions feel like what I remember from when I am at an 8 or 9..."
I asked to get in the shower.  Which my nurse let me do--even with the Pitocin drip.  I stayed there for an hour and had an amazing hour of rest....by the time I got out of the shower I had dilated another 2 centimeters and was well on my way to having this baby!

I cannot say enough good things about this birth experience.  My nurse was knowledgeable, patient, kind, and willing to do things "my way" for the most part.  It also helped out that she is the only nurse I had as I came in on her shift and had the baby before she left.  I was also the only patient she had all day so she was able to devote herself entirely to me.  My husband was calm and understanding-- which is a huge answer to prayer after our last experience!  When I was dilated to a nine, my doctor came in and sat on the edge of the bed and waited and talked to Ryan.  Then, when I was ready to push, he, Ryan and my nurse helped me deliver the baby right onto the bed.  This was a first and wonderful experience for me!  Usually, when it is "show time", the sterile, shiny equipment comes out, the end of the bed gets dropped for a sterile table, the "show lights" come on hot and bright, the doctor rushes in (I have usually never seen him up to this point) catches the baby and rushes out again!  This time it was so different.  It was calm and quiet, the room was dimly lit, there was laughter....we were talking about Psalm 8 between contractions..."from the mouths of infants and nursing babes, You have established strength..."  When Natalie was born at 7:45 that evening, the doctor rubbed and rubbed her and let the cord stop pulsing before Ryan cut it.   Then I was able to immediately hold and nurse her....no rushing her off for weight checks and eye-stuff and heel pricks.  It was really awesome and such an answer to so many prayers-- especially after my last experience with Boden.

One funny thing that happened:  Ryan and I were absolutely sure that this baby was a boy.  Before I even found out I was pregnant, and thought I could be, I asked God to speak to me about being pregnant again.  (After having an ectopic pregnancy and losing a tube and ovary and a baby, I am usually fearful when I first think I am pregnant so I was looking for "provision" for this fear.) He gave me the verse in Luke 1 that says, "And you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall name him Jesus."  Now, before you start thinking "blasphemy",  I obviously knew the part about naming him Jesus and he saving people from their sins wasn't for me... so I thought "Wow!  God is telling me I am pregnant and it's okay to be excited about it and I am going to have a son!"  So, the whole time, even though we never looked at a sonogram, I was certain this was a son.  When Natalie was born, Ryan's first words were, "It's a girl!"  I stared at him and said, "WHAT?  It's A GIRL???"  Then I looked at my doctor and said, "It's a GIRL???"  We were both absolutely shocked!  Sometimes I still refer to her as a he....in my mind,  I was just so certain.  When people would ask us what we were having I would always reply, "A surprise!"  Little did I know the extent of the truth I was speaking! 

                                It's A Girl???

Natalie Adele....September 13, 2011....7lbs, 1oz....7:45 PM
Natalie "gift of joy"
Adele "noble and kind"