It's ONE week until Morgan is THREE!! I just can't believe it. It honestly seems like just yesterday we welcomed her into the world but at the same time feels like we've known her forever. Being her mom has been an amazing journey and I'm thankful everyday she's my daughter. Here is Morgan's birth story. We didn't find out if we were having a boy or girl so going into the delivery it was a surprise :) Warning: it's graphic because it's well, a birth story!
Morgan Clare was born
May 4, 2009 at 3:52am weighing in at 5 lbs, 8 oz and 19 inches long. She was
just absolutely precious. She had chubby checks and big red lips but was
scrawny all over!!
Starting at 33 weeks I
began having some issues with high blood pressure. I was once placed on bed
rest for a weekend but was released to normal activities soon after. At 35
weeks my swelling was very intense and I was unable to walk and my midwife,
Cherie, put me on bed rest for the rest of my pregnancy. She also said we would
be inducing once “Big Tex” was 37 weeks.
I was going in every 3
days and doing a sonogram once a week. The second sonogram on Thursday, April 30th
showed that the baby hadn’t grown in the past week due to my hypertension. We
decided to start the first round of the induction that day. Cherie, my midwife,
placed a pill near my cervix to help ripen it as I was not dilated at all in
hopes to get labor started.
Over the next 2 days I
had mild but regular cramps/contractions. I went back in on Saturday morning
for a second round of the drug and found that my cervix had thinned a bit but I
was not dilated at all. Cramped/contracted all night and the next day again but
no hard contrax or other signs of labor.
Sunday night Jarid called
the on-call midwife Beverly around 9pm b/c my BP was really high and he was
worried. She said she thought labor was impending and to take a bath, drink
some wine and come in the next morn. She called back a few minutes later and
said I should just come on in. Went in and only ONE cm dilated. So we did round
3 of the Cytotec. Once she put it in she could tell I was effaced already just
needing to dilate. She said she fully expected me to call in the middle of the
night with my water breaking or me going into labor Boy did I...
We got home at 1130pm, I
sent out an email to everyone who had called that day and I had sent to
voicemail b/c I was annoyed/upset I hadn't had the baby yet. Right when I shut
the laptop contrax started - exactly at midnight. Hard ones, 40 seconds long only
40 seconds in between because of the induction medication. I was panicked b/c I
didn't feel like I had time to gain control. They finally let up and Jarid and
I laid down (I was still on bed rest) and I used my Bradley techniques (mostly
abdominal breathing) thru all the contrax and felt very at ease even though
they were painful. It was almost as if I was watching a movie on a black screen; hard to explain. Maggie (one of our dogs) laid right beside us the entire time as well – it was
so sweet. Jarid later said that he didn’t know I was really in labor because I
was being so calm throughout all the contractions. At one point I asked Jarid
how close we were to that 5-1-1 thing (5 minutes apart, 1 minute long and for 1
hour) ...he said "almost there, the contrax are 3.5 mins apart." I
yelled "called the midwife NOW!!" She had me talk to her through a
contraction to determine if what stage of labor I was in. She thought my
breathing and coping was fine so she said to immediately get in the bath to try
to slow them. While he was getting it ready I passed my bloody show. I got in
the bath and had a huge urge to push. I felt down there and something was
coming out!!!! I couldn’t see anything because of my belly though.
I was freaking out by
this point so I told Jarid to call her back and tell her baby was coming (this
was at 330am) she said get to the center since we only live a mile away. Jarid
looked and it was the bag of waters that came out but he could see Morgan's
hair behind it. The bag of waters remained intact and on the outside of my
body. While he was calling the midwife he jumped into the tub with me and was
"ready" to deliver a baby. He was so nervous but also very much
prepared to do whatever it took. He got me out of the tub and after a ridiculously long debate about me wanting to wear pants, we agreed that throwing on a robe would be enough.Thankfully the midwife said we should have time to get
to the birthing center!
We somehow made it down
three flights of stairs w/out a contrax, threw Reagan and Maggie in the crate
and we got to the center in record time. We were only waiting outside for a
minute before she got there but Jarid kept asking if I wanted to just go to the
hospital (which is visible from the center) but I didn’t. So we went in and I
took my robe off (that’s all I wore there!!) and laid down ready to start
pushing.
She was so calm and walking around the center turning on the heater, lighting low lights, putting on the music, getting the bed ready. It was actually really nice and she helped me be a lot more calm as well. While laying on the bed I was holding my Saint Clare and Saint Gerard medallion tight in my hand. Beverly opened my hand (afraid I was pushing my nails into it I think) and let me clutch it around them again. Being a first time mom, they thought I might still be far away from it but I knew I wasn’t.
In between pushing (no counting, just letting my body do what felt natural) I rested and felt at ease, Cherie and Jarid finished getting all the supplies together (we'd only been there a few mins!) I pushed for about 19
mins and Morgan was born (at 3:52am!!!) I remember saying during a
resting period “Hey! I forgot to take a 37 wk picture!” Cherie reminded me that
I was about to have the baby and THIS was my 37 wk picture then she snapped one
for me. Ha! When she came out Jarid
caught her (it was so amazing) and got teary eyed when he announced that she
was a GIRL! Jarid says I said "you tricked me!" because I thought she was a boy. I got to hold her on my chest for a few minutes but since she was
so small and no fat on her little body she had to be heated up in the incubator
while he kept going b/w the two of us with the most adorable smile – oh he was
soooo proud!! She got to come to me and started nursing immediately like a
little champ.
It turns out my placenta
was compromised and Morgan wasn’t getting much food for a few weeks due to my
hypertension. So thankful we got her out
early! I had a small tear b/c I pushed a bit too hard that had to be stitched
up. Other than that I felt great right after – I was laughing and was just so
happy! A few minutes after she was born my favorite song "Somewhere over
the Rainbow" came on the CD the midwife had playing – it was perfect. Beverly,
the birth assistant, and Adriane the post pardum nurse took care of us throughout
the day bringing us food and drinks and checking on us. We got to spend a lot
of time just the three of us resting and soaking in the excitement of her birth
and our new daughter. Jarid gave Morgan a sponge bath later that day while I
rested. I just kept thinking about how amazing it was we actually had a
daughter the whole day!
I’m confident if I had
drugs she would have ended up in the NICU because of her size. I’m so glad we did
it this way – completely natural. We
were at the center most of the day while we waited for them to determine if I
needed to go to the hospital or not for magnesium/sulfate for my BP. They let
me go home that day with regular house checkups the week following to watch my
blood pressure. I did end up being diagnosed with pre-eclampsia and post partum pre-e spent the
next weekend (Mother’s Day weekend) in the hospital.
The midwife and her
assistants were awesome - they always seemed to be in such control that it made
me feel very reassured. They gave us our space and let us spend our time with Morgan.
The room was dimly light and we had the music playing. The atmosphere was
exactly how I had pictured it, it was just perfect. Jarid and I didn't hardly
put Morgan down at all. He rocked her in the rocking chair and I laid on the
bed with her and cuddled her the whole day.
I wrote this birth story the day after she was born. I also wrote these words of complete joy below and love re-reading them :)
Morgan is amazing! She is such a wonderful baby and I could sit and look at her all day without getting bored. Jarid is so wonderful with her and watching him parent her makes me love him even more. He is such a natural with her!!!
Morgan is amazing! She is such a wonderful baby and I could sit and look at her all day without getting bored. Jarid is so wonderful with her and watching him parent her makes me love him even more. He is such a natural with her!!!
We are so lucky to have
her…she’s everything we could ever ask for!! Her birth was so beautiful and
just like I hoped it would be!
