The birth story of our daughter, Michaela Madison along with photos of our sweet baby girl.

Michaela Madison
Born April 4th
8 lbs 3 oz
19 1/2 inches

Our lives have changed in so many ways over the past several days I feel as if I am truly a different person. I guess in fact I am, I am now a Mom. This experience has been far more rewarding than we could have ever expected. Really, it has been like a dream. We are so in love I do not really know how to put into words what it feels like to fall in love this way. From the second we looked at her sweet face we were never the same.

It all started Good Friday. I was showing signs that labor around 7:20 pm. My husband had taken the day off to spend it with me and we went around town running those last little errands and having some fun making some memories together. Friday night I started to feel a bit sick and around 1 am I began throwing up. It continued for hours and we were concerned about dehydration. We decided to go to the hospital as it was getting worse and I was feeling so weak. We checked into labor and delivery Saturday morning around 8 and I was treated with an IV and meds to stop the vomiting. The meds did not work and I continued to have problems and I was not able to keep anything down so they tried some other meds and finally I was able to take down some ice chips and I started feeling better. They wanted to keep us overnight to make sure I was ok but my 4 pm on Saturday I was getting restless and I wanted to go home. I was so weak and I wanted to just sleep in my own bed so I talked with the doctor and they said it as ok. We arrived home and I went straight to bed and feel asleep for just a bit then I started having deep menstrual pains. At frist I thought it was the same pregnancy menstrual pains I had been having for weeks and so we thought nothing of it. The pains continued to get stronger and stronger as the night progressed and finally around 2 am Sunday morning I knew something was not right.

We started timing the pains and they were getting regular and very close together. We we did not know was that I was in labor this whole time! I was under the impression that I would be feeling something different. We called the hospital and even the nurse there said to look for tightening in my abdomen when I was contracting. I was not feeling anything near what she was describing. It was the deepest and yet sharpest pains in my lower abdomen I have ever felt, NOT hardening or the other descriptions I had read about labor pains.

Finally after soaking in the tub at home, rolling on the birthing ball and so on we called the hospital once again and the on call doctor was paged. We were happy to see that the doctor on call in labor and delivery just happened to be the doctor who cared for me the day before when I was admitted to the hospital. He called me back and he said it sounded like I was in labor and to come in and so we did. We arrived at the hospital around 8:30 am Sunday morning and we were shocked to learn that I was already 7 cm dilated! I did it! I labored at home, just as I wanted to. We were so excited, our little girl was about to be born on Easter Sunday. This was the moment we had waited for.

The doctor came back in to check me around 9:30 am and I had progressed to 8 cm. Everything was going really well though the pain was so intense but it was ok, I had prepared for this and I was honestly enjoying the moment. I was in labor with my girl and so far it was going just has I wanted. I was doing well with my breathing and I was changing positions to the rocking chairs and the birthing ball. He decided to break my water as I had progressed so far and it was still in tact. When they broke my water it was not clear but rather green. This was not good, and we were now concerned about the duration of exposure to the meconium in the amniotic fluid. I had requested a natural birth so the doctor knew I did not want to rush into any decision to have a medication-assisted birth, and so he gave me more time to progress further in the hopes that it would not be too long before I was at 10 cm.

Time passed and it was now about 12:30 or so and I was STILL at 8 cm. I was trying everything I could to make each contraction count and allow her to drop and for me to dilate but nothing was happening. The doctor started to worry about a possible obstruction. I was told I would only have another hour to see if I could progress then a decision needed to be made as time was of great importance. I was told at this time my chance of having a c-section was around 70%. I wanted a vaginal delivery more than anything and so I continued to try to get her to descend and to dilate further for whatever reason it just was not happening. He gave me the choice of trying an epidural and pitocin before heading for a c-section so obviously, I chose the epidural. They wanted to see if the pitocin along my contractions would be even stronger and possibly speed up my labor and the epidural would relax my uterus allowing it to dilate to 10 cm. If it did not work then the only option was for me to have a c-section.

This was not the labor plan I had in mind, it was hard for me as I had made it to 8 cm non-medicated, on my own and now I was going to be given an epidural which is something I strongly wanted to avoid. I knew though that I needed to do whatever was necessary to get her out fast and safe. All I wanted was my little girl to be ok and I had to set aside all my desires and do this for her, and so we did and fortunately it worked. I dilated very quickly to 10 cm and were ready to go. The last hurdle was getting her to drop. She was now stuck and did not want to go past my pubic bone. This took the longest time. I pushed and pushed but she would retract back. Finally after a lot of hard work and prayers, she managed to get down far enough but she was still stuck. After trying for so long to get her to come out the doctor had to use forceps. Something we all wanted to avoid but we needed to do what was best. Shortly there after we experienced what was the single best moment of our life.

I remember so vividly the moment she was placed on my chest for the first time. She was crying so hard, it was the best sound I have ever heard! We were crying and so overwhelmed with emotion in this perfect moment. I really do not know how to describe what it felt like just knowing we brought a new life into this world. She was a beautiful reflection of the love my husband and I have for one another and in that moment I can honestly say we were in heaven. It may not have been the labor story I had dreamed of but the end result was far more than we could have prayed for. We had been blessed with a healthy, beautiful girl and it was the perfect moment I had always dreamed it would be.

Our little angel is just so precious and the most beautiful little girl I have ever seen. She has a full head of hair and looks so much like her Daddy! She has my nose and his beautiful eyes. She has the sweetest personality already but when she is hungry, watch out! She has a set of lungs on her!! I will be blogging more in the next few days if I can regarding the frist night home and several wonderful memories that have taken place. I have not been online much these days of obvious reasons.

After she was born she was diagnosed with a mild case of jaundice and so we had to spend another night at the hospital for her to be under the lights. They also were having me supplement formula with breastfeeding to help the jaundice go away faster but this only lastest 48 hours and now we are back to just breast milk which she loves. It is going very well, far better than I thought it would. It is a precious moment that we share together and I am so thankful everything has gone so well. As far as my recovery I am doing good. I have been up and about and walking, climbing stairs and everything better than I thought I would so soon after delivery. I tore while in labor and in addition to that they did an episiotomy so I am quite sore but doing better each day.

I just wanted to end with telling you all how much your excitement and support in my pregnancy has meant to me. When I first found out I was pregnant my initial reaction was to set up a private blog for the family where I would post details of my pregnancy, photos and so on. I was hesitant to share my heart in blogs regarding such an intimate side of my life. I was scared because what if my expectations of a perfect pregnancy and delivery would not be met. How would people feel about me if I really shared what was on my heart and mind? Many emotions ran through me but in the end I decided to blog every doctors visit and each stage of this new journey I was on. I now see that this was the best decision I could have made. Not only did sharing my blogs give me a way to record so many precious memories but I have received so much support and encouragement from all of you which has blessed me in so many ways. I just want to thank all of you SO MUCH for taking the time to write me with encouraging words regarding my baby and my pregnancy and for being apart of this special time in our lives.