Sarah's Birth Story

I personally think it all started with a prenatal massage that I had on Sunday 3/2 because, I thought my water broke the next night. Chris took me to L&D (via the ER) to be checked out only to discover that no, it was not my water breaking but I had lost my mucus plug (sorry if that's TMI, but it's what happened). I then saw my OB on 3/5 for a regular weekly checkup. I was dilated to 1cm and 50% effaced...I could go on like that for weeks! I had an amnio scheduled for the following week to check her lung maturity and would then have the induction scheduled for sometime the week after. So, on the way home from the OB's office, Chris and I stop off at the drug store because he's not feeling well and wanted some cold medicine. I run in (as much as a 9 month pregnant woman can run) and get him his Nyquil and Dayquil. We get home and he goes right to bed in the spare bedroom so he wouldn't get me sick. At about 1:20am, I felt a "gush" of water and when I got out of bed, water poured down my legs...guess my water had broken! I ran (again, as much as a 9 month pregnant woman can run) to the guest room to wake up Chris and let him know. I hadn't experienced any contractions so we weren't sure if it was the water breaking or something else (guess we were in denial!). We finally called my OB and he said to go to the hospital. I called my mom on the way to the hospital to let her know my water had broken and to come to Corona instead of flying home to Reno (from Phoenix). On the way to the hospital, at about 2:20am (yes, we debated for about an hour if it was actually my water breaking) I experienced my first contraction...it wasn't strong at all and all in my back, so I didn't even realize that's what it was until it was almost over. We got to the ER and were sent to L&D. They got me into the room and the first test for amniotic fluid came up positive (the stick turned blue!)!! I was still only dilated to 1cm but the contractions were starting and were PAINFUL!!! They offered the epidural but I turned it down because I didn't want to slow down the labor, so the anesthesiologist when home. Bad move because the contractions got worse and were all in my back. I tried breathing through them like we'd learned in class...yeah...that did NOT work! I finally requested the epidural...at this point I'm only dilated to 3cm (I have no idea how much time had passed...). It took about another hour to run labwork on me and get the doctor back to the hospital. The epidural was AMAZING!! I can't believe I waited so long to get it! Mom showed up at about 8:30am and couldn't believe how calm I was! She could see the baby kicking through the sheet and my gown and could see the contractions happening on the monitor but I wasn't reacting to them...she was amazed! At about that time, the nurse checked me and said I would be ready to start pushing in the next hour! That hour flew by, the next thing I know, mom's on one side (holding 1 leg) and Chris was on the other (holding the other leg) and I was pushing! I pushed for an hour and it appeared that she was kind of stuck, so my OB gave me the option to have a C-Section or a vacuum extraction. I really didn't want surgery and I really wanted her "out" ASAP, so we opted for the vacuum extraction. Our little girl was born a couple minutes later at 10:47am!! The new Daddy and Grandma were so excited!! And I couldn't believe what I had gone through...I was so thrilled to meet our little Sarah in person!

I won't go into detail but things got kind of rough after that, involving a hepatitis scare, a kidney stone, the stomach flu, jaundice, hypocalcemia, 4 days in the NICU, a leaking shower, a hole in the kitchen ceiling...we were wondering when it was all going to end!!

Our little girl came home from the NICU when she was 1 week old. We were so happy to have her home! Aunt Sheri and Pop-Pop flew in that night to meet her, as well! Murphy and Riley LOVE their new little sister!

We have definately been blessed!