Aria Hope's Birth Story

Early on the morning of January 17 TJ and I headed to the hospital to be induced. Aria was about 5 days overdue and I was very ready for her to come. :) They started the pitocin at 6:00 am (after getting my IV wrong once) and we started waiting for those lovely contractions to come. Things weren't too bad for a couple hours, so we mostly passed the time by reading some scripture and watching tv. At 8:00 am my doctor showed up to break my water - then the fun really began. Immediately I felt those strong true-labor contractions and we were in for the real thing. For the next three hours I both sat in a rocking chair and laid on my side (to position the baby better) to pass the time. The contractions got stronger and stronger until I knew I needed a little something to take the edge off the pain. However, I'm a little paranoid about trying different pain killers because I've had bad reactions before...so, at 11:00 am the nurse gave me just half a dose of Stadol (a common painkiller used during labor) to make me drowsy between contractions. Forty minutes later I was telling TJ he needed to get a nurse because I felt it was time to push. The nurse was a bit skeptical because the last time I was checked I was only at 5 cm...but she did check me again and I was indeed at 10! The nurses were very surprised things had progressed so quickly and began scrambling to get the doctor there and prepare the room for delivery. Ten minutes later our sweet little girl was born! TJ was able to cut the cord while we waited for the placenta...which decided not to co-operate. Needless to say, I kept bleeding pretty badly and they quickly took me in to surgery to clear the rest of the placenta out and stop the bleeding. It was kind of a bummer to not be able to nurse her right away when her instinct was strong, but the nice part about the surgery was that they had to put me under, so when I woke up I felt very rested even after the delivery! :) (Which was good because the next couple nights were not very restful with the nurses waking both me and the baby up for all kinds of random checks.)

We are now home with our baby girl and are so thankful for all the help we've been getting. My mom and sister have been taking turns helping out here at the house, and wonderful folks from our church have been providing meals. It's great to have so much wonderful help and support! My hubby has been the best of all. He's already such a great daddy and enjoying having a little girl of his own. I will try to post some more pictures soon!