Introducing PRESLEY GRACE

Presley Grace was born on Thursday June 18th, 2009 at 8:40 pm. She weighed 6 lbs 8 oz and was 19.25 in long. Here is her birth story, well at least from her mommy's point of view...she might have a different story!

On Thursday we went to the OB's office for my weekly visit. My blood pressure was really high. When Dr. D checked me I was 4 cm dilated and my BP was so high that so she asked Jeremiah and I did we want to have a baby that day. I was a little shocked to say the least! To go from thinking it was going to be a regular day with a regular doctor visit, to all of a sudden having a baby that day was mind boggling!

I got over to L&D about 11 am. Jeremiah had to go home to get all of our bags. They started the Pitocin (the medication used to cause contractions) at 12:30 and by that time Jeremiah was back. I was already having some contractions earlier that week and even some that day, but nothing prepared me for the ones I was going to have on Pitocin! They were pretty strong, but the most difficult thing to endure was that they were so close together, I could barely rest from each one.

At 2 pm, Dr. D came in and broke my water. After that the contractions became impossible to deal with. The nurse said the reason for them getting so bad, was that there was no amniotic fluid now to help cushion the contractions. I got some IV pain medication, Fentanyl, sometime after that. It still wasn't helping AT ALL. The contractions were 2 min. apart, each one lasting one full minute and each one was excruciatingly more painful than the last. I mean I was nauseous, crying and shaking. I asked for an epidural and got one at 4 pm. The nurse checked me then and I was dilated to 5 cm. Not much progress from the morning.

My experience with the epidural could not have been better! I really got the best of both worlds. I couldn't feel my contractions, and my legs were numb, but I could still feel them a little bit. Since I was so comfortable then, my body was able to do the job it was meant to do. When the nurse came in and checked me at 6:30 pm I was 8 cm dilated and 100% thinned out. So the nurse said it wouldn't be too much longer and we'd have a baby here! She also said to let her know if I felt the urge to push. At 7:05 I felt the overwhelming need to push. In the birthing class, we were taught to "blow" through the urge to push, so we wouldn't actually push before we were supposed to. Well, we called for the nurse to come in but they were all in report because they were changing shifts. I think the night nurse finally came in at 7:30 and she checked me then. I was 10 cm!

They called Dr. D to come in so she could deliver our little Sweet Pea! Dr. D got to the hospital probably around 8:15-ish or so and Presley arrived at 8:40. Pushing was very tiring, but obviously so well worth it! Dr. D didn't announce the gender. She let us see for ourselves! She just held her up and we both looked at each other and said "It's a girl!" Then Jeremiah shouted it out for our family waiting in the hallway to hear! I was in shock that she was a she! I just thought it was going to be a boy the whole time...I guess partly because we always referred to her as a him!! Oh well, we won't ever tell her that!

Overall, our birth experience was awesome and blessed! I'm going to keep the blog in order to keep everyone posted on Presley's growing up! I'll try to keep it updated as much as possible. ;)