Introductions & A Birth Story

Well it has been a whole week. I guess it is time for an introduction and to post the birth story. So here she is, our little Emmaus Anne Ballew.

Born June 26,2011

Weighing 7lbs 1oz, 19.5 inches long

We are so in love with her.

And here is her Birth Story

I worked Friday night overnight and gotten off around 730am. I went home and got to bed around 8am and then only got to sleep until about noon. We were hosting a surprise 30^th birthday party for my sister-in-law Sarah. (yah-I know that I am somewhat crazy to suggest we host a party when I am 39weeks preggo) All day I feel pretty crappy. No contractions, just really felt bad. My pelvis hurt, my legs hurt and I just felt bad. Everyone left around 10pm and Dan and I went on a walk, which ended up being very short because I was not feeling well. When we got home I went to bed immediately, Dan came to bed around 1230am. Around 130am I woke up having some pretty good contractions. I tried to wake up Dan but he was out and I was hurting. I texted a friend to let her know I was in early labor and to ask her to pray. She was at work and called me immediately, which woke Dan up. I got into the bath and Dan started timing contractions. I stayed in the bath for a while, then got out and got into bed. I had Dan call the Dr when I got in bed to let them know I was in labor. Dr. Wickstrom was the Dr on call and I was thrilled! She was the doctor I saw the first time when I transferred to the perinatology practice. She is whom my midwife loves and the reason she refers to this practice. However, when I entered the practice, they told me straight away that she does very little at the St. Luke’s downtown office and that she probably wouldn’t deliver me. So I really was happy she was on call. I definitely wasn’t as comfortable in bed, so I ended up in the bathtub again. At this point my contractions were anywhere from 2-6 minutes apart but were definitely hard contractions. Around 330am Dan called my friend Emily, who was going to be at the birth, and had her come to the house. She arrived shortly after by about 4am. I was having pretty consistent contractions about every 2 minutes apart and I was starting to feel nervous and trying to decide if it was time to head to the hospital. I started feeling pretty nauseous around that time so decided it was time to go. I knew that throwing up could rapidly progress your labor and I didn’t want to have that baby at home. I started throwing up before we left the house and continued to get sick periodically throughout the rest of the process. (Glamorous I know….) We got to the hospital around 5am and began the check in process. My nurse was pretty rude. (Word to the wise- before you have a baby PREREGISTER! I tried to do that but apparently the ONE WOMAN who could register people was out of town…she conveniently called me Monday morning to do the preregistration with me.) They checked me in a triage room and said I was dilated to a 4, 90% effaced and in active labor. The Doctor came right in because the initial monitor read showed baby’s heart rate to be in the 70’s. Well turns out that was my heart rate and hers was fine around 130. They just got nervous for a minute. They moved me to the L/D room and then started the paperwork with me. It is extremely challenging to do a full set of admission paperwork all between contractions that are 2 minutes apart and stay focused to handle the contractions. It did kill time though because they wanted me to be continuously monitored for 45 minutes which is about how long it took. After the continuous monitoring, I got in the shower and labored in there for 2 hours. I kept thinking “I know this is going to get worse so this can’t be pain at a 10/10 yet, so I need to stay calm and breath through this contraction.” While I was in the shower they would come monitor me via Doppler once an hour but I didn’t have to be hooked up to the monitor. (The night nurse was not happy about this inconvenience…too bad. More work for her, but more comfort for me. ) Around 7am I got out of the shower and had them check me because I was feeling pressure. They checked me and I was at an 8. Around this time my friend Jess and my mom came in. (I realized after the fact that I never looked either of them in the eye until they were leaving and I was about to start pushing- I was just so focused and I knew if I gave any attention to my surroundings I would loose that focus). I labored for two more hours and then was finally complete about 9am and got to start pushing. My day nurse was AWESOME. She monitored me with the Doppler or the belt monitor, but never made me wear the belt. I pushed in 5 or 6 different positions that the nurse or Dr would suggest. They were very flexible and supportive of what I wanted to do. At one point when I first started pushing I asked for a coke. (My midwife told me that it can help boost energy while pushing due to the sugar and caffeine-and this momma was TIRED!) The nurse did her duty and offered me a popsicle instead but did not argue when I explained my reasoning. At one point, when I was squatting on the floor to push, the nurse was actually sitting on the floor next to me so she could better monitor the baby. That is amazing nursing care! And that is not a compliment that nurses hand out very often. Anyway, I pushed for a whopping 2hours and 45minutes before baby girl decided to enter the world. The pushing process was a hard one. It was wonderful at first because when you are pushing you are not really feeling the pain of your contraction anymore. However, the end of the pushing process is definitely painful, and when it takes a while it is hard to be patient through the pain. Baby girl was born at 1156am. She immediately was taken to be examined by a neonatologist in the room but received apgars of 9 and 9, was pink, and was crying loudly with great circulation! She did have to be suctioned a bit due to having a bit of fluid in her lungs but that didn’t affect her at all. We then got an hour without anyone even coming in to access her or anything! It was a very sweet hour for our new family of three to get acquainted and count our blessings. Dan was impressive through the whole process. He was calm and encouraging and seeing the birth of his baby was definitely a cool thing for him. He asked me at one point what I was thinking for the 6hours I didn’t speak to a single person. (I think that is a bit of an exaggeration) I guess I was extremely quite and introspective during the whole process. It was a wonderful process and I would definitely do it again the same way. One of the coolest parts was when the doctor was leaving, she asked what we were naming our baby girl. I replied Emmaus Anne. She smiled and said “And they met Jesus on the road to Emmaus” I smiled and said yes, they did meet him there and that is our prayer for her. That she would meet Jesus in her walk through life. Yep. God was all over that delivery. We are so blessed to have this exact baby girl in our lives. She is the child that God chose for use and that we prayed specifically for before her conception.

Love, La