she's here!!!

We welcomed Bailey Shae into our family at 9:05 pm on Sunday, 1/21/07. She weighed 7 lbs 8 oz and was 19 inches long. She's perfect! We are so blessed to finally have her with us!

Our birth story is not what I expected it to be...if you don't care to hear the details you may want to skip down to the photos now!

I started having regular contractions on Friday 1/19 (Bailey's due date). By early Saturday morning (2 am), they were 3 minutes apart and my doctor told us to go ahead and go into the hospital to be checked. We were disappointed to learn that despite all the contractions, I was only 2 cm dilated. I was given a shot of medication to help me sleep, and we went home again to wait. But only 2 hours later I was awake again and still having contractions. My contractions were painful and strong enough to keep me from sleeping, and I was having them anywhere from 2-10 minutes apart. This continued for 46 hours straight! Unfortunately, the contractions weren't causing much progress in my body. By Sunday morning, I was completely sleep-deprived, frustrated, scared, and in tears at the thought of another day of contractions. Darin called the doctor and he agreed to meet us at the hospital in an hour.

When we arrived at the hospital, I was 4 cm and 100% effaced; some progress, but still not much to show for 40+ hours of pain and sleeplessness. We were told there was no room for us to stay since I was only having irregular contractions and such slow progress...the rooms were almost all full...we would have to go home again and return when something changed. We opted to walk around the hospital for an hour to see if that would help kick things up a notch. As I paced the lobby, Darin and my mom called everyone they could think of, asking them to pray that either I would dilate more, or my water would break in the next hour. The thought of going home and spending another day in misery was unbearable at this point. Just as the hour was up, we started back toward the labor and delivery floor to be checked. I felt a small trickle and wondered if it could be the water breaking. By the time I had undressed again and was on the table, it had become more noticible and the nurse confirmed it--my water had broken! I was moved to a birthing suite.

After the water broke, the contractions immediately became more intense. I had hoped for a non-medicated birth, but by this time I was worn out and my ability to cope was swiftly declining. I waited it out for about an hour, and when I was checked again I was still only 4 cm! My doctor thought that because the uterus had been working for so long, it was "tired" and wasn't pushing the baby effectively. Finally I asked for an epidural. It was great! We started Pitocin and within 2 hours I was fully dilated and ready to push. Bailey was born after only 30 minutes of pushing.

Right after delivery, she was placed on my chest to be dried off and warmed up. The nurses became concerned because her skin color was dusky and she wasn't "pinking up" like they wanted her to. They had to take her to the other side of the room and work on her for about a half hour, calling a NICU nurse in and finally suctioning her airway. They removed some vernix--a white coating that covers the baby in utereo--and the NICU nurse said she thought Bailey had been sucking on her umbilical cord! Bailey immediately recovered and has been doing well since.

So--she's here, and we're enjoying every minute of nursing, swaddling (daddy's specialty), and getting to know who Bailey is. We love visitors and invite everyone to stop by if they would like to meet her.

Thank you to our wonderful friends and family who prayed for us all along the way...before and throughout the pregnancy, for a safe delivery, a healthy baby, and even for my water to break at the perfect time! We are blessed not only with our sweet little girl but also with an amazing network of family and friends--that's you!