Blaire’s Birth Story

Blaire’s Birth Story

How is my precious little peanut a little over 4 years old, and only a month away from being a big sister? It’s amazing how much life has changed in the past few years, but I wouldn’t change a single thing. Since I will be sharing baby #2’s birth story with you all when she is born, I didn’t want to leave out the center of our world, Blaire. I remember so much of it like it was yesterday, and can’t wait to tell Blaire how much we fell in love with her that freezing Indiana day in January 2013. Fair warning – this post is long, personal, and one of my favorite memories of all time.

We had just gotten back from a Caribbean cruise when a few weeks later, I just felt different. I couldn’t really explain it, but kind of just knew I was pregnant. My husband thought I was crazy, since we had only had the THOUGHT in our minds that maybe it was the right time to become parents, but we weren’t positive. I remember stopping at CVS on the way home from somewhere, and grabbing a little pink box with two tests. I got to the checkout and this older man, said, “good luck, kid.” Ah how this comment still annoys me to this day, yes I was wearing no makeup, super casual clothes and likely looked like a teenager, I was still 25 years old, and it really wasn’t his business. What can you do besides laugh 🙂

We got home, I took the first test and left the bathroom where Jason stood and stared at the test impatiently. I told him to let me know what it said. Within 30 seconds or less, he was yelling at me to come here and pointing out the double pink lines on the test. We were pregnant. Of course, we took another test to confirm, and instantly it was positive. Needless to say we were in total shock!

The next morning it finally sunk in a bit more, and we chatted about it- when to tell our parents, when our due date might be, what we thought the gender would be. It didn’t take long until our fear and shock turned into joy & excitement!

Fast forward about 9 months or so, it was time for our little girl to arrive. We waited, and waited, and waited thinking every day would be the day, but her due date passed, and she showed very few signs of wanting to come out. Finally, about 10 days after her due date we scheduled an induction. We were told to arrive at the hospital at 6pm, where I would be admitted and we would get the process going. Jason & I ate Panera takeout (my request of course) before heading in. I remember being super emotional, scared and excited for what was about to happen, but we felt ready!

I got to the hospital and was put up in an amazing room, with a shower, and a bath, and oodles of space. I thought this won’t be so bad afterall. After getting all the paperwork done, and fully checked in, the nurse gave me Prostaglandin gel to help relax my cervix and get me ready for the morning. I was told that this could help start the labor process, but likely everything would get going tomorrow morning when the Pitosin and real medicines were given. That actually was way more painful than my epidural that I received later on, but once the gel was in I was fine. They told me to get some sleep and tomorrow would likely be the big day.

Between laying in a hospital bed, and all the excitement happening, sleep was difficult. I took some Ambien and at some point finally dosed off. I remember waking up at around 2am feeling pretty uncomfortable, and the nurse came in saying I was having contractions and the labor had officially started. They weren’t super painful, but more uncomfortable. My plan all along was to get the epidural at the first opportunity, and shorty after that it was given. I don’t remember it hurting at all, and only lasted about a minute, I kept myself distracted so I couldn’t think about what was happening. Once that was done, I went back to sleep and didn’t wake up until around 7am.

I THINK, at this point I was 6 or 7 cm dilated, and I couldn’t feel a thing. It was the most peaceful process ever, and I knew it couldn’t be that easy. Pitosin was not needed to further labor along, and everything was in full swing. We talked, played on our phones, and waited. Sometime around 10am I was fully dilated at 10cm, and ready to push this baby out! For real, I still couldn’t feel anything south of the border, nothing hurt. The nurse asked me to try pushing so we could get a feel for things, I “practiced” for a couple minutes and she made me hold off til the doctor came. At this point I was a little nauseous, but since I hardly had anything in my stomach I was only vomiting water, which wasn’t too bad. My doctor finally showed up around 10:30. She literally had me push my hardest one time, and called for a c-section. My easy-peasy, painless, dream-birth-scenerio completely shattered. I was terrified of a c-section, and was confused as to why all of a sudden I needed one when things couldn’t have gone smoother.

Well, apparently it wasn’t much of an option because I kicked and screamed like a child and was told that her head was too big to enter my birth canal. So even though I was fully dilated, my body couldn’t accommodate her and it would be way better to have a c-section now, than to try to get her through there and be stuck. I was pretty drugged up on the epidural and whatever else they give you during labor that I knew I had to give in and let it happen. I asked to see my parents on the way to the OR, and I’m sure I terrified them by the way I was acting. My husband had to put on this ridiculous white suit thing, but luckily for the both of us his job requires him to be in a lot of surgeries, so the OR was a common place for him, which helped calm my nerves that he was comfortable there.

The OR was freezing, seriously freezing, I wasn’t ready for that. They don’t mess around in there because what seemed like right away I had a sheet blocking my view and an anesthesiologist by my head. The doctors were ready to operate and I remember them telling Jason not to watch. He wanted to, and I know he loved every second of it. I on the other hand was yelling at them to not tell me what was happening or what they were doing, and asked Jason to just tell me stories to keep me distracted. I was still feeling nauseous and I asked the anesthesiologist who was the closest to me what to do if I have to vomit. He told me kindly, “oh just let me know if you feel like you need to-” and I’m pretty sure I puked on him before he could even finish his sentence. No one said birth was pretty right? 🙂

Anyways – lots of pressure and movement, but no actually feeling. I hated to even imagine what was going on down there but only a few short minutes later I saw the image of a grayish colored baby with lots of dark hair, and heard someone comment on her long eyelashes. I was feeling so sick and over it at this point that I really just wanted out of there. They cleaned her off and weighed her, 7 lbs, 8 oz., born at 10:58am, passed the apgar test with flying colors. I think Jason was holding her when someone asked if I wanted her. I was still sick and so uncomfortable I could barely move, and they laid her next to my head while they wheeled me back to the room. I was SOOO cold and shivering, it almost feel like I had the flu. It had seriously gone from perfect to miserable all in the matter of an hour. My blood pressure was really really low, and I had piles of heated blankets on top of my while my family surrounded me and Blaire in our room. I was in and out of it, remembering only glimpses at this point. I finally got warmed up, and remember holding her and taking a few pictures of her. I answered some text messages I think and then asked if I could take a nap.

 I must have napped on and off all day, I was sick for most of that day and before I knew it it was evening, and at some point we had transferred to a recovery room which was much more cramped. We didn’t allow more than our immediate family in our room because it was important for us to experience it with them, and remember as much as we could from that day. Our friends from Cincinnati- Blaire’s godparents came up that night for a couple of hours. I felt so terrible because I was so exhausted and so out of it I only remember parts of them being there. I’m so thankful for my friend, Ashley, for capturing these pictures that day because I truly don’t remember so much of it, but I’ll remember these photos forever. If you are in the Cincinnati area then you should book her immediately – because she is an amazing photographer and an even more amazing person. You can find her on Facebook and see her work here.

If there was ever anyone made to be a dad, it’s this guy right here. We both immediately fell in love with this little girl, and I couldn’t imagine a better person to raise her with. Next month we will welcome our second little girl, and I can’t wait to see him hold her for the first time, just like this picture.

I will be having an elective c-section this time around. I’m in a new state, with one of the world’s best doctors and we decided with him that this would be the best option for me. I can’t wait to experience this with my family and I’ll gladly share the details with you when the time comes. I poured my heart into this post (maybe a few tears too) and hope that it’s something you enjoyed! I’d love to hear your thoughts in the comment section, love you all so much for reading this! xx

-Stefanie

Photos by Ashley Rose Photography