Samantha Jane's Birth Story

If you are in any way connected to my little corner of the universe, you are no doubt aware that as of 2:48 pm last Thursday, November 3rd, Ben and I are parents again! We welcomed our sweet baby girl Samantha Jane after a short and very easy labor. I know some people like to hear how the birth went, and some people don't, so rather than posting it on facebook for all to see, I decided to make a blog post about it. (Hey- I needed to update the blog anyway!)

I went in for my weekly OB checkup on November 1st, thinking I would at least find out if I was making any progress. The doctor checked me, and told me I was about 2-3 cm dilated. I gave consent for my membranes to be stripped, hoping to get things moving on my own. (And let me tell you folks...that little procedure is no picnic!) Ow. After that was done, the doctor told me I was at 3. We then discussed induction due to my climbing blood pressure, and it was decided that Thursday would be the day.

I was a little uncomfortable Tuesday night, with cramping off and on, but I expected that after the procedure. I went to bed thinking of all I had to do the next day to get ready for the baby. Wednesday morning came, and I was still uncomfortable, but not unbearably so. My mom called to check on me, and I told her I felt pretty good and that I didn't think anything would happen that day. Well...needless to say, about 2 hours later, that changed.

My cramps got more intense and I started feeling major contractions. These were much worse than any braxton-hicks contractions I had ever had, and they were starting to form a pattern. I tried to ignore them and kept making my preparations around the house. When the pain got really bad, I poured myself a hot bath and soaked for a while, which seemed to help. For about 20 minutes. When the pain came back, I knew this was it, since my doctor and my pregnancy book told me that real labor doesn't go away for anything, until the baby is born. So, I dressed and went downstairs to tell Ben it was show time.

We got our hospital bags into the car, strapped Sadie into her seat, and drove to the hospital. When I got to the Labor and Delivery department, they hooked me up to monitor my contractions and the baby. I was checked again, to see if the contractions were making any more progress. I was unchanged, and since the contractions were between 5 and 8 minutes apart, I elected to go home and wait it out for a while.

I was given strict instructions from Ben to remain in bed for the rest of the day. I got the laptop and settled in. We had dinner delivered, and the waiting began.

I had contractions all night, and was very uncomfortable, but after another bath I was able to get some sleep. At 5:30 Thursday morning, Ben called the hospital to see when we needed to come in. We were told 7:30, and so we got dressed and ready to go.

We arrived at the hospital, I was prepped, and signed a lot of paperwork, and we settled in to wait for baby. I was 4 cm dilated the first time they checked me. Which meant I had made some progress overnight, hooray! They started the pitocin around 9. I got my epidural around noon. Ben's mom arrived around noon to take care of Sadie for us.

My midwife (who is awesome by the way- love her) came in at 1 to break my water. She said things would go very quickly after that, and she was right! Within an hour it was time to push. I pushed for 20 minutes at the most, and our beautiful Samantha Jane was here! She weighed in at 6 lbs 9.9 oz, and was about 19.5 inches long. She had (and still has, so far) a head full of thick dark hair, and midnight blue eyes. We fully expect them to turn brown like her father's eyes.

She has been a champion breastfeeder, and she really only cries when she's hungry. Of course, she's only a week old, so that could all change, but so far she seems to be very calm in contrast to the banshee baby that was her big sister! We all love her to death and are very happy that she's finally here! Even big sister Sadie is more fascinated with her than jealous of her. I can't wait to get her home to South Carolina and introduce her to everyone!