Her birth story begins at Christmas time. We were living in Arizona, I was 32 weeks pregnant when we flew home for Christmas. We had no problems on our flight to Iowa and had a great two weeks of visiting family and friends. Tim had flown back earlier so it was just Ellie and I on our return trip. On the morning we were supposed to fly home we awoke to a thick fog. When we checked on our flight it had been delayed. We decided I should wait at my parents house for an updated departure time instead of spending the day eight months pregnant with a 3 year old at the airport. It was much later in the day when we arrived at the airport. When I checked in and was given my boarding passes I noticed our two seats were not together. I said something to the clerk laughing that it must be a mistake...because a 3 year old cannot fly on her own, right? The clerk told me no, those were our seats...because we didn't check in two hours before the original departure time we were not guaranteed seats together. I was in total shock. She told me maybe someone at the gate could help me but she could not. I did not handle this well, but pulled myself together and headed for the gate. At the gate I was again told there was nothing they could do, but maybe a flight attendant could help me. When we finally boarded the plane, I asked a flight attendant for help only to be told there was nothing she could do but that maybe I could ask another passenger myself. At this point I was a mess....8 months pregnant, hormonal, already sad to be saying goodbye to family, worried about how Ellie was going to handle the flight, stressed, and on the verge of tears. I could barely get around with my belly, bag, and 3 year old. I asked around on the plane only to be told no by the other passengers. At this point I sat Ellie in my seat and started to cry. No one would help me. It was horrible. Finally a mother flying with her husband and three children, told me that she would get this fixed. She couldn't believe it had happened in the first place, that the airline wouldn't help and that no one would switch with me. I don't know what she did or said but within minutes she had seats for Ellie and I...together! Thankful doesn't even begin to describe how I felt. We arrived home late that night completely and totally exhausted.
My next check up was an exciting one. I was 35 weeks pregnant and was already 3 cm dilated. The doctor told me to be prepared...this baby could come any day. I blame the stress from that awful flight for my early dilation....whether it truly caused it or not! With Ellie's late arrival I had never expected to go early with Cece. I left that appointment in total disbelief. However, I shouldn't have been completely surprised...things had felt different...like I needed to keep my legs together to hold her in different. And I had been having lots of contractions. There were just so many things we still needed to do.....finish the nursery, lesson plans for my sub, purchase needed supplies...lots to do!
At my next appointment was on a Friday afternoon, I was 37 weeks and now 4 cm dilated. According to my doctor, things were changing and I was definitely ready to have this baby. The next day I took Ellie to a birthday party at a park. I talked with my mom on the phone and we laughed that only in Arizona could you have a birthday party at a park in February. On Sunday we decided to go with Tim to treatments and then out for lunch. We thought things should be pretty calm since it was Super Bowl Sunday and the game was being played in Phoenix. That morning I awoke to different contractions that were about 10 minutes apart. I figured they would go away, however they continued while we were at work with Tim. We went to lunch at Cheesecake Factory where I devoured a wonderful pasta dish and an amazing piece of cheesecake. Good thing because little did I know it would be my last meal:) We did a little shopping and then headed home to watch the Super Bowl. The contractions continued and started to get closer together. Tim joked that he would not take me until the game was over. The contractions continued. I took a shower. They continued. I called my friend Kirsta and asked what she thought. She thought we should go in and she would head over to get Ellie. The game ended. We got our bags around. The contractions continued. Kirsta picked up Ellie and wished us luck. We headed to the hospital.
We were admitted around 9:30 pm on Sunday February 3rd. I was 6 cm dilated and having contraction about every 4 to 5 minutes. I was excited that we were already that far along...it didn't seem like we had far to go at all and I could handle that! Around 10:30 pm my nurse had bad news for me....they couldn't find my results to my strep b test so they would need me to lay down and take the IV antibiotics. They told me I have to lay down for about an hour and I should try to sleep. When they woke me up a little after midnight, I noticed my contractions had slowed and were becoming less intense. We got up walked and the contractions picked up. However, I would need to lay down again at 2 am for more IV antibiotics. This time they wanted to me sleep as long as I could. When I woke up around 6 am the contractions had basically stopped. At 7:30 am the nurse came in with great news....they had been able to get the results of my strep b test. It was negative so I didn't have to take the final bag of IV antibiotics. They checked me and I was almost 8 cm dilated, however my contractions were now about 15-20 minutes apart. We decided the doctor would break my water to get things going again. Also at this point I was asked if I wanted an epidural. I decided no....I was in no pain and had only 2 cm to go. We could do this.
Around 8:30 am, my doctor broke my water. The contractions picked up but I did not continue to dilate. Around 10 am we decided I would need a little pitocin to get things moving along. I remember my nurse saying just a whiff...nothing really just a whiff. By noon the pitocin had been increased several times, the contractions had definitely increased in intensity but were still too far apart, I had not dilated any further and I was becoming exhausted. I remember Tim telling the nurse that something needed to be done because I was running out of energy. Again the pitocin was increased. The contractions were very hard now. At 2 pm I had finally dilated to 9 cm. I had been feeling like I needed to push for awhile, but was told not to because I wasn't fully dilated. Tim told the nurse we had a similar problem with our first delivery and that maybe I couldn't dilate to a 10. I was quickly loosing steam. I didn't know how much longer I could keep this up.
Around 4 pm my doctor arrived to check out the situation. While I was not fully dilated, she decided I could begin to push. I was so relieved that they were finally going to let me push! At this point my contractions were about 4 to 5 minutes apart which made for a very long delivery. The rest time in between was probably a blessing because I barely had any energy left. I began to push and at 5:08 pm on February 4th Cecilia Kate finally arrived three weeks early! She weighed 6lbs 12 ozs and was 20 inches long.
Cecilia's labor was long, hard and exhausting....but the sweet baby girl was worth all of it! Sweet Cece stole our hearts instantly! Before Cece was born I worried about how we would split the love between two girls....once she was born I quickly realized the love doesn't split it multiplies! We love you Cecilia Kate!
There is no way I would have made it through without Tim. Much of the labor we were left on our own...to handle things on our own. Even with how badly things were going during the labor he was amazing and always on my side. He is a great birthing partner!
Here are more pictures of Cece's Birth Day and hospital stay. We definitely increased the picture taking:) Enjoy!
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