Maggie's Birth Story

Maggie's due date was August 10, 2012. And I was bound and determined to make it as close to that due date as possible....without going over :) I blame some of the issues we had during Cece's delivery on the fact that parts of me was ready to have the baby while others were not. With Maggie I wanted it to happen as naturally as possible. Also, I was to be a bridesmaid at 38 weeks pregnant....I wanted to still be pregnant then...I was motivated to keep her in! Besides my normal nausea and vomiting I had a smooth pregnancy with Maggie. I could definitely tell I was older and a bit more busy this time around....early on I came to realize I would just forever be tired:)

At my 37 week appointment I was relieved to find out that I had not yet started to dilate. The next few days before the wedding, I did very little other than relax....I was going to make it! We had a wonderful time at the wedding and I paid for it. Swollen feet and a body that would barely move. I told Tim I cannot have this baby now...I physically just couldn't do it. When I went to my 38 week doctor's appointment the Monday after the wedding I was 3 cm dilated. I had so much fun at the wedding I dilated:) Obviously I had also been having lots of contractions....some more serious than others. The doctor told me to be prepared she could come any day. I spent the next few days tying up loose ends and relaxing as much as I could. We hit the pool as much as possible and tried to enjoy our last few days as a family of four. At my 39 week appointment, I had dilated to 4 cm. The doctor that I saw at that appointment told me I was at a point where I could be induced at any time if that was what I wanted. I wanted to wait it out til Friday...Maggie's due date. I had been having lots of contractions I was certain she would come along on her own very soon.

On Tuesday afternoon I started to have contractions every 10 minutes or so. We went to soccer that night and the contractions continued and began to pick up in intensity. These contractions were beginning to be the real deal. And they started to come every 4-5 minutes. After soccer, we came home and got the girls to bed. At that point the contractions started to get even closer together. I decided to shower and try to get some rest. The contractions continued well into the night causing me to get very little sleep...but never to the point where I thought that I had to go to the hospital. Around 3 am I finally went to sleep. At 6 am I woke up.....and realized the contractions had stopped. This made me really grumpy. I had totally thought she was coming. I was just so bummed. Tim decided he would stay home just in case. We decided to make the most of the day, as a family we ran a couple errands and went for lunch. That evening my mom came to pick of the girls to go camp with my brother and his wife at the state fair. After the girls were gone I took fell asleep and woke up around 9 pm. I had started to have hard contractions again every 5-7 minutes. Again, I decided to head to bed.

At 3 am on Thursday August 9th, I woke up to contractions that were simply taking my breath away. I knew these were the real deal. However, they were only coming every 10 minutes. I stayed in bed and they continued. Around 4am I woke Tim up and told him I thought it was time. I got up and took a shower. We got our bags around, I ate a controversial piece of toast (Tim thought I shouldn't eat and I was so hungry I had too!) and we headed to the hospital around 5:30 am.

We got to the hospital a little before 6 am. They hooked me up and began monitoring me. At this point I was 5-6 cm dilated and was having contractions every 15 minutes. My contractions had slowed but were more intense. Without coming to see me and only looking at my contractions on the monitor the on call doctor wanted to send me home saying I was in early labor. Tim and I were both shocked, especially since I had been told just three days earlier that I could be induced at anytime. Also, I knew my body and I knew this was really happening. The nurses were also very nervous to send me home. We all decided to have me sit tight for awhile and have the next on call doctor come see me after 7am. I decided to go to sleep...which Tim thought was a bad idea because they wouldn't take me serious if I was sleeping. I just figured I would need the energy later.

A little after 8am the new on call doctor came to check me. My contractions had slowed to every 20 minutes. The doctor had looked at the monitor and said on paper it looked like early labor. But when she checked me she said there is no way your going home. I was 7-8 cm dilated! At this point they decided to finally admit me and to break my water.

At  8:30 am my doctor broke my water. We talked with my nurse about our wishes to try for a delivery without pain medicines. I wanted to try to go without pain medication but did not want it to take 8 hours to dilate 2 cm like it had with Cece.  We were open to suggestions and other options. She wanted us to start by walking the halls. We walked for a while and then used the exercise ball. At 11am I was still 8 cm dilated, I had not progressed and the pain was starting to increase. I could feel my body starting to tense up and us heading in the direction we were hoping to avoid. We decided to try an IV pain medication. An hour later I had still not progressed. The nurse suggested that we needed to use pitocin to get things moving along again. I decided I did not want to start pitocin without an epidural. At 12:30 my nurse called for the epidural. By 2pm the epidural had completely set in. It was a relief to be able to relax and let my body and the pitocin do it's thing. We needed two things to happen before she could come along....she was on her side and needed to turn and I needed to finish dilating.

It didn't take long for me to start to feel pressure and the urge to push. We called the nurse in to check and I was almost there....just a tiny bit more to go. My nurse had me roll to the other side. During the next contraction Tim accidentally kicked the bed...after that contraction I called the nurse back. I was certain it was time to start pushing. We laughed that Tim kicking the bed had helped me fully dilate :)

A little after 3 pm we were ready to start pushing. A few pushes later at 3:13 pm Maggie Vera was born. She weighed 7lbs 12ozs and was 20 inches long.

Maggie was ready to eat right away. The ten minutes they took to clean and examine her was just way too long for her liking. She was hungry! When they finally gave her back to me, she nursed for the next hour straight.

Maggie is just perfect. She filled a space in our family that we didn't even know existed. We ALL love her so much. Our hearts are so full!

When Ellie met Maggie, she kept saying "our baby is really cute!" over and over. Of course, Cece just wanted to hold her and love on her...and didn't want to leave. It was so special to watch the girls fall in love with her.

Again Tim was my rock during this labor and delivery, he helped make decisions that were the best for me. He takes such good care of me. He is the leader of our family...he does such an amazing job caring for his girls....all FOUR of us!

I hope you enjoyed reading these stories as much as I enjoyed sharing them. I am so happy to have them written down....I cherish these stories and hope some day my girls will as well.