Amelia's birth story

It's no secret that my due date was a mystery, at least to the doctors. Because they pushed it back, I was "allowed" to go overdue a lot longer than I would have if they had left it at January 23rd. When I went into my 41 week appointment, I was really at almost 43 weeks (!!). The midwife noticed that my blood pressure was elevated and that it wasn't going down no matter how long I sat there, so she set me up to come in later that night to induce me. I was pretty bummed out about having to be induced, but I also had confidence in the midwife's reasoning and agreed that it was a good idea.

So, I went home from that appointment, packed my bags, packed the girls' bags, and cleaned up the house. We dropped the girls off at their grandparents' house and leisurely made our way to the hospital.

They used a gel to prep my cervix that night, hoping to make it more susceptible for the Pitocin that they started in the morning. Whether it was this gel or my body naturally starting things, I did have regular contractions all night long that were 2-3 minutes apart and lasting about a minute each. They didn't really help me progress, so Pitocin was started at 6:00 AM.

They started it out slow with the contractions being pretty manageable. I was determined to avoid an epidural for fear of them hitting nerves again like what had had happened with my previous two kiddos. I managed the pain with various laboring positions (walking around, using the exercise ball, taking a bath which was amaaaaazing) and felt pretty good about how it was going.

They kept turning up the Pitocin, and the laboring kept getting more intense. Around 6:30 PM, twelve hours into active labor, I felt like I must be getting close, since the contractions were crazy strong and I was feeling like I must be near transition. Imagine my dismay when I found out I was only at a 4.5-5. Halfway! I broke down, then, realizing that at this rate, I could be laboring for another 12+ hours.

I admit, I was a hot mess. The fear of that nerve pain mixed with the strong contractions coupling and tripling up on each other (a sign of a big baby, they told me) was putting me in an all out panic. Thankfully, the anesthesiologists seemed to really understand and talked me through it as best they could. They didn't directly hit a nerve, but they definitely got close enough for me to scream out in anticipation. Nothing brings me down like that nerve pain, I tell you.

Once the epidural kicked in, I drifted off to sleep for about an hour. I was so sleep deprived that I didn't even move or wake up with the nurses coming and going. Our nurse needed to put in a catheter because of the epidural. She also wanted to put in a device that would help them monitor the contractions' strength. As she went to do this, she felt the baby's head instead!

Amazingly, after only having the epidural for an hour and a half, I had progressed the remaining 5 cm and was ready to push. The midwife came in and got all set up, and I got to work. After about five minutes, she noticed that the baby was posterior, meaning she was face up instead of face down. This meant that pushing could take a lot longer. I was running on an adrenaline high from the surprising news of being ready to push already, so I pushed with everything I had.

Five minutes later, after only pushing for ten minutes, she was here! They got her up on my chest and we just stared at each other for what felt like forever. She didn't have as much hair as the other two, but there was a small amount of dark brown hair that just made me love her even more. Oh these babies, they do know how to win you over right away.

Unfortunately, I ended up hemorrhaging a lot of blood after she was delivered. They had to give me multiple types of medicine to slow down the blood flow/loss, which resulted in not-so-fun symptoms (stomach cramps, nausea, diarrhea, tight muscles). The most obnoxious was the muscle fatigue that really slowed down recovery process. Even almost a week later, I still feel like I can only move at half the speed I normally would. My muscles feel like they are being restrained when I walk around or try to do any kind of bigger movement. The blood loss has also left me feeling even more tired than normal.

All of that doesn't even matter when I think of this sweet baby girl. She weighed 9 lbs 12 oz and was 22 inches long at birth. With her large birth size, being posterior, and being induced, I am so thankful for how smoothly it went. It could have been so much worse! I am pretty confident that my original due date was accurate, considering how developed she was. She came out looking like a 3 week old. Even her demeanor is a lot like an older baby. Lucky me, I guess, because I still get the newborn cuddles, but the baby herself is not quite as fragile. :)

As far as being induced and getting an epidural, two things I wanted to avoid at all costs, I have changed my tune. With all three of my pregnancies, getting the epidural after laboring for quite a long time has allowed my body to progress faster to being fully dilated and we have not had many complications (besides the initial nerve pain). My recovery doesn't seem to be too negatively affected by it either. Of course, getting induced still makes the labor ridiculous, something I can confidently say since I didn't have hardly an Pitocin with Audrey's labor process and had much more manageable contractions. Regardless, I'm thankful that there is the option to get labor going in a more natural way than jumping to a cesarean section. It's not perfect, but I can't imagine how things would have gone without modern medicine.

Amelia Jane is very healthy. She latched on great right away and eats like a champ, something I definitely do not take for granted! Her eyes are a very dark blue/gray, that will almost definitely change as she gets older. Her hair is thicker in the back, but does cover her whole head with a dark brown color. Her skin is dry and very peely since she was overdue, and she is also a nice shade of pink. These Deyle girls are always quite pink right away. Her eyes were a little swollen from being posterior, so she's changed a lot even from these initial pictures. It seems that none of us can quite get enough of her. We're so glad she's here.