Harper's Birth Story

Good Morning,

Hope you all are doing well!!! We are loving our Harper girl more everyday. I wanted to write down Harper's birth story so we didn't forget any of the details. Before you read it though I want to say that please know this was our experience, we wanted certain things and believe that everyone should have their own experience when giving birth, it is a true miracle.

On Saturday October 15th, it was a beautiful fall day. A little crisp at 55 degrees the sun was out shining. This morning I got up and made cinnamon rolls and coffee for Joey and had a mountain of laundry to tackle. The night before I had alot of braxton hicks and Joe and I had been monitoring them closely but I never though I would go into labor the next day. Joe got up and we watched ESPN game day while I did loads of laundry. Around 11:00 I could tell that Joe wanted to get going for the day so I asked him " Joe are you bored?" as I stood up from the couch my water broke. Joe replied with " I am not bored anymore" We called the midwife and she had us wait two hours since I wasn't having contractions. I took a shower, did my hair, put my makeup on and finished packing out bags. At around 2 hours the we called the midwife and she had us come to the hospital to check to see if it was my water that broke.

Upon arriving at the hospital we couldn't find the area we needed to go to. We had toured the birth center but I think due to our excitement and nervousness we drew a blank that day. Eventually we found the area we needed to be in and the nurse confirmed that part of my water had broken and I was centimeters dilated. I was very excited because my goal was to wait at home till I was at least 4 centimeters. They moved us into the labor and delivery room and had me start walking the floors to get my contractions to a closer range. At this point I really wasn't in any pain. Joe and I started walking, and after an hour the nurse came and asked me to walk slower so we did a slower pace for another 40 minutes. They checked me and I was still 4 centimeters. At this point they decided to get me hooked up to monitors for the baby's heartbeat and to monitor my contractions. I was having contractions at this point but they were 7-9 minutes apart. Once hooked up to the monitors I started sitting on the birth ball and walking in our room. Our goal for Harper's birth was to be as natural as possible so needless to say I started worrying at this point if things were going to go our way.

At the 5 hour mark the nurse and midwife came in and said that I had 1 more hour to make progress before we would have to look at other routes since you have need ot be in active labor at the 6 hour mark after your water breaks. The midwife realized that my water hadn't completely broken so she broke the rest of of it and we prayed for the best. At 6:40 the news was the same and the contractions hadn't changed. The midwife suggested trying some pitocin which is a drug that induces contractions at a much stronger rate than natural birth. I really didn't want to do this because I didn't want an epidural and knew that the chances of me having pitocin and not having an epidural were slim to none. Joe assured me though that I could do it and our plan could still come to completion.

Pitcon was started at after an hour I was still feeling comfortable. We watched the entire Iowa game, which if you know me this wasn't my choice but I had the best partner in the world so how could I not let him watch the game. At 8:00 I had moved to 5 centimeters and was more aware of the contractions. My midwife Pam was AWESOME she was with me every step of the way and gave me techniques to get through the contractions. Around 10:30 I got into the tub which I hadn't planned on using but was grateful for the option since it helped me move from 5 to 8 in 45 minutes. That 45 minutes was very intense but Joe did such a great job as a coach and encouraged me and reminded me why we wanted to have a natural birth. Around 11:30 I moved to the bed and the midwife had me get into a position to help move the baby lower. At this point I was doubting myself since we had been at the hospital for a number of hours and my body was getting weak but I made it through and when thy checked me at 1 I was 10 centimeters and was feeling the need to push. Joe kept encouraging me with the fact that we had made it without the epidural!!! Whoot Whoot!

Around 1:00 I was ready to start pushing and Joe and I knew our life was about to change FOREVER! I pushed for an hour and announced to the team that I was done. I literally didn't have anything left inside of me and Pam told me I needed to push one more time and the baby would be here. With one final push the baby was here and Joe announced that it was a GIRL!!!! Was I shocked or what!!! I asked Joe to check again and they put that sweet baby on my chest and the tears started!