She Has Arrived!

Well, It's October 10th and Norah has change our lives and hearts. 

Here I am 40 weeks pregnant, plus 6 days. From September 30th, 6 days overdue.

By October 3rd, we had made the decision to start the induction process. Baby was 8 days late at this time, ultrasound had showed her to be "large" (over 9 pounds), and we were ready to go!

During the day my water had broken. It sure wasn't a gush, more of a slow leak over many hours, so I wasn't even sure it had happened at first. But, we went in as planned at 7:30 pm and I finally felt my first contraction, definitely not regular but finally something!

Here I am getting all set and ready to go. Cervidil was the medication of choice to start the cervical ripening process (where they get the cervix to dilate more than it has, if any).

The medication worked faster than intended and I was having contractions every 2 minutes after just 2 hours. So, out the Cervidil, and onward with labor. The next three hours were pretty miserable, I'm not going to lie. Definitely the worst pain I have ever experienced. Plus, I was so tired, being the middle of the night, and had received a sleeping medicine (thinking I would sleep all night) and two doses of Fentanyl (pain medicine).

By 3 AM I asked for an epidural, I was ready for less pain for sure. With that in, I lost sensation from abdomen down which was very strange indeed. 

Norah's body didn't like the epidural as much as mine though and by 4:30 AM the midwife was concerned about her drops in heart rate.  I was praying something fierce in my head and by the grace of God was dilated to 9 at that point. But, she still needed to come out. A doctor was brought in to consult and by 4:55 I was dilated to 10 and could push!

Twenty minutes of pushing, with amazing cheerleaders at my side, she came out. With a little help from the doctor (episiotomy to get her out quicker since her heart rate was not ideal).

And here is our lovely Norah! 5:15 AM, 8 pounds 9 ounces, 20 and 1/2 inches long. Healthy. 

I couldn't have asked for a better husband. He supported me the whole way. And loves his daughter so much!

Already showing some personality, she had to get a little IV for some IV antibiotics. There was a little infection in my placenta and amniotic fluid.

Our bundle of love. One of God's little miracles.