Her birth story...

I can not believe this is actually happening...

Admit it, you want to hear all the gory details, so here you go. I woke up with contractions at 3:30 a.m. on Thursday, May 26th, but I was able to sleep in between them. At 5:30a.m. I got up to do my prenatal yoga DVD and shower, wondering if today was the day? Jake stayed home from work to be with me, and we dropped Norelle off with treats for her last day at Tammy's house. I took a short nap and woke up to find I was bleeding so the midwives asked me to come in to Labor & Delivery to be checked. They monitored the baby and declared me officially in labor, dilated to 3 cm at 1:00 p.m. The midwife on duty, Lisa, said I could stay, but I opted to go home for a few hours to get organized, call our parents, and labor at home. Jake & I ate lunch, did laundry, and walked around the neighborhood through contractions. By the time our parents arrived, I was having some painful contractions about every 8-10 minutes which increased to 5 minutes after walking. At 7:30 p.m. we decided to go back to hospital where I was checked and found to be only at 4 cm. I took a bath and walked laps up and down the short hospital corridor. Jake suggested we pretend we were walking a 5K to raise money for charity (we chose pancreatic cancer research) and every lap raised a penny. We would stop every few minutes for a contraction which were getting more and more intense. Finally, after 20 hours of labor, I reached 5 cm at 11:00 p.m. and when the midwife vigorously stripped my membranes, the real PAIN began. It was only minutes later I was begging for an epidural which slowly got started and in place by midnight. My legs and bottom were completely numb which was both a relief and scary at the same time as I could not even turn over in bed by myself. We tried to rest from 2-5 a.m., but I was too hot, thirsty, and anxious to sleep. At 2:00 a.m. they started some pitocin to keep the contractions steady, at 3:00 a.m. our moms arrived, and at 3:30 a.m. I felt mounting pressure, while a bag of Jiffy Pop exploded between my legs which was my water breaking. Lisa came into the room and turned on the lights to check me at 5:00 a.m. declaring it was time to push which I was not ready for. I started shaking & shivering uncontrollably and was very scared. Jake held my heavy left leg encouraging me, while my mom was at the foot of the bed and Liz was helping near my head. After less that 40 minutes of painless pushing, Henley easily popped out into the world Friday May 27th at 5:52 a.m., almost 27 hours after labor began. She did not cry, only squeaked and squawked, as I held her learning to breastfeed. She looks like her daddy, and I can not believe how immediately we fell in love with her. It was so special to share this experience with Jake and see the joy of Norelle becoming a big sister! All of our family members visited us in the hospital, including my dad just before starting his first round of chemo. We are enjoying our family time, and I am feeling very sentimental about our little family! Must be the hormones, but I would not rule out doing it all again. Thank you to all of our family, friends, neighbors and church community for the babysitting, meals, cleaning, gifts, support and love!

Henley is here!