Our sweet little Claire was born 3 weeks ago today. I wanted to capture her birth story before the details started to fade. I know that the busyness of life and the sleep deprivation of those first couple of weeks can cause things to become fuzzy very quickly.
As most of you know, my due date was somewhere between March 1st and March 5th depending on if you were charting it from my last menstrual cycle or from the original ultrasound. All I know was that we were excited from the moment we found out that Claire was going to be our spring baby. I have always loved having an April birthday, so I was excited to share this season with our sweet little girl.
I was progressing with Claire much more than I ever did with John Parker. On my 39 week appt, I was 2 cm and 60% effaced. I was so hopeful that I wouldn't need to be induced this time. I was hoping that my body would just do it's thing and start labor on its own. I tried walking each day, eating eggplant, and the like, but she just wasn't ready to come. At my 40 week visit, I hadn't progressed any further, so Dr. Shin encouraged me to set an induction date for March 8th, which would have been 41 weeks.
We were all set to go in that Monday night, but when we called the hospital they told us that they were full and had no room. We waited. They told us that they would call us if they had a room open up that night. Sure enough, they did. They called us at 3:24 the morning of March 8th. We headed in that morning to start the induction. It was a very restless last few hours as we tried to wait until the morning. We were so much more collected this time around as we went to the hospital. It was nice to know what to expect from the hospital and the doctor. I definitely like predictability.
We started pitocin around 9 am, I was 3 cm and 60% effaced, so we were set to start. The morning was enjoyable and the contractions were manageable. I called a couple of friends, we watched an episode of Arrested Development, and anxiously watched the computer screens to monitor our little girl's heartbeat. It was strong and steady at 130 for nearly the entire process. Things really didn't start to pick up until Dr. Shin broke my water and put internal monitors in to measure Claire's heartbeat and my contractions. I vividly remember this point in both of my labors because this was the turning point. This was the "Wow, this is the real deal" moment when my contractions really escalated. I tried to manage the pain with breathing and John's encouragement, but about 2 hours later I was in serious pain. It's so frustrating to not be able to labor and walk the halls because you are strapped to pitocin and internal monitors. I needed an epidural. Thankfully, this eased my pain and lessened my anxiety. Sure, I had the lovely side effect of vomiting, but I would gladly take that over the intense pains of contractions. From that point on, I was able to manage the pain. John and I enjoyed the labor process and were able to rest not feeling the intensity of the pitocin. Thankfully, my contractions also seemed to pick up on their own. Only a few hours later, I had really made progress. I was now fully effaced and Claire's head was crowning. We were in complete shock since Claire was stationed so high the entire time. Dr. Shin rushed over from her office all suited up and ready to deliver our little girl.
John, Dr. Shin, and Mira, were such a great team of encouragers. John stood by my side and was my biggest cheerleader. We did 3 series of pushes and our little girl was out in about 15 minutes. It was blissfully wonderful and so much easier than last time. I remember hearing her cry and watching John cut the cord and being in awe all over again. Our precious little one was here. She was purple when they put her on me, but she was crying so I knew she was ok. All I can remember was hearing the nurses say over and over, "Wow, that is one big baby" as they did her APGAR test and measured her. John was spellbound, he kept saying "She is just so beautiful". I saw his love well up from the moment he laid eyes on her. Sure enough, she was a big girl weighing 9 lb. 11 oz.. I still can't believe that I carried around a nearly 10 pound baby. I had no idea. I now understand why I was so uncomfortable those last couple of weeks.
I loved when they put her on me and I could hold her--really hold her!!! She was beautiful, so new, so innocent, so precious, so little!!! When she looked at me and nuzzled close to my heart, I lost it. There are no words that can adequately capture that moment. My heart was in awe of this life before me--knit together by the Lord in my womb. She is a gift from God. I hope and pray that we can point her to the Lord. Claire, we love you and are so grateful that you are a part of our family.
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