She is Here!

After a long wait, Maris Everly was born on July 6...arriving a full 14 days overdue.  She is a tiny girl: 6 lbs 7 oz. and measured 20.5 inches.  We are so glad that she is finally here!

To follow up my birth plan - I had not wanted to be induced.  At my 42 week doctor visit on the morning of July 6 my doctor said that the baby had to come out now.  She made plans to break my waters at 1pm that day, and if I wasn't in active labour by 6pm I would have a c-section.  As this was a VBAC delivery, drugs could not be used to induce labour.

My waters were broken at 1pm.  Mild contractions began almost immediately and slowly got more intense as the afternoon went on.  By 5pm they were becoming almost unbearable, and I was dismayed to learn that I was only 3cm dilated when they checked close to 6pm.  I had this feeling that the labour would go on like my first - hours and hours with no progress - so I asked to go through with the c-section to end the pain now.  As the nurses were prepping me for surgery they were having difficulty getting the catheter in.  They checked me and I had suddenly dilated to 6cm in about 15 minutes!  This was a huge game changer - my labour was progressing on its own.  I had renewed energy to go through with labouring and a natural delivery -- IF I could get an epidural to help with the pain.  By the time the epidural was in I was dilated to 8cm and soon after I was 10 and feeling like I had to push!  I went from 3 to 10cm in about one hour -- crazy!

I pushed through four big contractions and Maris was here - at 7:35pm.  The doctor had to use the vacuum and give me an episiotomy to aid Maris through the birth canal.  We discovered the reason I could not push Ari out - I have an abnormality in my pelvis where the birth canal is partially blocked by bone.  Maris was able to be delivered as she was so tiny, but Ari was 8 lb, 6oz and could not fit - resulting in an emergency c-section after 24+ hours of labour and pushing!

The immediate skin to skin bonding after birth was a miracle - I didn't even notice the afterbirth or feel the doctor stitching me up.  We were so shocked that we had a girl!  I thought for sure it would be another boy.  24 hours later we were given the all clear to take our girl home from the hospital.
  

Our family of four // Maris sleeping in my arms on day four of life.

What a miracle birth is - I am proud of myself for making it through a VBAC birth and not giving up.  It was a totally different experience from my first baby...I was always disappointed I didn't get to hold Ari right after he was born.

Now we're getting back into the swing of things with having a newborn in the house - I feel like I've gone back in time to when we first brought Ari home.  Taking care of a new baby is so different than an almost-two-year-old!  Such different needs, but we're slowly getting adjusted.