Amelia's Birthday - June 11th, 2009

By now you all know our sweet little Amelia Lucille Hunter is here! But, you may not know the details of the day she was born. I'm realizing that I'm already starting to forget details and so I thought I bet blog about it before things become too foggy for me to even remember. So here's the details of the day and day before her Birthday....

On June 10th we had a 38 week midwife appt. at about 9 am. I was 38 weeks 5 days along. We were anxious about the appointment because Chad and I both had reached a point where we were really hoping they would do something to move things along. We were nervous about making it to the hospital on time and were just ready to meet our little one. When the midwife checked to see how dilated I was and said I was 6-7 cm.....she said that she felt we should go ahead and induce labor due to advanced dilation. Wow...we couldn't believe that we now knew that it was going to happen. This was early morning and she didn't want us to come in until 8 that night to start. What a long day....she wanted me to nap (impossible) and eat high calorie foods (not a problem). That night we got to Labor and Delivery at Vanderbilt Hospital at about 7:45 and got things going.

They initially wanted to start me on a low dose of pitocin thinking that it might not take much to get the contractions going. They started that drip at about 9pm and increased the amount every 30 minutes. Since we kind of thought things would go fast with me being dilated so far....we had Chad's family waiting and my sisters and brother waiting for her arrival. Around 11:30 when I wasn't even starting contractions my family gave up and I think it was nearly 3 am before Chad convinced his family that they needed to go rest and that it didn't look like anything was going to happen soon. All night long they increased the dose and I didn't sleep even a wink....too anxious. Our midwife had a ton of deliveries that night and so it was really the next morning at shift change that the new midwife on call came in and said that we needed a new plan. She said....either go home or break my water. Oh, I forgot to mention that as soon as I knew that they were inducing me, I was able to let my parents know and so they could head out. My poor dad had already driven about 9 hours that day because he was out of state at a meeting and then they left on a 13 hour journey here. We figured they wouldn't be there for the birth, but would get there soon. And, even though the midwife offered that we could go home, we weren't about to turn back now!

So, here we are now on June 11th and the new midwife offered us the plan of breaking my water. She felt confident that this would get things moving. They had maxed out the pitocin at this point. We were also having trouble keeping the baby's heart rate monitor on my tummy and so when they broke my water, they also inserted a heart rate monitor that actually went inside my uterus and was between the uterine wall and the baby's head. I think it was about 8:45 am when they broke my water. Well, I pretty much right away starting having contractions. And, I think because I was already dilated so far they hit me like a ton of bricks. I had wanted to try to not get an epidural and I tried to get through the contractions by using my birth ball, trying a rocking chair, leaning on the bed.....but it was insane. Our nurse was wonderful. In fact she had been my nurse when I had the cerclage and when I had it removed. And...just the day before I had told Chad that I hoped she would be my nurse. Both her and Chad were trying to help me through....but I just couldn't do it anymore. It was probably about 10:15 am when I asked for the epidural and it took just a little while for them to get it to me. Once it was in place they were asking if I was feeling relief and it was hard for me to tell. I was finally able to talk through a contraction, but I was feeling tons of pressure and the nurse felt I was probably ready to push. She checked and I was 9.5 cm and a few minutes later was completely ready. The midwife and her student and my nurse were quickly getting everything ready and I think it was about 1 hour or so (she was born at 12:11 pm) later that little Amelia made her appearance. It was amazing. I knew I would feel emotional, but I don't think I realized how amazing that would be to have her on my chest. She was so cute and it was clear right away that she had some strong little lungs. Oh, I forgot the mention that literally within a few pushes of getting her out....our nurse got a page that said to let me know that my mom and dad had arrived. I was so happy:)

It was a whirlwind of the next 20 minutes or so of after birth stuff and then my parents and Chad's parents came in to meet the new little grand daughter. My sisters were there and so was Chad's brother and our sister in law and my brother got there very shortly after. It was so much fun to show her off and we were already feeling like proud parents. After about 1 hour, they needed to take Amelia to the nursery to make sure she was doing good. Chad's dad ran to get us lunch...I was starving since I hadn't eaten since the day before. I ate 15 chicken Mcnuggets...which I know is kind of a funny choice, but there is a Mcdonalds right there in Vanderbilt.

We got taken to our postpartum room and the nursery gave us a perfect report on Amelia. Ok..I'll stop now. This is turning into a long post. But, I'll post more about her coming home and our first few days.

We are so thankful for how things worked out. It was so scary to think back in January we didn't know if we would have a good outcome. It was a long and bumpy road, but it seems like a distant memory now. We can't thank you all enough for your prayers for our little one. We love her more than I can even imagine would be possible.