Blair Catherine: A Birth Story

Before you were conceived, I wanted you.

Before you were born, I loved you.

Before you were an hour old, I would die for you.

This is the miracle of LOVE.

--Maureen Hawkins

I could search a thousand years for the right words to describe how our entire world has expanded and changed with the arrival of our sweet baby girl. Instead, I'll just write you a story about the day this little nugget went from bumps and kicks in my belly to the center of our universe.

Blair Catherine was due on January 18, but not in a hurry to be born - especially with how incredibly cold it has been here lately! Mike and I went to my doctor's office on the 24th, the day before I turned 41 weeks, and found that I was still just 1cm dilated. Blair's head was still positioned favorably and (very) low but there was no change from Tuesday's appointment.

We decided to issue an eviction notice and scheduled the induction to begin that afternoon at 4PM. Dr. Whitten instructed me to eat a good meal, since it would likely be my last for 36-48 hours. So, Mom, Mike and I went to the Olive Garden for lunch and I followed the doctor's orders :)

We checked into Labor and Delivery at 4PM. It took a while to get admitted (they ask so many questions!) and they placed a contraction monitor and a heart rate monitor on my belly, which Dr. Whitten was monitoring from her office down the street. She called the nurses and told them to start an IV solution because Blair was being a little lazy... typical!

Dr. Whitten arrived at 5:30PM to place a treatment of Cervidil, which would help my cervix soften and (hopefully) start to dilate more. We hung out and tried to rest as much as possible and even had an unexpected visitor! One of Mike's bosses stopped by to see how things were going, but we didn't have much to report and told her we would keep everyone in the loop when Little Miss decided to final make her arrival.

It wasn't until exactly 12AM on Saturday, Jan. 25 that I felt my first contraction. They were 5-7 minutes apart but progressed to 3-5 minutes apart by 12:30AM. The Cervidil treatment was pulled at 2AM and while I had softened quite a bit, I was still only at 1cm. Dr. Whitten told the nurses to start me on a Pitocin drip at 3AM to get things moving, and boy did they ever!

The monitor - Blair's heart rate is on top, my contractions (not noticeable at the time) are on the bottom

About an hour later, I went to the bathroom and had a contraction on the commode. I felt a small pop in my belly and a little gush (of not pee) come out. I called out to Mike, "Holy crap, I think my water just broke" and he paged the nurse. She got me back in the bed to check if it was indeed my water, but said it was likely a smaller sac bursting instead of my actual amniotic sac. I was a bit relieved because I was hoping to labor by walking around and having my water break so early would definitely confine me to the bed. Well, we all spoke too soon because as the nurse pulled her hand out from checking me, my water definitely broke. All over the bed. GROSS.

Things progressed quickly from there and my contractions got much more intense. I was breathing through them pretty well and Mike was counting out the timing and intensity from my bedside monitor. It helped tremendously, but I was in a significant amount of pain. Blair's position was causing me to have back labor, rather than radiating contractions throughout my belly, and I was confined to the bed.

At about 5:30am I finally caved asked for a painkiller so I could get some rest. The nurse gave me a dose of Stadol to take the edge off. I immediately felt like it was Friday night in college and I'd consumed far too many beers. I got a bit of rest since I didn't have to breathe deeply and concentrate during contractions. By the time Dr. Whitten arrived at 8AM, and I was at 3cm and fully effaced, however, the Stadol had worn off and my contractions were very intense.

I got an epidural just after 9am and it was GLORIOUS. People warned me that the epidural needle would hurt or burn, but honestly, I didn't feel a thing. I was so focused on staying relaxed and still during the placement that I hardly noticed it happening. I had 4 contractions (1 minute apart) during the placement, which was miserable, but I held it together. The epidural numbed everything below my belly button and I got an hour of solid sleep before Dr. Whitten came back to check me again and I was at 5cms. During the check, she said "Oh, I can feel Blair's face - there's her eye, an ear, nose and... oh! She just bit me!"

Yep. My sassy baby bit the doctor from inside my body. I still laugh when I think about it. The reason Blair was able to bite Dr. Whitten is because she was positioned face first in the birth canal, rather then top-of-the-head first. Dr. Whitten said we would give B an hour to tuck her chin down, or else we would have to perform a c-section. I rested a bit longer and by the time Dr. Whitten came back, Blair had tucked her chin and I was at 9cms! We did a few test pushes and Dr. Whitten said I was ready to go. I hit 10cms and we started pushing. She brought in a mirror and placed it at the end of the bed so I could watch what was happening and so I could see which pushes were effective, since I couldn't feel anything thanks to the epidural.

One and a half hours of pushing later, Mike, Mom and I watched Blair's little head come into the world. She screamed her face off as soon as she cleared the birth canal and Dr. Whitten placed her on my chest. I couldn't believe it - she was finally here and she was beautiful. It was absolutely surreal. The nurses took her to a station beside my bed to clean her up, weigh her and do the normal post-birth testing. Mike stood right next to her and she held tightly to his pinky finger the entire time - it was the sweetest thing I've ever seen.

Blair weighed a perfect 7 pounds 10 ounces and measured 20 inches long.

Holding Daddy's hand while she gets cleaned off, suctioned out and weighed

Dr. Whitten stitched me up as the nurses handed B back to me. We were transferred to a recovery room from the delivery room and spent the night bonding with our new little nugget. My dad and Granma had left PA early that morning and drove straight through to make it to TN. Living so far away from my family, I never imagined that Blair would get to meet them on her actually birthday, but that's what happened! I'm beyond thrilled that they were able to be there and that my mom was there for the birth. Watching my parents become grandparents (and my Granma become a Great Granma) is a memory I will treasure for the rest of my life.

Getting re-acquainted outside my body!

First snuggles with Dad!

Hanging out in our recovery room

In all, we spent 4 days in the hospital. Blair's little chin is adorable, but it's recessed and made breastfeeding very difficult. We had a few meetings with lactation consultants, but it turns out that pumping and feeding B with a bottle has worked best. She watched her first Ranger's game with her Poppie, watched some of the Grammy's, and was passed from person to person for snuggly naps. We were discharged from the hospital on Monday night and it felt so wonderful to finally have our little family home.

Blair also struggled a little bit with some jaundice in her first week, which meant we were at the pediatrician's office everyday of the week to get her bilirubin levels monitored. She had to spend a day wrapped up in a glowing bili blanket, but all is well now. So far she has been a great baby - eats well, sleeps well, interacts with us when we talk to her and (weirdly) she LOVES getting her diaper changed. She's the sweetest little thing.

I'll try to update the blog as much as possible, but we're still getting used to our new lives. My mom went back to work/home this weekend and Mike has been back to work since we got home last week, so B and I are still figuring things out as far as our daily schedule. For now, here are a few more photos from our first days together :)