Hadley's Birth Day: August 10, 2009

WARNING: LONG POST!


Let me start with the Friday before Hadley was born. I had been to the doctor for my weekly checkup on Wednesday, the day after my due date. I was dilated to 2cms and 75% effaced. Hadley was very low. Dr. Williams was not ready to induce me that day but he also didn't want to wait another week. So he was going to have me come in first thing Monday morning. He would check me then and we would schedule an induction.


Sidenote: a little background, I was born on a Monday, August 1. My mom said that she also went to the doc on Wednesday, and they decided to check on her monday and schedule an induction if she hadn't begun labor on her own by then. Exactly the same as me. It is erie how alike my mom and I are. Also, she felt horrible and uncomfortable on the friday before she had me. You guessed it, I also felt horrible and uncomfortable on the friday before I had Hadley.


Back to the story, Thursday morning, Dr. Williams called to say that he had checked with the hospital and they only had monday available for an elective induction. He wanted me to come in the next morning (Friday) and he would check me and schedule an induction for monday morning. I went in Friday morning, was feeling horrible, lots of crampy feelings in my stomach and just bad in general. I was still 2cms but she had dropped even more. So we set up the induction for Monday morning.



The weekend was surreal. I can't describe the feeling of knowing that I would be in labor on Monday (if not before) and that she would be here. I would be a mother in a matter of hours now. I was excited, anxious, prayerful. I never really felt nervous. Steven and I spent sunday night together, finishing up packing and just savoring our last night as just me and him. We went to bed early because we had to be at the hospital at 5am.



I went to sleep easily and slept very soundly until my alarm went off at 3:30am. I got a shower, made sure I had everything packed for me and the baby girl I would be bringing home. I knew I couldn't eat anything at the hospital so I decided to have a glass of milk and a peach before leaving. Bad idea. We left the house at 4:30am and drove to the hospital. The drive was even more surreal than the weekend had been. All I could think was that the next time I was in that car, there would be a baby in that empty carseat in the back seat.


Once at the hospital, we got checked in. They put us in LDR Suite 6. I got into my hospital gown. We filled out paperwork, etc. Then the nurse came in to start my IV. I told the girl before hand that I normally had trouble with passing out with shots, IVs, etc because of a heart condition I have. I tried to explain the heart condition. I told the girl that I wouldn't pass out if I could just have some water to drink. But nope, they wouldn't let me have any water. So sure enough, after about 6 or 7 minutes of her trying to start the IV, I could feel my blood pressure dropping and I told her I was going to pass out. Steven ran to get my some ice chips. That got my blood pressure up so I didn't pass out. But then the peach made it's appearance again if you know what I mean. After about 10 minutes of being sick, things calmed down and my IV was in. Steven went to go get everything out of the car and the nurse started the pitocin about 6am. The drip was increased every 30 minutes. Not long after that, my parents arrived.


It wasn't long before I started feeling tightening in my abdomen, and it gradually got a little more intense. When my doc came in to break my water, which I think was about 8:00, I still wasn't really feeling anything more that just heavy pressure and tightening. By this point, NeeNee(my aunt), Steven's parents and Jessi were all there. Dr. Williams broke my water and almost immediately I could feel my contractions start to intensify. Still nothing I couldn't handle though. But when Dr. Williams poked his head in the door and asked if I was ready for my epidural, I jumped on the chance to go ahead and get it. I'd heard too many stories of waiting hours for the anethesiologist to come. I progressed pretty steadily. I was able to get a little rest and visit with everyone there. A little after lunch though I kinda hit a wall and was stuck at 6cm for a little bit. The nurse moved me onto my side and said she would check me again at 2:00. About 1:30, I started to have some pain in my left side so I called the nurse in. She decided to go ahead and check to see where I was. I was totally expecting to be at 7 or 8 cm. Nope! I was at 10cm! For the first time, I was finally nervous/overwhelmed/anxious. Hadley still needed to drop a little bit so my nurse sat me up in bed for about 30 minutes to see if gravity would help her move down. Everyone left the room, more nurses came in to get everything set up. Finally, a little before 3:00, I started to push. I pushed for about 40 minutes and my nurse could tell that I wasn't going to get her out on my own. So she went ahead and called Dr. Williams in. It only took about 3 or 4 more pushes and with his help (forceps) Hadley Lyn Sirmon was born at 3:55p.m. She weighed 7lbs 15ozs and was 20 1/4 inches long. The NICU nurses had been called in as a precaution because there was meconium in the amniotic fluid when my water was broken. So they took Hadley away immediately. They checked her out and declared her to be a perfect little baby.

The experience is completely indescribeable. I was totally overwhelmed by the miracle of it all. God is so good! Steven brought Hadley over to me and placed her in my arms. I was completely overcome with a love that I have never felt before. Tears came to my eyes but never really fell. The nurses gave Steven and I some time alone with Hadley before all the family came in. All I could do was stare at her and look at every part of her. Finally, I told Steven to go get our family. My mom was the first one in the room and I did cry when I saw her. I finally handed Hadley to my mom and from there she was passed around the rest of the night. We got to stay in the LDR suite until almost 10:00 that night. Which was good because we needed the room for all the visitors. In addition to our family, Russ, Jessi, Adalyn, Frank, our life group, Josh and Kyla Ward, my law school girls, and more I'm sure were all there. I felt very loved but by 10:00 that night I was exhausted and ready for some peace and quiet. We finally were moved to a post-partum room. My mom stayed to get us settled in and she finally left about 11:00.

What an amazing day!