I never thought I'd be here writing Charlotte's birth story 1 week before her due date! Our precious little girl was born on Tuesday, March 10, 2015 at 8:12am; weighing 6lbs, 12oz. and stretching 20 in. long. She arrived 16 days before her due date but had perfect apgar scores and is a healthy little girl - Praise God!
I'll backtrack and start with the days leading up to her birth. Grant, William and I had a fun weekend soaking up the sunshine and truly being lazy. That Sunday, I had a bit of a head cold and was feeling particularly worn out, so we cut church. We had a family picnic at Overton Park, which is so neat to me because the Sunday before William was born, Grant and I had a picnic at Overton Park. While we were at the park, I kept thinking how that would probably be the last time our family of 3 had an outing like that. William soaked up lots of one-on-one attention from us and enjoyed Grant chasing him around while I vegged on the picnic blanket like a beached whale.
The next day we all went about our typical Monday, Grant and I at work and William at school. All day at work, people kept commenting on how the baby had "dropped" significantly over the weekend and saying "Charlotte will be here soon." Deep down I knew she would too. I had tons of braxton hicks that day and was manic about checking things off the list at work. I usually leave work between 3 and 3:30 and at 4 my boss walked into my office and said, "Go home! Why are you still here?" I'm pretty sure I was nesting in my office :) I'm glad I had a productive day there.
I picked William up from school. We went and got a TCBY and then came home and played hide n' seek and made forts in the basement. William kept telling me to "run, get up, come over here, play with ME, etc..." and I remember thinking how in the world am I going to keep up with him for another 2 weeks. Grant brought home Moe's and after dinner we all started settling down for the night. Grant and I each read a bedtime story to William and then I got in bed.
Before I fell asleep, I kid you not I told Grant "My water will break tonight. This baby is coming." At 11:15pm I woke up to a trickle of water. I KNEW it was go time but didn't wake Grant quite yet. I thought maybe it was typical pregnancy bladder probs. After running to the bathroom, I confirmed my water had broken and I woke Grant up!
We were both calmer this time around. However, NO bag was packed, NO carseat installed, and I hadn't finished running errands I had planned on doing on Tuesday. I called my neighbor to come over and stay with William (no answer), then I called Julie (no answer) and finally I called my co-worker who lives down the street and she answered (Halleluja!). She immediately came over along with another co-worker who wanted in on the excitement. I frantically straightened up around the house, took a shower, blow dried hair, and then finally got in the car around midnight. We got to the hospital and it was confirmed my water did indeed break.
We stayed in the Maternal Evaluation Unit (MEU) until 2:30am waiting to be moved to the Labor and Delivery Room. I'll admit I was pretty anxious at this point. I wasn't having contractions but the reality that I was about to be a mother of TWO was hitting me pretty hard and I was feeling nervous about the labor. They started an IV while down there and were monitoring contractions that apparently had started but I wasn't feeling them at this point. Finally at 2:30 we got to the L&D room where we'd be until baby girl was born. At this point I was only 1cm. dilated so they were ready to hang the pitocin bag. I asked my nurse if I could get an epidural first and she immediately called anesthesia to see where I'd fall in the line up because anesthesiologist are a hot commodity around L&D. I knew I could potentially wait 2 hours, which made me a nervous wreck. Thank the good Lord, anesthesia came right in and placed the epidural and THEN the pitocin started. Around 5am, the on-call physician checked and I was 5 cm. dilated. She predicted Charlotte would arrive between 9 and 10am. Grant was able to rest throughout the night but I never shut my eyes. I was giddy with excitement and nerves. It was very different laboring in the night versus during the daytime. It was very calm.
At 8am (shift change) my new nurse noticed the baby's heart rate was dipping a little bit meaning she was probably moving into the birth canal so she decided to check me. She checked and Charlotte's head was crowning and she said "DO NOT PUSH." The room immediately flooded with nurses and my doctor arrived at the scene!!! I could have burst into tears when I saw that man. He is so wonderful. At 8:10, he told me to push and out she came! The first thing Grant and I said was, "She looks just like William!" Those next 2 hrs. were so special as they cleaned her off and we did skin-to-skin while waiting to be moved to the mother/baby floor.
My mom made it up from Dothan around noon and came up to the hospital to meet baby C before she picked up William at school. The most amazing part of the entire experience has been seeing William fall in love with his "baby girl" or he refers to her as "my little girl" and sometimes "sissy." I seriously melt seeing him with her. He's VERY possessive and wants to hold her all the time which can be a little stressful at times but I'd rather him be that way than ignore her.
Birdie and Ah-Dah made it up to the hospital later.
After about 10 minutes of Charlotte love, William was over it and lounged watching the ipad.
Grant and I were much calmer in the hospital this time. I even let him go play basketball Wednesday night :)
William came up to the hospital each day we were there and I honestly could've gobbled him up with a spoon. Just look at the intensity in that boy! He's ALL about her having that paci ALL the time :)
Snuggles with my girl :) Another special thing about our hospital stay is that a family friend got to be my nurse once we got to the mother and baby floor. She took good care of me!
The man that brought her into the world!
Co-workers and boss came up for a visit!
It still seems crazy that these two children are mine.
This labor experience was very different than William's birth. While I wouldn't change a thing about my experience with William, there was something very special about it only being me and Grant at the hospital leading up to her birth and the hours following it.
We headed home on Thursday! Charlotte wore a beautiful gown her Juju made.
Mommy and Daddy are looking tired :) We are slowly adjusting at home and finding our new normal with our sweet baby girl!
