Little princess is napping so maybe I will have time to write Claire's birth story.
On Wednesday September 15, 2 days past my due date, I went to my weekly doctor's appointment. The Dr. Francis examined me and told me there had not been much progress since the prior week. I was only 1.5 centimeters dilated and 70% effaced. I was very disappointed and was having to come to the realization I may have to be induced. I really didn't want to be induced and wanted baby Claire to come on her own. Dr. Francis had at first thought she could get me admitted to the hospital that night to begin the induction as I had already come to terms with being induced. Unfortunately the hospital was completely booked and the only open date was Monday the 20th. I was disappointed that I was going to have to wait through the weekend, but kept reminding myself she would be born when God wanted her to be born and maybe she would still come on her own before Monday.
Before I left the office Bekah wanted to scan little Claire and see how big she was. Of course any chance to see my princess I was going to jump on plus I already knew she was going to be a big girl and I wanted to mentally prepare myself for her size, lol. Bekah estimated little Claire to be a little over 8 pounds. While scanning her Bekah determined little Claire was sunny side up, meaning instead of her head facing down and to my back her head was down, but facing up and out. Also since the car accident we have been watching the amniotic fluid since it was at one point low after the accident. Bad news, the fluid level was 5.4 which is considerably low. Dr. Francis had said previously that she did not want it going under 7 or she would induce. Bekah then notified Dr. Francis who then called the hospital because waiting to be induced was no longer an option. Full hospital or not it looked like baby Claire would be born Thursday after all. Dr. Francis told me to go home eat a good meal since it would be my last until little one was born, gather my stuff and head to the hospital.
Eric and I ran home ate, showered, gathered all the hospital bags and arrived at the hospital around 7:45. I was hooked up to all the monitors to monitor Claire and any contractions I was having as well as the dreaded IV. Around 10 they started me on Cervadil to help prepare my cervix more for labor and delivery. I tried to get some sleep, but in between the nurse coming in every 30 min or so and just being plain anxious I might have slept an hour. Eric on the other hand can sleep through a tornado and slept all night, lol. At 6 that morning the nurse came in an checked me. The Cervadil had done it's job and helped my cervix to soften a little more and dilate a little more. I was already contracting a little and then started on the Pitocin. Contractions starting to immediately become more regular and intense, but still manageable. Close to 8 Dr. Francis came in and broke what little water I had. Then the contractions really started coming about every 1.5-2 minutes. They were really starting to become intense. Next thing I know the nurse comes back in the room and says she is calling Dr. Francis back. Claire's heartbeat was dropping with every contraction. Dr. Francis came quickly back over to the hospital and decided that Claire was not handling the contractions well due to the water being broken. Dr. Francis then begin discussing the high possibility of C-Section. Dreaded words I did not want to hear. She said due to the position of Claire's head and how poorly she was handling the contractions that if her heartbeat did not improve I would have to have one. Dr. Francis said we could put water back in and see if her hearbeat would improve so they inserted a catheter that put water back in to act like the amniotic fluid. Success! The water helped Claire's heartbeat to stabilize during contractions. Dr. Francis said the possibility of a C-section was still 50/50 due to the position of Claire's head there was not a guarantee my pelvis could handle pushing her out that way. Luckily my body was laboring on it's own so the pitocin was turned off. It was only on for a little over an hour. So we continued to labor on. Boy o boy did those contractions become intense. They were right on top of each other without a break in between. Thank God for my wonderful husband and coach who helped me breath through them. I was super hot and shaking all over due to the intensity. I really didn't want an epidural, but finally gave in and asked for one. I was 6 centimeters at that point. The anesthesiologist could not get there fast enough. Finally he arrived and put the epidural in. It helped take the intensity off, but I still had to breath and concentrate through the contractions. The anesthesiologist said the epidural would take 15 or so minutes to really take effect. About 45 minutes after getting it the pain was still super bad so the nurse called back in the anesthesiologist. They upped the dose, but told me that due to the position of Claire's head he could only get my pain to a 4 or 5 on the scale of 1-10. This was about 11:15. The pain was manageable enough that I could have one person besides Eric in the room with me at a time. I felt bad because our parents had arrived around 9ish and I was in such pain I couldn't even say hello to them. Around noon Dr. Francis came in and checked me and I was at a 9 and Claire's head had turn to the side! Still not the perfect position, but it looked like I would be pushing within the hour! Oh how God answers prayers! Still not out of the woods, but it looked like I would avoid a C-section. Around 1 Dr. Francis came back and and said it was time to push! I pushed for less than 10 minutes and our perfect Claire was born at 1:08 weighing 8 pounds and 20 inches long! Dr. Francis said at the last minute Claire turned her head to face the back, but left her shoulders facing the other way so Dr. Francis had to turn her shoulders on the way out. Eric and I both immediately started crying and so did little Claire. Her cries were the most wonderful sound in the world. Eric even cut the cord, which he was initially against doing for fear he would pass out, lol.
All exams on Claire were perfect. I was so nervous about her still even after the accident. I asked God over and over after the accident to show me his reasons for allowing the accident to happen. While I may never know all the reasons for the accident I think I do know a few. The first thing that happened after the accident was Eric and his outlook towards Claire. He had always been very excited, but after the accident he became even closer to Claire and her well being. Probably the biggest thing the accident did was alert us to keep a close watch on Claire's amniotic fluid. Had the accident not happened we would have never thought to monitor her fluid level. Had we not checked her fluid level on Wednesday and waited until Monday to induce we would have run the high risk of her compressing her cord due to low fluid. I know there are probably other reasons and maybe even bigger reasons God allowed such a scary thing to happen, but I think I am finally at peace with it.
I know this has been super long, but it has been good for me to write about the birth experience. September 16, 2010 was by far the best day of my life. I have seen God at work through the entire pregnancy and birth. There have been so many miracles happen that without him never would have happened.
I leave you now with a picture! She is 1 week old today. I cannot believe how much she has changed in a week!
