My Birth Story

Finally...I have been meaning to post this for a week now but have been so busy with Karsyn that I just haven't had an opportunity....but here it is! Finally!

I was scheduled for an induction on Friday May 22nd but Karsyn had other plans. I woke up Thursday morning, May 14th exhausted as normal but with a busy day planned. Ashley B. and I met up at the Stonebriar Mall and shopped for a couple hours. Afterwards I had to go to the grocery store, do some housework and pick up the kids from school. After finishing everything I started feeling really tired and really strange. I layed down in my room for about 30 minutes before having to get ready and leave for Karlee's school play.

At Karlee's school play I was feeling really weird and having some braxton hicks. I was also feeling very crampy but had been experiencing these for a few days so I didn't think anything of it. Kara and I left there and headed to Jeromy's basketball game. At the game the cramping was getting stronger and the pains were going down my legs. They were really uncomfortable. I called my mom when we left and asked if I could bring Kara over to spend the night because I wasn't feeling well. Jeromy drove and we took her to my mom's. (It is about 15 minutes from our house.) On the way to my mom's the contractions were getting stronger and the cramping was steady inbetween the contractions. I began to feel them going down my back and I knew then that it was something more than just what I had been experiencing the days prior. We rushed home so Jeromy could take a shower and I called the doctor. Dr. Garner wasn't the dr. on call but the dr. on call told us to go to Labor and Delivery but that because I was only 37 weeks that I shouldn't expect to be staying. I threw some last minute toiletries into our bags, we loaded our car and headed to the hospital. As we pulled out of the driveway Jeromy turned to me and said "I have a feeling that this is a practice run."

We arrived at the hospital around 10pm. They checked my cervix and I was still a 3. (The same that I was on Monday.) They hooked me up to the monitors and we waited. I was having contractions 2-3 minutes apart. After an hour and my pain level was increasing they checked me again and I was still a 3 but my cervix was softer. They decided to keep me to monitor me for a few more hours. At this point they decided to give me a shot of stadol to help me relax and get some sleep. Jeromy left to grab something to eat and pick up some DVD's for our video camera. When he got back I was already out of it and falling asleep. I slept off and on until 4am when they came in and checked me again. This time I was dilated to a 4, 90% effaced and my bag of water was bulging. The nurse then looked at me and said "Okay. Well, we will go ahead and start your IV and you can get your epidural as soon as you are ready." Jeromy and I looked at each other and were shocked! I said "OMG! We are having our baby today!"

It took them an hour to get my IV in and going. By 6:30 the anesthesiologist came in and gave me my epidural. Dr. Garner called up to labor and delivery around 7am and told them to go ahead and start pitocin to speed things up. He came in around 8:15 and broke my water. (The amount of fluid that came out was unreal!!!) I labored very comfortably and around 10 the nurse came in and checked me and I was about 9 1/2 centimeters dilated. Dr. Garner showed up around 10:15 and started prepping the room for delivery. Once he was suited up it was show time. I started pushing at 10:30 and 4 contractions later at 10:40am Karsyn was born. When her head came out I looked down and was absolutely amazed! The umbillical cord was wrapped around her neck once but she was okay. When she came out I couldn't beleive that I was looking at my baby!! She just looked so tiny!

When Karsyn let out that first cry Jeromy turned around to kiss me.. he was crying and I was crying....I think everyone was crying. It was a perfect moment and I am so happy that she is finally here. All the heartache and worry were worth it when I stare at my baby girl. She is just an absolute gift from God and we feel so blessed.