Maddy's Birth Story

Hi lovely followers!

For my first ever blog post, I thought I would share with you the birth story of our baby girl! Becoming a mommy is the best thing that has every happened to me, and I am so excited to tell you all about it! The whole day seemed to be a bit of a blur because it all happened SO fast! It would probably be better if my husband told this story, but I will do my best to not leave out important details.

On Thursday, February 19th I was having contractions all day long. They were pretty inconsistent and didn't really hurt that bad. It was a snowy day and my husband was at work so I decided to shovel the driveway, hoping it would induce labor. By the time he got home from work, my contractions were about 5-7 minutes apart. Obviously I had no idea what real labor felt like because this was my first go around. We called the doctor and they told us to go to the hospital and get checked out. We spent about 2 hours at the hospital while they monitored contractions and checked to see how dilated I was. I was only 1 cm dilated and they concluded that I definitely was not in labor. We went home that night around midnight.

The next day, February 20th, I spent most of the day laying in bed because I was scared I might go into labor while Scooter was at work. When he got home that night we headed out to dinner with our good friends Jessica and Andy. On the way to dinner I started having contractions that were much more intense than the ones I previously had. These contractions really did take my breath away. When we were at dinner the contractions started getting pretty close together. Andy pulled out his iPhone and started timing them for us. They were about 3 minutes apart and I was in a lot of pain. At this point, we decided to ask our waiter for to-go boxes and left the restaurant because I was so uncomfortable.

I did not want to go to the hospital unless I was 100% sure it was the real deal. I felt super embarrassed that we went the night before and they sent me home from false labor. When we got home from dinner, I took a warm bath which seemed to help a tiny bit with the pain. After my bath we laid in bed to watch Scandal to try and take my mind off of it, which totally didn't help. After about 2 hours of laying in bed with tons of pain, Scooter decided it was time to head to the hospital. Right about the time we were heading to the hospital, mother nature decided to have a horrible ice storm. Of course it took twice as long to get there because the roads were a mess.

We got to the hospital safe and sound around 11:30pm. When we arrived, the nurse checked to see if I was dilated and monitored contractions. I remember the nurse telling me my contractions were "impressive". I was dilated to 3 cm and she confirmed that it was time to have a baby!

They got us set up in our room (which was super nice), and they started a bunch of blood work and whatever else they had to do before I got an epidural. During this time I didn't know how much longer I could handle the pain. I thought I was going to break Scooters hand. I give major props to anyone who has ever had a natural birth!! Because Scooter does Anesthesia for a living, he talked to the nurse and requested an early epidural (thank goodness!!!). About 1 hour later our CRNA showed up. I don't think I have ever been so excited to see someone in my life.

After the epidural was placed, I felt like a new woman. I could barely feel any contractions at all. The next time the nurse checked, I was about 6 cm dilated. At this point she decided to call my doctor to give her plenty of time to get to the hospital because the roads were really bad. Once my doctor arrived to the hospital, things started to move right along. Right when she got there I started to feel like I needed to push.

This part went REALLY fast. I literally pushed for 8 minutes (about 3-4 pushes) and then baby Maddy was born! The staff joked about how I must workout a lot because I gave birth so quickly!

I don't think I would have survived this experience without my husband (or the CRNA who placed my epidural haha). He was my biggest cheerleader and was so incredibly sweet to me the whole time. I am so thankful that he is my husband and my baby's daddy.

We could not be more in love with our sweet angel.