Sarah Elizabeth's Arrival

Sarah Elizabeth came into our lives on Wednesday, August 5 at 9:24am, weighing in at 9lbs 2.5oz and 21 1/4" long with a 14" head.  I started pre-labor contractions on Sunday night.  I didn't really know about pre-labor and we thought this might be the real thing.  I had contractions off and on Sunday night, all day Monday, and all day Tuesday.  It was kind of awful because we kept on wondering if this was it.  Contractions came irregularly - some times 5 minutes apart, 45, 3, 25.  They were pretty much always 30 seconds - a minute and a half long.  Over these days Robert and I got approximately 3 hours of sleep total.  We didn't really tell anybody that this was going on because we had no idea how long it would last and didn't want people waiting on us for hours/days.  My parents came to Springfield on Tuesday night to see us for a bit, and I ended up having my mom spend the night.  We said good night to her around 10:00, and from the moment on the contractions came consistently.  We followed the 5:1:1 rule (contractions 5 minutes apart, 1 minute long, for an hour) and decided to go to the hospital at about 11:00.  We had a 10 minute drive in the rain, and I was hoping so desperately that this was it and I wouldn't be sent home.

30 minutes later we were checked in and admitted.  I was dilated for 4cm.  I had always thought it was strange when ladies had anyone other than their husband in the labor and delivery room, but immediately we knew we needed my mom there, so we called her and she was there within about 30 minutes.  By 11:30 I was dilated to 7cm and super pumped that it only took an hour to progress 3cm.  Nurse Amber offered to get me in different positions, but honestly nothing felt good except to walk and stand and go to the bathroom after nearly every contraction.  I had a mobile telemetry monitor which made moving around easier.

Things majorly slowed down, and at 6:00am I was finally dilated to 8cm.  We had the hospitalist break my water which didn't hurt one bit, and they started pitocin.  At 7:00am the nurses switched and Danielle started assisting me.  She didn't let me call the shots like Amber did, and she made me get in some uncomfortable positions to keep labor progressing.  At 7:30 she had my get on my right side for two contractions, and it hurt like nobody's business.  Next, she had me get on all fours, and after just 1 minute I sprung out because it just wasn't going to happen.  But when I stood up I knew that something had changed.  Danielle thought surely not since she had just checked me and I was maybe at 8.5cm.  However, I got her  to check me again, and sure enough I was fully dilated 10cm and it was time to push.

Dr. Graves came in at about 8:30.  Since Sarah had waited until normal business hours, Dr. Graves was able to deliver her instead of having the doctor on call.  I think I did a pretty good job pushing.  I was pleasantly surprised, because I had heard people talk about how they didn't know how to push, but I really didn't have that problem.  I pushed through 4 contractions, and 20 minutes later Sarah was here.  Robert was able to cut the umbilical cord, and we had some skin to skin time.

While Dr. Graves was finishing up everything with me, I started feeling pretty anxious and panicky with some shaking which they said is normal, but I just didn't feel right.  At 10:30 I told Danielle I was feeling very dizzy and having a hard time hearing.  She started getting concerned and called in reinforcement.  We had about 8 nurses in there, and Dr.  Graves was called back to returned.  Nurse Mary came in to press on my uterus and pushed out a hemorrhage the size of Sarah.  Thankfully, I didn't see it because I was already on my back with an oxygen mask, but Robert saw it and was horrified.  The gave me a shot of Hemabate to help the uterus contract better as the hemorrhages were caused by the uterus not contracting and bleeding too much.  They also inserted a catheter which was a new experience. The nurse suggested that Robert get a support person back here.  My mom had left for delivery.  Robert gave a nurse his phone, and she called my mom to return so she could support Robert.  I held Robert's hand the whole time, and they sent Sarah up to the nursery.  That was pretty heartbreaking to know that she was with somebody else for the first 7 hours of her life.  I ended up losing 2200cc of blood which Dr. Graves said is half of a person's blood supply.  I received two blood transfusions, and after all that (about an hour) I started to be able to talk and interact a bit more.  During that time, they had been pressing on my uterus a lot and very forcefully - so hard that they popped my back through my stomach three times!  This time was scary for me of course, but I know it was also so hard for Robert and Mom to watch.  They drew my blood, and the hemoglobin levels were still too low, so they did a third transfusion.  After the third transfusion they sent in another phlebotomist to draw my blood to test again.  He took about 45 minutes and had to poke me twice.  It was awful and annoying.  A nurse came back half an hour later and said he'd taken too long to bring the blood back to the lab and it had coagulated and couldn't be used, so they sent in another person to do it.  It took a long time again but not quite as bad.  I got to eat some food, and Robert and I just sat around waiting.  This experience made me so thankful for blood donors!  Finally, the hemoglobin was high enough, and I was able to be transferred to the maternity wing at 5:00pm.

Mom, Dad, Serina, Ray, Memaw, and Pepaw came up to meet Sarah shortly after that.  They didn't know the name, so it was fun to finally reveal it!

I stayed Wednesday and Thursday night in the hospital.  I was so unbelievably exhausted after getting 3 hours of sleep in 4 days.  My body was very sore from all of the pushing.  I was weak from the blood transfusions.  Even going to the bathroom was an ordeal.  My tail bone was numb.  Everything hurt.  I by no means feel like I'm back to 100%, but each day I feel a little bit better.

Because of the blood loss, my colostrum didn't come in like it normally would have, and the whole breastfeeding thing got delayed by about a day.  I never planned on Sarah having formula, but that's just what had to be done in the hospital.  Thankfully, we haven't had to use formula since coming home.  However, Sarah was having the hardest time latching and sucking.  We have a friend/church member who is a speech and language pathologist and she came over to look at Sarah, and discovered she's lip tied.  We were able to take her to an pediatric orthodontist yesterday to get the lip tie clipped with a laser.  It was very sad to see her cry, but thankfully she stopped as soon as it was over.  We can already tell she's latching better, and we have an appointment with the lactation consultant this afternoon to re-start breastfeeding now that her lip is fixed.

Snuggling with Aunt Taylor and Uncle Jim

Bible time with Grandpa and Dad

Post-delivery was the scariest experience of my life.  At one point I literally thought, "If I die, someone will help Robert raise Sarah."  However, during pre-labor God had given me two words for Robert and me to continually repeat: Strength and Peace.  God provided those two things abundantly.  He gave me strength to deliver a 9+ pound baby without an epidural or other pains meds.  He gave Robert and Mom strength to help me through labor.  He gave us supernatural peace in the unknown moments of catastrophe. Here's a song to sum up our thoughts about God's provision for this time:

Thank You for the wilderness
Where I learned to thirst for Your presence
If I'd never known that place
How could I have known You are better?

Thank You for the lonely times
When I learned to live in the silence
As the other voices fade
I can hear You calling me, Jesus

And it's worth it all just to know You more

You've done great things
Jesus, Your love never fails me
My soul will sing you have done great things

Thank You for the scars I bear
They declare that You are my healer
How could I have seen your strength
If You never showed me my weakness?

And it's worth it all, just to know You more

You've done great things
Jesus, Your love never fails me
My soul will sing You have done great things

You've done great things
In weakness, You are my victory
My soul will sing You have done great things

Through the fire and the flood You have never let me go
And my soul sing You have done great things
I am weak, You are strong
You will always be my hope
And my soul will sing You have done great things

Through the fire and the flood You have never let me go
And my soul will sing You have done great things
I am weak, You are strong
You will always be my hope
And my soul will sing You have done great things

You've done great things
Jesus, Your love never fails me
My soul will sing You have done great things

You've done great things
In weakness, You are my victory
My soul will sing You have done great things