Millie Grace

Born Monday 7:27 pm
8 lbs 3 oz, 21.5 inches long

"She is a miracle. All our babies were sweet, Gilbert, but she is the sweetest."

-Anne of Ingleside, LM Montgomery

The Birth Story

Compared to my little sister, who had a baby on her living room floor two weeks ago, this could be boiled down to "We went to the hospital when they said to come in, and the baby was born that evening." But details are fun, so here they are.

My doctor thought inducing at 39 weeks would be good, based on my age and the fact that James was so large at 40 weeks and had shoulder dystocia. So, my due date was Sunday July 24, and that put induction at the Monday before.

I started having contractions off and on at 38 weeks, and severe back pain Thursday-Saturday that had me barely able to walk. I think she dropped and was sitting on my sciatic nerve. Then it got much better for Sunday and I was able to teach Relief Society.  I half-hoped to go into labor on my own that night and go on in in active labor, but in retrospect things worked out well.

We were able to spend a nice Monday morning with our boys in a relaxed way, without mom in pain rushing out the door and frantically getting the boys to where they needed to be. JB made waffles with strawberries while I kept checking with the hospital just about hourly since 6 AM.  Finally they said to come in at 10, so we took a last picture and went to drop the boys off at Nona and Papa's house, about 5 minutes from the hospital.

I had to be on an antibiotic for four hours at least before the birth, so that got started at 11:20 along with some Pitocin in my IVs. I was already at 2 cm.

I opted to get the epidural while contractions weren't bad, because the anesthesiologist was going to a C-section for 1 1/2 hours. But I wonder if he timed it to be when he thought I would be done? Because things stalled a bit with the pitocin at a lower dose, and I was still at a 7 cm dilated by around 6:30 (they broke my water at 3:30-ish). So they upped the pitocin to get things moving better, but the epidural was wearing off.  I found out later that JB took a picture of this.

Waves of pain - stabbing, searing, strong unbearable pain and pressure that I tried doing the special breathing through. But I felt like I wasn't part of my body anymore. I basically went through transition from a 7 cm to a 9 cm in a haze -- I was shaking and crying. Thank goodness for JB, who helped me calm down and focus, and the anesthesiologist came back and slammed more drugs into my IV just in time to push, but it gave me a numb left leg for the rest of the night.

Dr Laine came, and tons of nurses filled the room just in case, but it only took a few pushes and she was out very easily and safely.

Strong suck and neck control had her rooting around right away.  They left us for a bit to be alone with her. I was still shaking so badly but managed to take a crooked picture of JB.

My brother Joe was apparently waiting outside the door and heard my yells, I found out later. So he came in to meet her after a timely manner. He lives far away and was hanging around longer in town to meet her.

Then we called for our boys and Papa and Nona, because by now it was 8:30 and they had been waiting anxiously all day. This is grandchild #13 on the Richards side, #14 for the Deardeuff side.

She looks like her brothers! Exactly like our other babies.

The nurses were so cute. They came back in after a while of just family time, and let the boys "help" weigh her and check her vitals. Andrew listened to her heart, while James helped take her temperature.

Checking out her fingers.

A family of seven!

Next post is more about her name. We waited until the next day to see her, be with her, pray about it, and make sure we were at peace.