So, after 40 weeks of feeling sick and exhausted beyond belief, I thought that I was going to have this baby in April. At least within a day or two of my April 26th due date. Georgia proved me wrong again by showing up 13 days late on May 9th.
I thought that labor would go pretty fast. I was in labor with Max for 2.5 hours. Georgia proved me wrong again by laboring with me for about 12 hours. Rude awakening for me. Nothing happens the way you think it will.
But it was still worth it.
It's May 8th. I'm 2 days away from my 42 week mark and I have an appointment with my midwife. At 42 weeks she has to do an ultra sound, non-stress test and consult a physician. Just to make sure everything is alright and the baby is still healthy. If everything checks out they let me wait another week to see if the baby comes naturally, if not, they transfer me to the hospital and have me induced. At 43 weeks my midwife can no longer deliver the baby at home and I have to be induced at the hospital. We were on a time crunch. And, I was just ready to not be pregnant anymore and have my baby. At 41 weeks we tried stripping the membranes but I wasn't dilated at all so we couldn't. That was a disappointing day. We were hoping that by the time we got to 42 weeks I would be dilated at least enough to just strip the membranes. Thankfully I was. My midwife felt confident that it should naturally induce labor. We had done all of the tests and the ultra sound and everything checked out . We did see that baby was posterior so my midwife told me of some different exercises I could come home and and to try to get the baby to turn around the right way. We left her office and the contractions started soon after. I went home and started trying to get my posterior baby to turn around. Thayne went back to work and took Max with him so that I could have some quiet. After a couple hours of regular contractions I decided it was real labor and I needed Thayne to come home and my midwife and her assistant should probably come over too. Thayne came home and brought Max in to see me before taking him to the neighbors. Max climbed up on my bed, gave me hug and said "Good luck, Mommy". It was so sweet. When Thayne got back from the neighbors I had him start setting up the birthing pool. I wasn't really sure if I wanted to use it or not but figured I would try it out and see how I liked it. Turns out it really helped with the contractions. I spent at least 8 hours in that pool that night. I'm not sure I would have made it through the entire labor without it. A couple hours went by and my contractions started changing and I started to feel like I needed to push but If I pushed it felt like I was pushing against a brick wall. I had my midwife check me. She thought that it was probably just feeling that way because my water hadn't broken yet. She said she could break my water and I would probably have the baby within about 10 minutes. She got her stuff out and ready and then she checked me and was shocked to tell me that I was still dilated to a 2 and baby was still posterior... the same as when I had left her office that afternoon. Oh man. We all settled in for a long night. The contractions became unbearable. The urge to push was unbearable. Pushing was unbearable. If I could have quit, I would have. I went back and forth between the pool and my bed. Baby was doing fine through it all. It didn't seem to even phase her. After a couple more hours I had my midwife check me again. This time I was dilated to a 5... enough for her to break my water and that would hopefully allow the baby's head to put the right pressure on my cervix to get the rest of it to move more quickly. But, apparently baby's head was in a strange position because things were still going pretty slow and pretty unbearable. A couple more hours went by and when I really felt like it was do or die I had my midwife check again... dilated to an 8. Oh man. Then she told me she could try manual dilation where she would actually push on my cervix and massage it and try to get it to dilate the rest of the way. She warned me that it would be pretty painful but I told her I didn't care. I needed this labor to be over so I wanted her to try anything she could to help it go faster. Thankfully my cervix was ready to dilate because as soon as she pushed on it, it started pulling back and opening. It was excruciating but then it was time to push. It took about 10 minutes of pushing to get her out (with Max it was less than 5 minutes). I could tell that this baby was bigger than Max had been. What a difference almost a full pound makes! But that moment when the baby finally came out I felt relief like I never have. They handed her up to me and I was instantly in love. After a minute Thayne and I held her up to see if she was a boy or a girl. It was so exciting to end the suspense and finally know. And even though all through the pregnancy I had said that I didn't care if we had a boy or girl, in that moment that I saw she was a girl I knew that she was the perfect fit for our family and we were meant to get a girl. Thayne and I sat on our bed holding her for an hour and a half. We were blissfully exhausted. I showered, Thayne and our midwife gave Georgia her first bath and weighed her and started doing all of the check up stuff with her. She looked great. Perfectly healthy and perfectly beautiful. She came at 2:01 am, weighed 8 lbs 8 oz, and was 20.5 inches long. It was the longest and hardest night of my life. But it was one of the best too. It was tough getting her here but now that she's here she has been the easiest and happiest baby. She fits into our family perfectly.
Our neighbor was so great to take Max for the whole night. None of us were expecting for it to turn into an all night thing. She let him stay in the morning so Thayne and I could get some sleep. When she brought him over she took the pictures above of Max meeting Georgia. He was so excited. He had been asking me every day if it was the day I was going to have the baby. He had also insisted through the whole pregnancy that he was going to have a baby sister and if anyone suggested even just the possibiliy of us having a boy he would get mad and instantly put that person in their place.
Max has done really well. I was worried that there would be some jealousy or that he would start acting out or take advantage of the fact that there's a baby taking so much of my attention right now but he has been incredible. I mostly only have to worry about him helping too much. He wants to hug her and "pet" her and kiss her all the time.
She is one lucky girl to have such a great big brother. I hope it will last and that they will grow up as close friends.
Thayne was so great through the whole thing. He hated that he couldn't do much to help me but he stayed with me the whole time and encouraged me and told me I could do it when I thought I couldn't. He is such a hands on dad and I never have to ask him to help out with the kids. He is so cute with Georgia and I can tell he is excited to have another daddy's girl.
We named her Georgia Heather. Georgia after me because Thayne call me George (long story) and Heather after my close friend. Heather has been there for me for a long time and I most definitely would be a different person today if it weren't for her and her influence in my life. She stepped in and cared about me and gave me some direction when I was a bratty, lost teenager. She has been there for the most important things in my life and it just seemed right to give my daughter her name. Hopefully I can raise Georgia to live up to that name and be as amazing as Heather is.
This girl is destined for great things and I'm so grateful that I get to be a part of her life. I could not be happier that she is mine.
