Birth Story

I've been wanting to share my birthing experience with you since it's a wonderful testament of God's faithfulness to us... and I'm very proud of it too! Here it goes...

On Saturday night (the 19th) my body had a few sudden changes concerning my fluids. I knew it had to do with the pregnancy and was excited to tell David things were progressing. I didn't think this progress meant I was actually in labor just that my body was coming closer to delivery! I emailed David knowing he was at work and told him to call me if he had a chance. During his call to me, around 12am, I had my first contraction. I knew it was a contraction but I thought that it was definitely false labor pains since it was way to early to have my baby!

As the next few hours went on I continued to have contractions and feel sick. I timed them and tried to go to sleep hoping they would settle down. I talked to David on the phone around 2am and he encouraged me to call the hospital. I knew they would tell me to come in so they could monitor what was going on. They did tell me to come in and I was very unenthusiastic about it, mostly because I was afraid.

I woke up my cousins and told them what was going on. They seemed way too excited considering the fact that I was in pain :) They were both so encouraging throughout this whole experience and again, God's hand in the timing of them being at my house was amazing! Jessica drove us to the hospital on the Army base which is about 40 min from our house. Once we got there we got to the labor and delivery triage and they checked a lot of things including fetal movement, my contractions, checked to see if my water had broke etc. After all these exciting tests and many more contractions they said my water had indeed broke. This baby girl was ready to meet me, I on the other hand wasn't so sure!

Since Norah was going to be born soon and I was only 35 weeks along they had to transport me to a hospital with a NICU. I was brought by ambulance to a hospital near down town for a safer environment in case of emergencies. When I arrived at the other hospital it was about 5:30am and things continued to progress quickly! Norah entered this world at 7:16am and was obviously perfect (there's no bias here :)). No breathing problems or oxygen needed. There were a lot of concerns because of her early arrival but again, God's timing was amazing and she was perfectly healthy!

(I just had a baby!!! Welcome to the world Norah Linn, you're our miracle girl!)

Throughout the night my cousins would call and update David on my progress. He was probably pacing around his office in Baghdad! I talked to David within a minute of delivery and told him we just had a baby!!! I was overwhelmed with excitement and disbelief as I'm sure David was. After I briefly talked to him I had to go cut the umbilical cord and focus all of my love and attention on Norah.

Even though I went into labor so early the hospital staff was very accommodating to my requests. I wanted to have a natural birthing process, hold Norah for as long possible after birth, cut the umbilical cord myself and a few other important things to us. I was able to have all my wishes and again God's perfect timing in everything made this possible. If there were complications I probably wouldn't have been granted many of my desires for the birthing process. Praise God for his faithfulness to me in this trying situation.

(Cuddling with Norah a few hours after delivery)

Here's the rundown of the night:

12:ooam Water broke

12:30am 1st contraction

2:15am Leave for Evans Army Hospital

3:15am Check into triage at labor and delivery

4:00am 2cm & 90% effaced

5:00am Ambulance ride to Memorial Hospital

5:45am 4cm, 100% effaced & +2

6:20am 7cm

6:50am 9cm

7:03am Start to push!

7:16am Norah was born!!!!!!!

(Norah Linn - 4lbs 13oz and healthy and strong!)

My labor and birth story is so special and I'm very proud of it! It was intense but such a wonderful and amazing to experience. I am so thankful for God's timing with all my anxieties about birth, not having to deal with my gestational diabetes for very long, having my wonderful cousins in town, and meeting my baby girl earlier!