Our baby girl has finally arrived! On September 25, 2012 Maelyn Grace was born at 11:12am weighing in at 6lbs 2ounces and measuring 20 inches long.
The story begins weeks before this special day though. As this pregnancy draws to an end and I am visiting Dr. England every week, I was constantly getting the same bummer news of my body not progressing. That has never been the case with the boys so of course I am mentally defeated thinking our baby girl is never coming. About 38 weeks Dr. England encouraged me to set an induction date because he was leaving town. Hesitant and really not sure if I wanted to be induced I schedule my induction just so I could get on the schedule and guarantee Dr. England would deliver our baby. (We're 3 for 3 with Dr. England!) Deep down I was hoping she would just come early and I wouldn't have to worry about it all. On September 20th, I went in for my 39 week check and I was barely a tight one and about 50% thinned. Still not enough progress to guarantee I could even get induced the next week so as I was leaving my appointment Dr. England told me to schedule one last time and the day before induction. He wanted to see if I had progressed and to see if he could help progress me farther along so the labor and delivery nurses wouldn't chance sending me home from my induction. Here is the last picture of myself being pregnant. I took it the day before I delivered and right before my last doctor appointment.
Unfortunately only a 4 days before my actual due date and just 16 hours until my induction I was still at the same point as my last appointment. For weeks Dr. England reassured me this was normal and it didn't really matter what my cervix was doing until the actual moment of delivery. So he sent me on my way and said he'd see me in the morning. At this point, although still defeated my body isn't going into labor, I accepted the fact I was going to have to be induced. I decided I would rather have Dr. England deliver our baby than have the moment of going into labor on my own. That night Nate had school and my mom was already in town so she took me and the boys to Red Robin for dinner one last time before our little one would join us and we were house bound for awhile. As we were eating dinner I had 2 strong contractions back to back. That was huge for me considering I wasn't contracting much let alone back to back at this point. I didn't want to get my hopes up so I chalked it up to me just cramping from my doctors appointment just a couple hours before. We were driving home from dinner when I had another contraction, and then shortly after we got home I had another while we were outside visiting with neighbors. That was 4 consecutive contractions which was a big deal for my body but still didn't think much about it since I mentally had committed to my induction. Time went on and I got busy with my "to do list" of things I wanted to get done before our early morning and before I knew it it was 11:00pm and I decided I should probably get some sleep. 1:00am rolls around and I have Jackson at the side of my bed waking me up because he had a scary dream. I told him he could climb in bed with us and he quickly fell back asleep. Me on the other hand laid there for an hour realizing I was contracting every 3 minutes. After tracking my contractions for an hour I decided I should probably get ready. I rolled over to wake Nate up letting him know I was getting in the shower because our little girl had decided to make her own plans for today. By the time we were both showered and packed it was about 3:45am. Both boys had made it into our bed by now and had fallen back to sleep so I walked downstairs to let my mom know we were leaving and to let her know both boys were sound asleep in our bed. She anxiously got up to lay with them and await our updates.
Luckily we delivered at Riverton Hospital this time and it was only a few minute drive. It was barely 4:00am when we were checking in at the nurses counter in labor and delivery. Once I told them my name I am sure they thought I was crazy! They said "we have you scheduled to be induced later this morning, did your water break?". After telling them about my contractions, they said "well lets just get you started a few hours earlier than". It was kind of nice being checked right in. Rather than putting us in a room to "wait it out" to see if I was really in active labor it was 4:30am and I was hooked up to my IV's and dripping away. I had to have the penicillin again for testing positive for Strep B so that was the first priority. Dr. England delivered a baby next door shortly after we had arrived so he stopped by to check on me. His first words were "you are the last person I thought I'd see here this morning going into labor on her own!" He also checked me real quick only to find out I was STILL at a tight one just like the nurses had stated from their earlier check. He went from thinking this was normal to this is strange... "I don't know why your cervix is being so stubborn this time". He said with a little pitocin things could change real quick so he wasn't concerned. He let us know he was going back home to get some more sleep and that he'd come back in a few hours to break my water. By the time I had made it through my first 2 bags of antibiotics, the anesthesiologist had already been called and I was feeling pretty dang good around 6:00am. I always love the epidural! What a relaxing feeling as the contractions slowly disappear and every muscle from the back down go numb and relax. Definitely worth every penny! Dr. England made his second visit around 8:30am. At this time he checked me again and I was STILL at a tight one. He was so confused on the lack of progress, but was able to force me to a 3 and break my water. He estimated delivery for sometime mid afternoon. He told us to hang tight and the nurses would notify him as I got closer. With his estimate, Nate and I knew we could be in for a long afternoon since we had already been there since 4am. We spent the time just relaxing as much as we could. The nurses kept coming back in to check on me and readjust my monitors so I couldn't really get much sleep. But I don't think I would have been able to rest anyways because the nurses were showing concern for our baby's heartbeat. Every time I would contract her heart rate would drop drastically. At first the nurses weren't too concerned because as soon as the contraction was over her heart rate popped back up to where it should be and was going strong. I remember feeling a really strong contraction and I looked over at the monitors only to see our baby's heart beat drop drastically lower than what it had been doing already. I knew shortly after that one the nurses would be back in to check on me. Little did I know Dr. England would be leading the pack my way. It was about 10:30am when he came back in to check on me. I had miraculously went from a forced 3 to an 8 within 2 hours! The nurses and Doc couldn't believe it. Dr. England said "I am thinking we need to get things started. Something is making your little girl stress and she is getting tired. I am going to force you to a 10 and then have you start pushing." He rambled a bunch of things to me but all I remember is him ordering the delivery nurses to get things set up and calling a lung specialist for our baby just in case. As soon as he was all suited up for delivery he checked me again and I was already at a 10. It was definitely game time but the atmosphere in the room instantly went from the laid back funny Dr. England to showing some real concern for our baby's safety. It took everything in me not to freak out and burst into tears trying to find out what was going wrong with our baby. Just the night before (and many months before this) I kept telling Nate how scared I was for this one and how I felt like something wasn't right with her. I know its every mother's worst fear of something going wrong during pregnancy and delivery so I tried to push those thoughts aside until this intense moment. The thoughts kept going through my head as tears are rolling down my face that "this is where its all going to happen, something is wrong with our baby girl and we are going to lose her!" Next thing I remember is the nurse putting an oxygen mask on my face telling me to "take deep breaths, your baby needs all she can get right now". I was a mess but kept telling myself to focus on what Dr. England was asking me to do as I was about to push. With only 3 pushes she was finally here only to have the umbilical cord wrapped around her neck twice. I remember looking down just in time to watch Dr. England unwrap it and realizes what was stressing her out so much. She was so blue but they instantly put her on my chest. The nurses reassured me our baby was fine and I was able to finally relax. I was in Mommy heaven although still in shock from the intense few minutes we just had. Nothing felt better than that new little warm body next to mine as I soaked in the moment with Nate of what a miracle these little babies really are.
After a few minutes of the Dr and nurses cleaning me up, Maelyn's big
brothers got to come in from being out in the hall and meet their new
little sister. They had spent the last 9 months praying for her and lovin' and kissing my
tummy so finally getting to see her, they were instantly in love! Jackson and Andersen were so sweet with her and were so interested in every detail. Jackson especially followed her wherever the nurses took her just to make sure she was ok and watched everything they were doing. It was so cute, Nurse Blanch let Jackson be a part of all the newborn testing they do. She let him be right there when Maelyn got weighed and measured. He was at her side as Blanch did her footprints and even let him help with the apgard test to check her reflexes. They instantly bonded and Jacks never wanted to leave her side.
Thank goodness the proud Grandma's were there too to help with the boys and share our special family moment with us.
Its moments like these that makes a couples love stronger than it was just the day before. I most definitely love my boys, but I have always wanted a little girl too, so finally getting this moment I was overwhelmed with gratitude. Gratitude for Heavenly Father bringing her safely to our home. I felt so ashamed being disappointed in my lack of progress those last few weeks of pregnancy because now seeing the big picture I felt like it was a special tender mercy. I feel like Heavenly Father was protecting her all along because if I would have progressed like I did during delivery and Maelyn drop into that birth canal earlier than just minutes before delivery we would have lost her. That umbilical cord could have easily strangled her and taken her from this world. We already love Maelyn so much and its amazing how something so small can change a family so drastically for the better.
Welcome to your new home and family of 5 baby girl!
We love you!
