Coralee's Birth Story

I officially want you all to meet our newest addition, Coralee.

Since she will be 4 months in less than 2 weeks, I figured now is better than never!

It all started on July 13th. It was a Saturday and Nick actually happened to be home that day. He had promised me the day to work on projects for the nursery since my c-section was scheduled for the 22nd and we had a ton to do still. We went about our morning and afternoon working on various things here and there. Nick had just finished painting a shelf for the nursery when he decided to go outside and mow for a bit. I was feeling a little strange so I decided to lie down and rest for a bit.

Around 5:00 p.m. I got my first painful contraction and it lasted for about 30 seconds. I thought it to be a bit strange but decided to just wait and see if it happened again. Sure enough, about 5 minutes later, I had another one. And then they just kept coming about every 4-5 minutes. I didn't want to alert Nick just yet so I got up and walked around to see if they would stop. When they didn't, I decided it was time to start packing a bag for Addison. I had, thankfully, just finished packing our hospital bag the night before but hadn't had a chance to pack anything for Addie since we weren't planning on me actually going into labor before my mom arrived from Iowa.

Nick then came into the house and I said "I'm not sure yet but I think I may be in labor." He of course brushed it off since I had never felt actual labor before (Addison had been a scheduled c-section as well) and assumed I was just getting myself worked up over nothing. He then decided to take Addie for a 4-wheeler ride over to the neighbors house and said he'd be home shortly. I, however, was getting more anxious since the contractions were starting to get much stronger.

It was around 6:30 and I was to the point that I had to stop and breathe through them so I decided to page the OB that was on call. It wasn't long before the OB called me and so I explained to him that I had been having strong painful contractions lasting about a minute every 4 to 5 minutes. I then told him that we lived an hour from the hospital and I wasn't sure what to do. He said I needed to head there immediately. Of course, this put me into panic mode because Nick wasn't home and I wasn't finished packing. I could see Nick was outside at the neighbor's house so I yelled at him and said it was time. He then frantically grabbed Addie and came back home.

We called some friends to see if they would be able to watch Addison for the night and began loading up the car with everything we thought we might need. We dropped Addie off and began heading down the mountain around 7:30. The next hour seemed to drag on forever since the contractions were getting very painful and were occurring about every 3-4 minutes.

Of course, once we got to the hospital, the valet parking had closed and Nick dropped me off at the ER while he went to park the car. Talk about frustrating! I got myself checked in and since no one offered to give me a ride up to the third floor, I had to stop walking every 3 minutes while I had a contraction. Finally, Nick caught up with me and was able to help me up to the OB ward but it was a little bit irritating that no one offered to help me before that. Thankfully, that was the worst of our experience there. From then on, we actually had a great staff to deal with.

Around 8:40 I was dressed and hooked up to the monitors so that they could see how things were going and if I was actually in labor. I was definitely having very strong contractions and they were 2-3 minutes apart at this point but my cervix was completely thick and closed. All that work for nothing!

Since I was supposed to be having a c-section, they legally had to try to stop the labor since I wasn't yet 39 weeks along so they hooked me up to an IV and pumped two bags of fluids into me for the next hour. They told us the likelihood that we were going to have a baby was pretty slim since things hadn't happened with my cervix in the 3 1/2 hours I'd been in labor. This was frustrating to hear since I was in a lot of pain. The contractions did start to slow down a little but they weren't weakening any. In fact, they were getting much worse. Nick enjoyed watching the contraction monitor so he could see just how strong they were and, according to him, they were bad (like I really needed to be told that).

2 hours passed and my OB arrived to see how things were going. He talked to me a bit about how I was feeling and decided to check to make sure things hadn't progressed. We were shocked when he said my cervix was 100% thinned and at 3 cm! The next few minutes were a whirlwind as he explained that there was not stopping the labor and they were going to start preparing me for a c-section. We called our families and the nurses came to prep me.

In less than 30 minutes, I was prepped, ready, and headed for the operating room! They sat me on the operating table and began to give me the spinal. Since I was having so many contractions it was very difficult for me to relax enough for them to get it in correctly so they literally had to stick me in three different spots. I won't lie, it was extremely painful! Once they got it though, the pain was gone and was able to FINALLY relax. They began the operation and at 11:35 p.m. Coralee Nicole was born!

 

Hearing her cry was such a joyous moment. I can't even explain what I was feeling at that moment. She was finally here and she was completely healthy! They brought her over to me and I was able to hold and kiss my baby girl for the very first time. She was so tiny. She weighed 6lbs, 1 oz and was 19" long.

I was exhausted but still had a long night ahead of me since I had to spend an hour in recovery and then get settled into my own room where I could finally get some rest. I was still filled with so much joy though that none of this really bothered me.

Overall, the experience was an amazing one and I wouldn't change any of it! I am thankful that I was actually able to experience real labor. It was something I feared I would never be able to do. I still hope to have a natural childbirth with my next baby (if we are blessed with one) but I am just thankful that I have 2 beautiful healthy girls either way!

And I put together a little picture and video montage in honor of our sweet baby girl!