The Story of Claire

On March 20th, the first day of spring, we welcomed our new baby girl into our lives.  What a wonderful day to be born!  This is the story of her birth. 

For the last 8 weeks of my pregnancy I was told that I would be induced at 39 weeks if the baby had not come by then.  I really didn’t want an induction, because I have fast labors and I didn’t want to be tied to the hospital bed.  I wanted to be able to walk around and labor at home some.  However, I was ready for the baby to come and since I was considered “high risk,” an induction was most likely going to happen.  At my 38 week appointment, the induction wasn’t scheduled and the doctor mentioned that they may let me go closer to 40 weeks.  I was frustrated because I was told for months that I would be induced and my mom was in town and really wanted to see her new granddaughter before she went back to Colorado.  Talk about pressure!  I had another appointment one day before I was 39 weeks and I met with the head doctor of the practice.  She said she would get me on the induction calendar and would call me later that day to let me know when.  She called me an hour later and said, “See you at the hospital at 7:00 tomorrow morning.”  What?  I would really be having a baby in less than 24 hours?  That afternoon and evening I worked and got everything organized at home because we were having a baby the next day!! 

The next morning we woke up early and headed to the hospital.  It was a very strange feeling just walking in with nothing happening, knowing that I would have a baby at the end of the day.  We got in, got settled, answered a million questions, and watched some HGTV.  Around 9:30 my doctor came in and it was time to get the show on the road.  She broke my water and started the pitocin.  I was already 3 cm dilated and as she left she said she was expecting a pretty quick labor, based on my past experience. We continued to watch HGTV, Kyle did some work, things were calm and controlled.  Over time, the contractions got stronger and stronger but nothing that I couldn’t breathe through.  Around 12:00 the contractions were pretty intense and at 12:50 I asked to be checked to see if any progress had been made.  I was 4 cm.  Are you kidding me??  I have fast labors and it had been over 3 hours and I had progressed only 1 cm?  I was discouraged and I asked for the epidural.  Kyle asked me if I was sure I wanted it and I said that if I had only progressed one cm in 3 hours, I needed that epidural!  I asked for it and the nurses got the IV fluids going that I needed before I was allowed to have the epidural.  At 1:20 my doctor came in and decided to check me.  She quickly said, “When was the last time you were checked?”  I told her, “12:50.”  She said, “12:15 or 12:50.”  I said, “12:50.  Like 5-0.”  She said, “Oh, wow!  You are already 7 cm.”  She quickly called the office and told them that she wouldn’t be coming back for her appointments after lunch since I was progressing so quickly.  I got the epidural in and as soon as he was done I told the nurse that I was feeling a LOT of pressure.  I knew she was coming soon!  I asked to be checked again because I was feeling the need to push.  My doctor checked me and I was still at 7 cm so she told me she was going to run over to the office (next door) and she would see me soon.  About 5 minutes later I REALLY felt the need to push and the nurse decided to check me.  I was 10 cm!  I went from 4 cm to 10 cm in less than an hour!  My doctor came running in the room saying, “Oh my goodness, I didn’t even have time to turn on my computer!”  I had the epidural in for less than 10 minutes so I was feeling everything!  They started running around the room getting the bed ready.  In less than 2 minutes everything was ready and it was time to push.  Kyle needed to go to the restroom so he ran over there really quickly (in our room).  As he left the bathroom, Dr. S said, “Hurry over dad, she’s coming!”  She told me to let her know when I had my next contraction and to push (which was strange because in the past I’ve never been able to feel those contractions because I’ve always had epidurals that worked.  I pushed once and said, “That hurt like hell!”  Kyle looked at me and said, “Well, she’s out!”  Really?  That was fast! 

Claire Marie

3/20/2013 at 2:03 PM

6 pounds 13 ounces

18 inches long

Claire impressed all the nurses because her Apgar scores were 9 and 10.  They told me that they only give a 10 about once every 6 months.  Everyone who came into the room said, “I heard she’s a 10!” and they were all very excited.  Evidently, it was a pretty big deal.  Who knew?  I joked with the nurse that Claire was already an overachiever. 

Welcome to our family, Claire.  We love you to the moon and back!