Emotional Roller Coaster, Pt. I

Ada has brought so much joy into our lives, and it started like this (as remembered by Stacy): I started feeling contractions at about 1 a.m., but they were still pretty far apart, so I just went back to bed and slept between them. At 8 a.m., we decided to drive to Cedar City. Fortunately, I was still able to sleep between the contractions for the 2 1/2 hour drive. When we got to the hospital, I was already dilated 5 cm and things started progressing faster. Because I was trying give birth as natural as possible, my one hope was to labor in the bathtub, which can be amazing pain-relief. As we were filling it, our midwife arrived and told us she didn't think I was progressing fast enough. She wanted to break my water, but I refused, so we compromised and she decided to strip my membranes. In the process, my water was accidentally broken and that's when things really started. Needless to say, I never got to sit in the tub like I wanted. Ada was facing the wrong direction (posterior), so the next two hours were spent trying to turn her- with the midwife's hand on her head, and Bryan pushing my belly in the right direction- PAINFUL. She eventually turned, and it was time for me to start pushing. Because my contractions were so long (most over 2 minutes), Ada was starting to distress a bit. I was swollen from trying to get her to turn, so pushing wasn't as effective as it needed to be. The midwife didn't think we could wait for her to come out on her own, so she called the doctor to come help with the vacuum extractor. They warned me that if it didn't work after a couple of pushes, we would have to go to the operating room for an emergency c-section (which they were already preparing). And that's all it took. After 2 pushes and help from the vacuum, Ada was born at 5:30 p.m. They had people ready to whisk her off for extra care due to the distress- her cord was wrapped around her neck 3 times! But as soon as she came out, she was perfect. Her APGAR scores were as high as they get, Bryan cut the cord and she was immediately on my chest. I couldn't believe it was finally over and she was healthy and beautiful. At the time, I wasn't sure I would do it over again without medication, but I realize now how much I was able to experience. And I couldn't have done it without Bryan. He was as tired as I was after me hanging on him, crushing his hands over and over again and holding me in various positions. But in the end, it was all worth it.

Leaving the hospital