Gracie Leigh Gibbs 1/10/10

Finally a post about the long awaited day!! I feel like I have been out of the blogging and face booking loop for so long because I really couldn't handle the "have you had your baby yet?" questions I was getting. I can only say that I am grateful for the people in my life who asked how I was doing and didn't make me feel like I was broken because my baby hadn't come yet. Anyway, this is not what the post is about. This post is about the most beautiful baby in the world that decided to join our family.

My family came down on Thursday last week because I was having false labor. We thought it was real, it wasn't. I was so frustrated! I couldn't figure out what to do to have this baby plus, if I didn't have her by the next week they were going to induce me which I absolutely did not want. So Friday my sister made me walk up and down stairs all day, I ate everything in the "how to induce your baby naturally" book of stories, got a full body massage and everything. I seriously tried it all. That night I laid in bed and cried to Beau. He told me to just be patient and she would be here when she was ready. UGH! So that night I talked to my darling girl and told her that I would be patient and wait for her to be here. I slept great that night. In the morning I woke up and was being kicked in the center of my stomach instead of the right rib...wait a minute that isn't normal. So I turned to Beau and he agreed with me, my baby had definitely dropped. That is a good sign right? My mother and sister decided to go home because nothing was happening with baby so, they left that morning and Beau took me on a 2 mile walk. When I got home I cleaned and organized the entire house and then Beau took me on a date that night. It was the first night in a long time that I didn't feel frustrated about my little girl not being here.

Sunday morning I woke up, ate a yogurt, and got in the shower at 9:00am. While showering I had my first contraction....huh that was weird I thought. So I got out of the shower and told Beau that I think I was having contractions. So we started timing them. Automatically they were 5 minutes apart and then quickly went to 3 minutes apart. That is when my mother (who had come back to Cedar City) told me that we should probably go in because I was strep B positive and needed the IV. So we went to the hospital and they admitted us to a room. They began monitoring my contractions and the baby for about 1 hour. My contractions were 2 minutes apart and I was doing fine. I was dilated to a 3+ and then after an hour I was a 4+. This was good because they decided that I really was in labor and could stay. So they came in to give me my IV of penicillin, ouch, and then let me get up and walk around. Laying on a bed during contractions was one of the most painful things. I probably walked the halls for 2 hours with the love of my life, stopping during contractions to breathe, and then walking again. I kept doing this until it was really too painful to walk and then I walked one more time to just make sure.

The nurse came in and checked me because it had been three more hours..I was only at a 5! What! My pain level was pretty severe so she let me get in the tub and labor there for a while. She came in and said that Gracie was pushing down on my bag of water not on my cervix so that is why I wasn't dilating. April, the nurse, gave me an option. She said that either I could continue on in the labor process which could go for another 24 hours or she could call Lori in have her break my water which would put me into hard labor right away. Ugh..I was scared! I didn't know what to do but the contractions were coming pretty close and so I told her to let Lori in to brake my water. Lori came about an hour later to check me and I was at a 6 so some progression but not enough. Lori broke my water at 7:00pm and almost immediately the contractions came one on top of the other. It was then that I thought I couldn't do it. Luckily I have the best husband and life partner in the world plus a very wonderful and supportive mom and sister so they were there to hold me up. I will admit there was a moment that I turned to my nurse Megan and asked her if there was any form of pain medication, besides and epidural, that she could give me. She went to get Lori then and Lori said "why don't we try the tub again" So I got back in the tub and I will spare the details but, I told Beau numerous times that I just couldn't do it anymore. The pressure was so intense!!

Finally I looked at Lori and said "get me out of the tub I have to push this baby is coming now" So they got me out of the tub and put me on the bed. Gracie's heart beat started to drop so they were trying to put the monitor on my and had me move to different positions to help her come. I had to be on oxygen while going through contractions because the baby wasn't getting any oxygen so that was crazy. The details here are pretty hazy, lucky for you guys :) But, Lori did say at one point that I could push for up to an hour or for ten minutes it was totally up to me and how I pushed. I looked at her and said "no way it will not take an hour" so two more contractions, eight more minutes, and a little chubby blue baby popped right out. This may be a TMI moment but Lori let me deliver the baby myself. She told me to grab her head, which I did, and push and pull at the same time and I got to pull her out and onto my chest. It was AMAZING! She was 8lbs 6 ounces and 20inches long. The chubbiest, cutest, sweetest baby on the planet. I couldn't imagine what my life would be like with her and now I can't imagine my life without her.

I remember that the minute she was born my pain was totally gone. No, not even then minute, it was the second she was born my pain was gone. I looked at Beau and said "I could do that again" and then I looked at my mom and said "I'm starving!! Can I have some food?" Hahaha so while they were sewing me up and trying to stop my hemorrhaging (more details you probably don't want), My mother fed me a turkey sandwich. It was amazingly good :)

Beau was an amazing birthing partner. Honestly, he stood by my side, held my hand, held my legs, cried with me, supported me, breathed with me, loved me, carried some of my burden, talked to me, laid by me, sang to me, and just was with me. He held everything together so well and while I was pushing he coached me the entire time. I could not have even thought about attempting this birth without him. I love you Babe!!