Edith's Birth Story

At midnight on Monday night/Tuesday morning, August 13, we checked into our hospital. I had planned on being induced for most of my pregnancy, because my fall grad school classes started the day after Edith's due date. We had a college event that Monday night, and I decided to go so that I didn't stare at the clock until midnight! My mom came up Monday afternoon to keep Israel. After our event we had about two hours to kill- I tried to rest but all I could think about was the sweet girl kicking in my belly would soon be in my arms!


At check-in, I was given medicine to begin the process of preparing my body for labor. I also took some medicine to help me sleep, and slept from about 1:30-6 am! I don't think I would have fallen asleep otherwise, I was so excited.



Around 6:15, I received an epidural. If I had gone into labor naturally I thought I would at least wait a while to get it, but because I started on pitocin I knew that an all-day induced labor would be really exhausting without an epidural. I wanted to be rested and prepared for Edith when she came!



At 6:40, they started me on pitocin, and soon after gave me my catheter. I was dilated to a 2.

At 9 am, they broke my water and I was dilated to a 3.



We had some of the most incredible nurses/ care team at the hospital! It is a very small hospital but the staff were awesome. For one of our nurses, it was her first delivery so she was just as excited as we were to see progress throughout the day. She made it a lot of fun!






Israel went to school from 8-3 on Tuesday, so our moms and dads and Will's brother were able to spend the day with us, and then they were on Israel duty for the afternoon. It was a long morning waiting for me to dilate! I was at a 4 at 1pm, and 5 at 2pm. Finally around 2:30, things started to pick up and I was a 6 1/2.



When Israel came back from school, he was immediately reaching for me when he saw me in the bed and I had to get some last minute snuggles with him before it was time for the family to head into the waiting room. He was so precious!

 
At 3:30, I was dilated to 8 1/2, and at 4:30 I was at a 9. I thought we were getting so close! We sent family out to the waiting room around 5:30 when I was at a 10. My friend Brittany came and took pictures for me during the labor process. She's not only one of my best friends, but she is a mom of 3 kids and I knew she would know what pictures I wanted (and didn't want!) to document the first special moments of our girl. She took some precious pictures and allowed Will to be fully present during the delivery and right after with our girl without having to worry about taking pictures.

 
Will was an incredible support system during the entire labor and hospital experience. He changed almost all of the hospital diapers and was an expert swaddler from the start. I'm so thankful to do life with my best friend.


 At 5:50, I started pushing. After forty-five minutes of pushing, Edith Joy came into the world at 6:36pm!





She weighed 7 pounds, 6 ounces, and was 20 inches long.


As soon as I heard her precious cry, I started sobbing. It was the most surreal thing- having a daughter, who was ours from the start, no longer in my womb but in the room! I was so ready to hold her and to see what she looked like. I basically cried for the next hour as they cleaned her, let me hold her and nurse her. It was the most emotional hour!



Will went out to show the family some pictures of our girl while I held her for a little while.




I ended up allowing them to take Edith to the nursery to get cleaned up, because I knew our family was anxious to see her, and Israel was beyond ready to go home. It was a LONG time for me waiting for her to come back! I was an emotional mess and if I had to do it over, I wouldn't have sent her away.







After she got cleaned up, they brought her back to me and our family went home. It was a long, exhausting day of laboring and our little chunky girl was finally in our arms.  Our first night was also really long as Edith and I figured out nursing. We had an incredible nurse who was so gentle and patient with me, and she helped me a lot that night.

I am still quick to get emotional when I think about Edith's birth day! The Lord was so faithful in the way things worked out and I am so grateful for the experience. I can't believe it has been one week since our Edith was born!

Comments

  1. There is nothing more precious than sharing the miracle of creating a child with your best friend and heavenly Father! Congratulations beautiful mommy!
    From Colleen Piechocki

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  2. There is nothing more precious than sharing the miracle of creating a child with your best friend and heavenly Father! Congratulations beautiful mommy!
    From Colleen Piechocki

    ReplyDelete
  3. Oh, this is just the most precious birth story! I have tears in my eyes, as it brings back so many precious memories of when our children were born! So happy for ya'll and your beautiful baby girl!!!

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  4. She is beautiful Rebekah! Your dad and grandmother were so excited about her last Wednesday night at church. Your grandmother was talking about how she had seen her on 'the facebook' and your dad was joking about how he has never been on there! Praying for you, as you enter your next semester as a wife and mom of two. In your weakness, you will be made strong when relying on the Holy Spirit to equip you throughout each and every day!

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  5. oh Bekah what a blessing. she is an angel.

    ReplyDelete

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