Julia's Birth Story

The big kids are at my in-laws' this week and I was thinking I'd have time to get caught up on a lot of stuff.  Ha!  Newborns are a ton of work.  Duh!  I know, but it's so easy to forget until you have another newborn at home.  Anyway, I want to get Julia's birth story down before I forget (any more) of the details. 

I was scheduled for an induction due to producing massive babies.  We went to the hospital on the night of Tues. July 17.  I didn't have to be "prepped" for the induction, but apparently it's easier to get things started on time if you go in the night before.  So, we had a very restless night in the hospital-mostly due to not having enough pillows and excitement.

They started the pitocin around 6:30 am and contractions started immediately.  They got into a pretty good rhythm but  they weren't painful.  So, I asked the doctor to check my progress at around 9:30, and I had only dilated about one more centimeter.  I decided to wait it out for abit longer, but at around 10:30, I asked my doctor to break my water.  The nurses asked if I wanted an epidural, and I decided to wait.  I wanted to feel that progress was being made.  Within 20 minutes it was obvious that something was happening, and by 11:30, I was in serious pain.  The contractions were between a minute to 1.5 minutes apart and JD was quickly losing feeling in his hand. 

I decided to ask for the epidural around 11:45 because I was concerned that I still had several centimeters to go, and I knew I couldn't continue for two more hours with contractions coming that quickly.  The anesthesiologist came, and by 12:00, I was feeling better.  At that point, I was relaxed enough to tell that I was getting close, so I asked the nurse to call my doctor to check my progress again. He came around 12:15 and said it was time but that he'd give me a few more minutes to let the epidural do its thing.  In hindsight, had I known I was so close, I might have tried to go without the epidural, but then again, I'm not in major pain when I'm reviewing the events in my mind. 

Anyway, at 12:30, my doctor came back, and Julia was born at 12:34 pm.

In addition to an easy delivery, Julia made an impression on the doctors and nurses by having a true knot in her cord.  My doctor referred to her as a miracle baby, but I've read that a true knot occurs in 1% of births and doesn't necessarily mean the baby could have been in danger. 

 
I'm not sure, but I do know that Julia is a miracle just like all babies are miracles.  We are so blessed to have been given another miracle to raise.  I pray that she will remain a healthy, sweet, easy going baby, but most importantly, that she would not remember a time when she didn't love the Lord.