Heidi's Birth Story

So campmeeting came and went and still no baby. 

Her due date came and went and still no baby. 

My doctor decided to have me start taking Non-stress test every other day and then set and induction date if she still had not come. So in the matter of a little over a weeks I had nine different medical appointments. On every test things looked good and she was still in no hurry to come. So August 1 we got up early and headed to the hospital for a 6:30 am induction. We checked in and they ran more test and everything was still looking good and so they gave me the medicine to try and start my labor. My doctor encouraged me to walk to help the medicine work better so we started to walk around the hospital and up and down the stairwells. My contractions started and by the time my doctor came to check me at noon he told me to try and get some rest and to not over do it on the walking. So I tried to rest. Then since I was still not dilating they gave me a second dose of the labor inducing medicine. By this point it hurt like crazy to have to lay still all hooked up to the monitor.

More hours past contractions were getting longer and harder but my body was still refusing to dilate. I was really wanting as natural of a birth as possible so I was trying to avoid taking pain meds so I started to take hot showers to try and manage the pain. Finally at about 10pm them checked me again and I had dilated from one cm to six cm. At this point the broke my water and decided to move me to a labour and delivery room. It was nice because I now had a shower in my room and didn't have to go all the way down the hall to take a shower. I pretty much stayed in the shower for the next several hours but then my body started pushing but the problem was I was still only six cm dilated. I tried to fight my body so that I would not tear my cervix but it was not working. Finally at 2:30am the doctor told me I had a choice to either take an epidural or I was headed for a C-section and operation room if my cervix tore. Jonathan had a talk with the doctor and he felt that it was best to do the epidural and I was ready for the epidural because I  was totally wiped out.  They got the epidural in and going and it totally numbed my one side and the pain was less but still there on the other side. I was able to get some rest and the epidural was able to calm my body enough to stop the pushing and start dilating again. By 7am I was 10 cm dilated, but because of the epidural I was not able to feel enough to push. So they turned the epidural way down and at 8am I started pushing. Then at 10:01am a little head emerged and our precious little girl was born.

Heidi Jean
7lb. 13oz.
21 3/4 inches

But as her head emerged the doctor had the nurses call the NICU team in because our little girls cord was around her neck and there was a knot in her cord. She was looked over carefully by the NICU team and they got her breathing. Our little girl was here safe and sound.

In the hospital

Family Pictures