Isla's Birthday Story

Well it's been long enough, I finally have some time, and I want to write the story down before I forget it.
Also, I am a bit detail oriented - so this will probably be long and descriptive. :)
Here goes...

Isla Sue Bell
August 9, 2009
11:57 am
8 lb 6 oz
21 in.

One day after my due date I went into the dr. to find out I was still "tighter than a ZERO", not dropped at all, and not feeling anything remotely resembling a contraction. I was becoming restless and BEGGED my dr. to start me that day. She said she would start me at 41 weeks, which would be the following Monday. I hung my head in sadness and trodged out of her office. She called me back an hour later to tell me that Monday was FULL at the hospital, so we'd have to wait until Tuesday. I cried. Well, I went back to work and just waited. Finall, Friday the hospital called and said "we are calling to register you for your induction Sunday". I was shocked and confused. I argued with her (although not too hard) that it was supposed to be Tuesday. She said she had just gotten off the phone with my dr. and it was now Sunday. YAY!

Seeing how we'd been prepared with bags and all in the car for weeks, there was really nothing more to get ready. So naturally we decided to spend Saturday at the shooting range. Yes, 41 weeks pregnant shooting in a trap competition with the Lions Club men.

My brother-in-law calls this the poster for "I VOTED SARAH PALIN" ad.

While there I received another phone call from the hospital. The lady on the phone said "we spoke with your dr. and we want you to come in TONIGHT" to start me on a pill that would supposedly make me dilate. And that's how it began...

10:00 pm - we arrived at the hospital. Got registered and into our room - IV's, monitors, all that stuff, checked again, yep still not dilating AT ALL!


1:00 am - they gave me a pill (NOT orally...) that was supposed to help me start to dilate then turned out the lights and told us to get some sleep. Yeah right, who can sleep at the hospital knowing you are going to be delivering your little girl within a matter of hours? Aaron slept well. There was a nice couch in the room that folded out to a bed and he brought his down comforter. I think the only thing I heard him say all night was "I feel like I'm sleeping in a cloooouuud"
4:00 am - time to check again. NO dilating. Now I'm starting to get bugged, thinking this is going to either A. become a 24+ hour labor, or B. end up a C-Section. So they administered another pill.
4:45 am - contractions started! They were about every 3-4 min. and were getting pretty hard. I felt bad waking Aaron up because there was really nothing he could do at this point except listen to me complain. So I just let him keep sleeping in his "cloud".
7:00 am - nurse change (THANK GOODNESS, the first nurse was new to labor and delivery and having her check me hurt more than a contraction. Very Bad. Plus she had bad breath. AND she forgot to give me my strep B antibiotic.) And time to check me again. Contractions were about 1 1/2 - 2 min apart and getting VERY painful. Still, only dilated to a 2, maybe 3. At this point Aaron asked the nurse when I could get my epidural. I didn't want it yet because I was only dilated to a 2 and felt like a total wuss getting it this early. But, the contractions were getting REALLY bad.
8:00 am - finally Aaron and the nurse convinced me to get the epidural. AHHH heaven! Life was good.
9:00 am - dilated to a 4, called my mom and dad and they started heading down. Dr. was on her way too. But we were told we have a ways to go still. We had the music going and reading tabloids, feeling great.
10:00 am - everyone was getting there. My Dr. came in and I told her I thought my water might have broken or my catheter was leaking. She checked and it had broken. Then I heard a "well, you're not going to believe this, but you are dilated to a 9! I'm going to go change and then we're having a baby!" Yes, in one hour I had gone from a 4 to a 9.

This was Aaron's completely freaked out face as they were getting the room all set up to push.

Final good luck kiss.

My sweet mom, BEST labor coach on the planet. I could not have done it without her, NO WAY.

11:00 am - start the pushing! At this point my Dr. still guessed that Isla was going to be a 6 lb 9 oz baby. Aaron was amazing. So supportive and encouraging. His main tasks: give me water, wipe my face with a cool wet washcloth, and keep the iPod on satisfactory music for my demands. It was the best birth experience I could have hoped for. We were all laughing, joking, reciting Saturday Night Live skits in between contractions.
11:57 am - FINALLY Isla arrived! All I could hear was "HOLY - SHE'S HUGE" "THIS IS A BIG BABY" "I HAVE NEVER BEEN SO OFF ON A BABY'S SIZE IN MY LIFE" I started thinking to myself... could someone please say something else? Like, is she cute? Is she a SHE? Or is she simply just Andre the Giant? They put her on my chest and I burst into tears. I knew I would be overwhemed with joy and all that, but Aaron and I are not really criers, so I really didn't expect to cry. That was the best moment of my life. She was perfect, and she was mine. Dr. asked Aaron to cut the cord, and he responded with a pale faint "um, NO". So she asked me if I wanted to. OF COURSE! So I cut the umbillical cord myself while she was laying on my chest! haha. In Aaron's defense, he said he was actually considering it until the episiotomy. But when he heard/saw that he absolutely couldn't handle the cord. They took her to do all the measuring and stitched me up. A little mommy/daddy bonding, then family came in to meet her.

Too precious.

Aaron in LOVE.

Such a proud dad.

Me watching Aaron with Isla. This is my "pure happiness - life is complete" moment.

Grandpa Orion with his newest little girl.

Grandpa Kent.

After a little recovery they took us up to our maternity room. They took Isla to the nursery for some mandantory testing, Aaron and our parents went out for lunch and I took a nap. When they got back they did Isla's first bath right in our room.

Getting ready for bath. I love Aaron's look of "what the heck is going on".

Oooh so cold!

After bath in what Aaron's calls my super-protective-don't-touch-my-baby pose.

Well, that's pretty much the nitty gritty of the event! Everything went so smoothly it couldn't have been any more perfect. Isla has been so completely healthy from minute one. I guess that's what you get when she's late and huge. We are so happy.

Going Home!

All buckled in and ready to go home.