Welcome to the World Chloe!

Chloe Elyse Jones

April 23,2012   1:14pm

8 pounds 2 ounces

20 ½ inches long

Littleton, Colorado

Well, she is finally here. I feel the need to put her birth story into words and share it, not that I could do it justice. It was the most incredible experience, and mostly, I want to write it down so I don’t ever forget it. It is a moment worth remembering. Again, I apologize because this was an experience that is impossible to put into words, but I will do my best!

I guess I could start out my story by saying on Tuesday March 6^th, when I was 33 weeks along in the pregnancy, I starting having contractions. I thought they were Braxton Hicks, and did as my doctor had previously told me to make them go away. Nothing worked. I drank water, used the restroom, lay down in bed in different positions for a while, and took a bath all to no luck. The pains seemed constant, having no breaks in between. I waited for a few hours and finally was able to go in to visit my doctor at 1:30pm. Thank goodness I did. After monitoring the baby and me we realized they were definitely REAL contractions and were only a minute apart. YIKES! It was way too early for this little girl to come. They had me go to the hospital, which was luckily in the building right next to their office, and monitored me longer. They were able to give me some medicine that helped to slow down the contractions and finally we were allowed to go home around 7:00pm. I had to continue to take the prescribed medicine to keep the contractions from coming back. We did not want a case of preterm labor or a premature baby. The contractions continued to come back through the rest of the pregnancy along with some Braxton Hicks. Finally by March 27^th, I was 36 weeks along, and concerns about her health, if she were to come early, went away. She was safe to come whenever she was ready. Hearing this news had me growing more impatient every day.   

It wasn’t until the first week of April that my impatience became persistent and I really started to feel ready for this girl to come. Days went by and I could hardly stand waiting any more. I had gotten so uncomfortable. My ankles were swelling like crazy. I could hardly sleep for even 30 minutes at a time. I think I was starting to get only about 2 hours of sleep a night at most, and poor Scott wasn’t getting much either because I kept moving, trying to find the most comfortable position to lay in, and was constantly getting up to use the bathroom.

            Soon, Scott and I started to go for walks and do all the rumored things we could to induce labor ourselves that were not supposed to cause any harm to the baby. Walking as much as possible, driving over every bump and dip we could find, eating spicy foods (I can say I have never consumed so much hot sauce in my life), Chinese food… the works. We tried it all. Nothing seemed to be working.

            My dad was going to be out of town April 15^th – 20^th and then again the week of the 30^th. I wanted to badly for him to be here when she arrived, so there was only about a span of a week that we could hope for her to come so he could be there. Luckily for us (and for him) the day she decided to come, fell within that week he was home.

            I had started sleeping with towels on our bed a few weeks prior, just in case my water broke (which apparently only occurs in 7-10% of pregnancies before going into labor). I had kicked off the towels after a few days though, and for some reason never put them back on… at least not until the night of April 22^nd. I can’t tell you what motivated me to put them back.  Though I was as impatient as ever, I had finally made up my mind that she would come when she was ready. I told my self that I would still do what I could to “help her along”, but I was so tired of being disappointed day to day when nothing happened except my increased discomfort. Well, call it luck that I put those towels back in bed, because around 12:10am on the 23^rd my water broke. I had gotten up to use the bathroom just before midnight and Chloe kicked me harder than she ever had. It was a very strong kick right in my side, but what was weird was that at the same time I heard a small “pop” sound. It was hardly audible. This was not normal and made me worry a little. My first thought was “maybe my water broke”, but when I got up to go back to bed and no fluid came; I figured it was nothing to concern myself with. Maybe I was hearing things; I mean come on, I was EXHAUSTED from NO SLEEP! Anyways, I went back to bed and not even ten minutes later I felt a warm gush of liquid and when I sat up to get out of bed, thinking maybe I was peeing my pants, it would not stop. It just kept coming and coming. I woke Scott up to tell him what was happing.

            “How sure are you that it was your water breaking?” He asked me.

            Let me just say, there was no mistaking it. I was positive. So we got out of bed, I called the doctor and they said to get our stuff and head over to the hospital. So that’s exactly what we did. Luckily we had our bags packed for about a month in advance, just incase she did decide to come early. We got our shoes, and headed out the door around 12:30. I was quite the site too. I had a pair of Scott’s basketball shorts on with a towel stuffed inside. Once we were in the car, that’s when the contractions started. They were much stronger than the ones I had been experiencing up to that point and were 4 to 5 minutes apart.

            Scott was great the whole way there. He stayed calm and kept helping me to relax. As excited as I was that the time had FINALLY come, I was so nervous that I was shaking and couldn’t stop. He held my hand and comforted me as he drove, and he didn’t speed. That surprised me. He was amazing through everything.

            Once we got to the hospital, got checked in and I changed into the hospital gown, the contractions continued coming strong and the nurses continued to check on me for a few hours. The entire time, the contractions were about 2 to 3 minutes apart. I felt sick to my stomach and could not stop shaking. At around 4:00am I got an epidural. THANK GOODNESS! That made all the difference. I was able to calm down and relax and even thoroughly enjoy my experience in labor. The only draw back was I got extremely itchy all over my body and the shaking continued. But, instead of the pain from the contractions I felt pressure – totally worth it.

            At around 10:40 am, our nurse Jaquie (who by the way was the most wonderful nurse) checked me again. I was dilated to 8.5cm. She told me that in an hour I should be at 10cm, but instead of pushing right away, it was better on the baby and my body if we did passive descent, which is where the contractions continue to naturally push the baby on there own until her head can be seen. She expected about 2 hours later I would be ready to push. That would mean the actual delivery would begin around 2pm and that could take hours. We assumed she would be here close to 5pm. Luckily for us, when she came back and checked on me just before 1pm, she said I was dilated to 10cm and when I had my next contraction, she wanted me to push, just to see how far along we were. My family left the room, and Scott, who had been doing so great this entire time, came up to me and said so sweetly “please don’t be mad, but I feel like I am going to puke.” How in the world I could be mad about that I don’t know. We were nervous he would get nauseous. He came and sat by my head and did all he could to help. He held my leg up and I gave one strong push. To our surprise, Jaquie looked up and said, “Okay, you’re ready.”

            At 1:00pm I started pushing, the pressure was intense and I definitely still felt a little pain. I can’t even imagine doing it naturally (so props to all of you who have). Within minutes her head was out, but they told me to stop pushing until they instructed me to continue. Her umbilical cord was wrapped around her throat twice. She was not breathing, and they needed to cut her cord before she got all the way out. Once, they said it was safe to keep pushing she was out within minutes. I was pushing for no more than 15 minutes. She came out blue and looked like a smurf. I was terrified for her. I was crying and had to have Scott let me know what they were doing and that she would be okay, because I couldn’t see on the table where they were cleaning her up and helping her to breath. Once he convinced me she was okay and I heard her crying I was able to calm down and just be so happy she was here.

            Scott and I cried a little and looked at each other in total amazement. We had our daughter! She was here! We are parents! It was unbelievable. They handed Chloe to Scott and he was able to hold her for a little bit and then he put her in my arms. Seeing Scott with her was so sweet, but the second she was in my arms I was in heaven. She was nothing like what I expected, but at the same time she was all I expected and more. She was perfect!

            We stayed at the hospital for two days before we headed home. During that time, it was so sweet being with her and watching Scott so easily take on his role as a dad! He was and has continued to be such a huge help. Chloe hasn’t been a terrible crier and took to breastfeeding like a champ! What a blessing for us. We couldn’t ask for a more sweet, wonderful, precious little girl!

            This experience was more wonderful than I can even begin to express. I had such a smooth and great delivery, except for our little scare when she couldn’t breath. I had expected to be in labor for 20 plus hours and pushing for at least 2 if not more, so you can imagine how great it was to only be in labor for 13 and push for 15 minutes (what the heck? I have never heard of that before, but I wont I’m not complaining)! I love our little family. I love our little girl more than I thought possible. It’s amazing how quickly and easy it is to fall in love with a baby. She is the sweetest girl and she just makes me so happy. As for Scott, this experience has taught me to love him even more and in a different way than I ever have.  He is the best, don’t you think?! I’m excited to watch how our family grows and changes with Chloe. We just could not be any happier.