A Little Snow In August!

Saturday morning (August 28), Clint and I got up bright and early to head to the hospital to see if the OB/GYN and midwife could turn our baby by doing what they call an External Cephalic Version. I was told there is only a 58% chance of the baby turning and staying turned. My Midwife seemed pretty confident though since the baby was small and she was not my first. The Doctor got on one side and the midwife on the other and tried to turn her this way and that for about an hour. It was the most painful experience in my life! You are supposed to try and relax but I was so tense I swear the only thing touching the bed was my toes, the back of my head and tears. She would move but because her bottom was so far down her head had nowhere to go. They had my bed tilted with my feet in the air and towels propping me up as well in a semi-upside down uncomfortable position. When that didn't work, the doctor decided to try, umm, non-externally to get her bottom out of my pelvis. I let them try for about five seconds before I called uncle. She remained in a Frank Breech position.

I had to stay there for a few hours afterwards so they monitor me and and the baby to make sure my contractions calmed down. I've had contractions off and on for months (only once taking me to the labor and delivery room) and didn't think it was a big deal and was ready to just go home. They gave me some crackers, peanut butter and juice (you have to go in fasting) and that seemed to help so they finally sent me home three hours later when I was still only dilated to 3 cm, same as before.

I went home so sore, bruised (yes, actually bruised) and depressed so I just took a long nap. When I woke up I wasn't feeling very good and by 10:00 that night my contractions were getting a lot harder. Clint drew a warm bath for me and I soaked in it for awhile because that always has helped in the past. I finally decided to stop trying to time them and try to just get some rest since the bath calmed them some. I woke up at 1:30 in the morning no longer able to sleep and came out to the living room to time them again. Even though they still were only about 30-40 seconds long and 5-7 minutes apart they were getting more intense. After about 30 minutes I woke up Clint and he called and talked to the Midwife. I was still unsure if they were just stronger because I was so sore but she had told me that I shouldn't go into labor on my own since I typically go pretty fast, so we decided to head to the hospital.

After we found a neighbor to come stay at the house with the kids until my Mom could get there we took off and pulled in around 3:00 am. After I got another IV and all checked in, I was still only dilated to a 3, I was pretty disappointed. My contractions were getting very, very hard but still not changing in the length or time. I had made an announcement to Clint though that I knew we were not going to be leaving without a baby. They monitored me for about 4 more hours before checking me again, by that time I was 5 cm. Time to prep for the c-section.

After walking to the OR, the contractions were almost right on top of eachother and very intense. They checked me while waiting for the epidural to kick in to find out I was already a loose 7. Then, things started going very fast. Luckily I hadn't eaten much in 2 days because I tried to throw up during pretty much the whole procedure. Fun times.

She was born at 8:33 am.

Lyndon was over a pound bigger and needed to be in an incubator for 10 hours his first day. Charlotte was over 2 pounds bigger and was in NICU for 5 days. My smallest baby was truly an answer to many prayers and blessings because she was born perfectly healthy.

Even though nothing went as planned and I skipped from a non-medicated birth with a midwife to the opposite of the end at had a c-section we were happy in the end just to have our little girl with us. It is such a spiritual experience to hold your baby that you know came straight from God to be entrusted in your care.