The Shinaberry Family: March 2013

To start her birth story I need to start a few days before. I was starting to think she wasn't going to come on her own. At my last appointment the doctor had said she couldn't see me going longer than 48hrs before going into labor but there I was 72 hours later and no baby. In fact that Saturday I really wasn't having any contractions at all, we had a very laid back day just hanging around the house. The Ervick's invited us out to a local Japanese steak house that night for dinner, the little boys loved watching the cook do his thing and the big boys were enjoying some sake. I will always remember Hubs turning to me and asking if he could have another sake shot...I said of course I'm not going into labor tonight. Ha famous last words. We put Cole to bed as usual then Hubs and me watched Superbowl coverage. Still no real contractions as I headed for bed. It was 10:45 pm, I had just gone to the bathroom and was getting into bed when I had extreme pressure. It stopped me in my tracks. As I stood there I felt a small gush of liquid, looked down and my underwear was all wet. Did i just pee myself? Or was that my water breaking? I had just gone to the bathroom it seemed very odd to me to just pee myself but at the stage it was not impossible. Right then Hubs had walked into the bedroom and I told him what had happened. Right away he said Sarah, it was your water! I was not convinced, it wasn't a huge gush and I was having zero contractions. Finally after some convincing I called my doctor to tell her what had happened, she said they wanted me to come in and check. Honestly if I wasn't already 4cm and the hospital wasn't 40 minutes away I would have never called. I called my parents who came over right away, and as I got myself dressed I had another small gush that left me all wet again. I think it was then I realized this might really be happening. Hubs, my mom and me made our way to the hospital in the snow we arrived a little after 12am, still i was having no contractions just pressure. As they examined me the doctor on call said she didn't think my water had broken. Huh? She said she had to perform another test to make sure she was right and left the room. I almost started to cry then, I felt so silly. I had made us come all this way in the middle of the night. I told Hubs I'm sorry and just as I did I had a major contraction. I watched the monitors and saw baby girl's heart rate dropping. The contraction lasted what felt forever and as it did her heart rate kept dropping. The nurses hurried back in and asked me to switch sides and gave me oxygen. As the contraction when down her heartbeat went back up. Thank god. But this was more then they needed to see to confirm I would be staying and having my baby. As we made are way to our labor and delivery room I was feeling anxious. They said they wanted to wait a few hours to let baby girl recover from that scare before they administered any pitocin. By this time it was 1:30 and I was terrified. No sleep and I was going to basically be induced in a few hours. Induction didn't sit well with me the first go around and the idea of doing it again ...well it made me want to cry.

We got comfortable in the room and attempted to get some sleep. And this is when Ms. Emery decided she was going to show us who was in charge. As my husband slept on the couch the contractions started coming. And hard. My mom helped me breath through each one. I tried my best to focus and breath through them. I think in my mind I couldn't believe this was happening, my body was actually doing it all on its own. It hurt yes but I was doing it. After an hour and a half I woke Hubs up. Told him it seems my water had actually broken and now the contractions were coming regularly. I think we were both shocked, she was really coming on Superbowl Sunday. I wanted to hear if I had progressed any before getting the epidural. When the doctor came in at 4:00am she said I was a six and 100% effaced, it was then I finally said bring on epidural. I told my mom to call my sister and tell her to start the drive from Richmond.

The lovely Epidural was administered and wouldn't you know just like last time...I felt faint and my blood pressure dropped. It was a scary 2 mintues and the Doctor had to administer medicine to counter act with epidural. My first reaction once I started to feel better ...I will not be getting that done again. I don't know if its the straight shot of medicine but my body did not react well both times. It did however give me some relief from the contractions, I could feel them every so slightly on one side but I was happy about that. With Cole I was numb...I couldn't feel anything and it really made pushing hard for me. So I was excited to be able to feel something but that it was not to painful.

We watched the morning news and of course Superbowl coverage as I labored , at some point my sister got there and then my mother in law. As they ate bagels and talked I was starting to feel some pressure. I told my mom and she said I should have the nurse come in and check me. I was laughing and talking away no way was it time to push, I said I would wait till the nurse came back in and checked me to tell her. 10 minutes later the nurse came in and to everyone's surprise it was in fact time to push. Folks it's no joke how quickly things move with the second child.

I told my sister to grab the camera and my make up bag. Yes I'm that vain. I at least wanted to brush my hair and put some blush on, these pictures would be with us forever! Once that was done it was time to push!

This picture makes me laugh every time I see it....My sister putting on my makeup and Cam "helping" too.

Wow what a difference this time, I could actually feel Emery moving down the canal with every push. It was such an amazing feeling one I will forever remember The nurse on duty was awesome she really helped make progress fast. I knew things were getting close when I felt the burning sensation and with one last push she was here, the doctor told me to reach out and I took her and placed her my chest. It was surreal , my daughter was here and she was perfect.

Baby girl looked so much like her older brother it was crazy, but we all determined she was more "girly" looking. I held her for over the next hour before letting anyone else hold her.

It was such an amazing experience and I feel so lucky it all went so smoothly. Just like that we were a family of four and she was the perfect addition.