Emery LeeAnn - A Birth Story

As many of your have heard - via my FB - I am no longer pregnant, but a happy momma to a new little girl! Emery LeeAnn!

Wanna know how it happened?

Well, the birth story at least?

Here it is, hopefully in as most detail as I can possibly remember.

And maybe too much detail!

Saturday - June 4th, 10:30 pm.

I had been watching a movie in bed on my computer (Valentine's Day) when I noticed a few contractions here and there. I had been having contractions off and on for about a month, so I didn't put my hopes on them too much (but was hoping none-the-less). They weren't very regular, so I tried to ignore them.

11:30 pm

Movie ended and I was wondering why I started watching a movie so late and going to bed even later! I got ready for bed, got into bed, and started listening to my Terry Pratchet book on my iTouch and playing solitaire until my eyes couldn't take it any more.

12 - 12:28 am

Still awake and uncomfortable, I had tossed about a dozen times and turned twice as much. One last toss, E was up in my ribs. I gave her one good push to put her back and *pop, pop* there goes my water! At first I didn't know what had happened. I went to the bathroom and not a whole lot happened. (I thought maybe I had peed a little, but my first reaction was that it was my water breaking.) I came out and told Derry what I thought and then had him go get the yoga ball for me to sit on for a while. I wasn't comfortable in bed, so I thought that I would sit on the ball and lay my head down on the bed. I sat there, on the yoga ball, for a few minutes before I got the urge to pee again. I stood up and *splash* a gush of liquid comes out. There it is!

I immediately told Derry that it was my water breaking and he got up to grab a towel for me. This happened once more on the yoga ball, a few minutes later.

12:30 - 1:30 am

After that, the contractions were coming fast and hard. I called my mom on Skype, my sis was there visiting, and they both told me to go to the hospital. I jumped in the shower while Derry called Norma Morse, and the Gibboney's. I went through several contractions, one right after the other, while in the shower. After jumping out, putting on clean clothes, I had another gush (my last one) of water. Derry was in the shower at this time (shaving his face so he could kiss on the new baby!) and I was ready to go! I knew it wouldn't be much longer!

The Gibboney's had arrived and we were ready to pack up the car and go. At this time I was getting NO BREAKS from my contractions. I was having to stop and concentrate on keeping them at bay.

1:30 - 2:00 am

It was raining, and Derry was driving. He was tempted to run a red light at one point, but being so early in the morning I was worried about drunk motorbike drivers. It would be just lovely to get in a wreck at this time! We arrived at the hospital safe, only to have to be faced with parallel parking! The hospital has no parking lot close by, and you are lucky to get a spot on the street (which we were lucky enough to get!). It took Derry a while (he is a perfectionist about some of the weirdest things) to be happy with his parking job. Finally! We are parked and we grab the bags we are in immediate need for. We walk up to the hospital, where I promptly threw up in the ER driveway. It was a little bit of lunch and some of dinner. Derry wanted me to keep going, as I was standing right in the middle of the driveway. I just stood there, finished up, and then moved on.

We get into the hospital where it is literally a ghost town. Lights are turned off, the person at the front desk is sleeping, and there is no one in sight. We get into the elevators, where we push the number 9. We get to that floor and it isn't the right one. Oh no. We visit several other floors, and they aren't the right one. We get on elevators, we get off. Some of the elevators go to even floors, some go to odd floors. At this time I am freaking out because we can't find the floor we need to be on. I am pacing the elevators, I am pacing the hallways, and we aren't there yet. I just knew I would have this baby in the elevator.

Finally! We go back to the first floor, where Derry wakes up the guy at the front desk and asks him what floor we needed to be at. It was 12. Maybe the ONLY floor we didn't visit while we were in the elevator earlier!

2:30 am

We get to the floor we need to be on, walk in, and they want me to get out my appointment card (that has all the stats from my doctor's visits on them). My contractions are pretty much right on top of each other at this time. They try to get me to sit down to fill out some paper work, but I can't. The nurse asked me if I wanted to push and I said yes. They lay me down and check to see if I am dilated (this is the FIRST time during my ENTIRE pregnancy that I have been checked down there at all). At this point, I am 7 cm dilated. SO CLOSE!!

Time to go into the labor and delivery room (but first, another contraction before I can get up to walk!)!

They set me up with the yoga ball, where I bounce away my pain. Derry walks in with some of our bags, and some paperwork they have him filling out. He says to me "I don't remember doing an of this paperwork when we had Landon." I look at him and say "That is because I did it!" He says "Oh."

Derry finally gets done with the paperwork and it is just me and him in the delivery room. I start telling him I want to push and he wants to get up and go get a nurse! He tells me not to push and I tell him I'm gonna push! I don't want him to leave at this time, because I would be alone! I stand up off the yoga ball to push and lunge for the bed. At this point, Derry makes a mad dash to the door to get a nurse in right away!

I'm on the bed, laying back, in walks Dr. Supreeya, our doctor, and then Norma Morse not too long after that.

Since I am laying on a bed now, my contractions slow down. We decided it would be better if I get up in a squatting position, so they raise the back of the bed up and I squat, holding on to the handrails (I was like this for over an our and my legs were sore for a week after I delivered!). My contractions came and went, with Dr. Supreeya checking where the head was (three times) and (I counted) 8 other people in the delivery room with me! I think all the nurses on the floor on duty were in there with us!

It finally gets down to some hard contractions. I am thinking in my head "Why did I want to have another one? I can't push this huge baby out of me! Her head is SO BIG! I'm gonna tear for sure!" And that is when I decided to put the fear of tearing (which I didn't even feel!) out of my head and pushed with all my might! I was ready to meet her once and for all!

The nurses saw that I meant business and they all got prepared. This part is all a blur to me, because Derry was telling me stuff I don't even remember! I gave it one big push and I could feel her HUGE head come down . . . . and this time is stayed down. This meant I needed to get another good long push out. With that, her head popped out, they lowered the bed back down (I turned to Derry and said "What is going on?" and he said "Her head is out!") and she came the rest of the way out.

Now here is what I don't remember. Apparently when they lowered the back of the bed there was a nurse that jumped up on the bed OVER ME and pushed down on my stomach! How I completely missed this I'm not sure! Maybe the adrenaline was at an all time high at that point and it erased that part of the labor for me. Derry said he had to back away from me because the nurse was right there on top of me. She must have hopped off pretty quickly after that.

3:52 am

Emery LeeAnn Gambill was born! Laying there, with my legs still spread (they were waiting on the placenta), they wrap E in a towel and hand her to me. She is beautiful! I fell in love with her at first sight! She instantly stops crying the moment she hears my voice, and she stayed quiet until they took her away from me to get her cleaned up.

Afterwards

We were all ready to see how much she weighed, so when they finally took her to the nursery and brought her back, it was a big disappointment to hear her weight in grams! Ugh! Derry pulls out his iTouch and quickly converts it for us. 8 lbs. 12 oz.! What a big girl! I was not expecting her to be that big (but now that I see the hidden stretch marks under my belly, I totally believe it!). Her head was 14 inches and she was 20 1/2 inches long (only 1/4 in. longer than her brother when he was born).

Landon's birth was so much different. They took him to the nursery right away (I only got to hold him for a minute after delivery) because he was vacuumed out. His umbilical cord was wrapped around his throat, so every time I pushed it made his heart rate drop and it was holding him back from being pushed out. I guess they wanted to make sure he was okay. I also lost a LOT of blood with him and passed out while nursing him only about an hour after delivery. With E, I was good and strong (except for my sore legs!).

All in all, we have a sweet baby girl now!

Blessed beyond words!