Birth Story

Abigail Renee Johnson...

is now 6 weeks old. I'm such a slacker on writing on here and now I'm really kicking myself for it!

Abby was born on February 17th at 4:59pm. On the 16th was my last doctors appointment and when he checked to see how far a long I was, I was only dilated to 1cm so he had me go into the hospital that night to start a cervix softener. It was a liquid version that I had to drink every hour and every 4th our it was doubled. By the time I had Abby, I was drinking a whole dixy cup full every hour. It wasn't so bad at first, but about halfway through I just had to gag it down.

At about 7 am my doctor came and broke my water (terrible experience), and about 7:30 I started having severe back labor. It really felt like my back was slowly breaking. Longest 30 minutes of my life. At 8 I finally got my epidural and hated getting it. I was in so much pain and the nurse didn't even let Paul hold me, she held me instead. (Kind of made me frustrated, but at that point I didn't even care anymore.)

15 minutes after I had my epidural, I was out cold. I didn't realize, till I couldn't feel from my waist down, how exhausted I was. I've never been so comfortable in all my life. It was SO wonderful. (Next baby, I'm getting my epidural as soon as I get to the hospital! ;)

From the epi on I slept almost the entire time only waking up to take some more cervix softener. At about 4:15 or so the nurse checked me and I was bleeding (not normal) so they had me start pushing to force my cervix to 100% effaced. Then there was more bleeding... So they contacted my doctor and he headed out. The nurses stayed super calm the whole time which was great or else Paul and I would a have been freaking out for sure.

After about 15 minutes of pushing, the nurse then told me if I didn't deliver Abigail fast, I would have to have a c-section because of the bleeding. They couldn't figure out where it was coming from. My doctor got there and he immediately got me started pushing for him.

During this whole time I was so super relaxed. I couldn't believe how calm I felt (internally) from the time I started pushing. I just knew everything would be fine so there was no need to worry. I totally accredit that to the blessing Paul gave me before I went to the hospital. For a while before I started pushing, I started getting really nervous and freaked out. It was a drastic change mentally from "How the heck am I going to do this? I really just want to stop, Abby can stay in me" to "Lets get this on the road, I can't wait to meet my little girl!"

I only pushed for 30 minutes and then Abby was here (falling asleep while I was pushing- I'm telling you, I was SO relaxed). She came out with her arm right by her head (arm flopping out first!) so she's got a nice little birth mark on her elbow and ring finger of her right arm.

I couldn't wait to see her. Paul went over and started taking pictures immediately and I was trying so hard to see her. She had/has the sweetest little cry. She wasn't swollen like most newborns, she wasn't wrinkly at all, she was just PERFECT and still is!

The next two days we had a good amount of visitors. We loved showing her off even though I was falling asleep most of the time people were there. It was so hard to stay awake after.

Getting in and out of bed was the worst. I was so sore I could hardly stand it (even though I didn't tear at all during delivery). I even asked the nurse for one of those donuts! It didn't help at all... We couldn't get enough of Abigail. She was being held 99% of the time from the moment she was born. So precious.

All in all, it was a wonderful experience. Paul was fascinated by the birthing process (he watched from the couch because there was a nurse and a specialist on both sides of me because of the bleeding). I was blessed to have a very easy delivery and I'm so thankful for that!

Anyways, I thought it was about time I finally typed all that out. Theres so much more I need to post, but that will have to wait for another time!