The Story

It's still a little strange that Jovie is no longer inside of me and that she will be 3 weeks old this week. Everything has been such a whirlwind. Jovie came into the world quickly and time has been flying by since she got here. She is the best addition to our lives.

For those who love birth stories, continue reading.  For those who don't, feel free to skip down to the pictures. It's lengthy.

I started having contractions during the night of the 20th and, although they were consistent, they weren't bad. They didn't bother me as I was up and moving the next day, but they were consistent again during the night. On Tuesday, I decided to call my OB to see if I could come in for my weekly appointment that day instead of Wednesday. The contractions were getting more uncomfortable and I wanted to see if I had progressed at all. As long as I had progressed somewhat, I was already scheduled to be induced on the 27th. We had planned this so that my Mom could fly down the day before and be here for the birth and so that Troy would still have a week left of Christmas break to be home with the baby and me. At the appointment, my blood pressure was a lot higher than normal (I've never had even close to high blood pressure... it's usually low) and my doctor was concerned. He wanted to talk about the possibility of me delivering in the next day or two. I was shocked. Even though I knew I'd be delivering 5 days from then, the word "tomorrow" really freaked me out. I had no other symptoms of preeclampsia, but he didn't want to risk anything by waiting over the holidays, so we scheduled an induction for the following morning.

Troy and I went home and my contractions started getting harder. I knew I wouldn't be able to make it through the night, so we decided to go in to the hospital that evening rather than waiting until morning. I was monitored and checked for a few hours and even walked the halls for an hour to try and get things moving. But they didn't. The nurse called my OB and decided to send me home, but after waiting for an eternity (the contractions were getting worse), she came in, smiled, and asked if I'd like to stay and have my baby. There was no point in sending me home only to turn around and come back 6 hours later for my induction.

They moved me to a delivery room, which was a delightful change from the utility closet of a room they had had us in for the last 5 hours. After some time, they started the pitocin to induce labor. My contractions were already really painful and had been for a few hours. I was doing my best to breathe through them, but I knew I didn't want to wait any longer for an epidural.  Even though I was probably only dilated to a 2, I asked for it. Luckily the anesthesiologist came in just a few minutes later and after that, I was in heaven. The pain was gone. I couldn't recommend it more. :)

It was the middle of the night, so the nurse turned out the lights so Troy and I could get some rest. She came back in an hour later and I had gone from a 2 to a 5. When she checked me an hour and a half after that, I was at a 10. She called my doctor to tell him I was complete and then got things ready for his arrival. She told me she wanted me to do some practice pushes before he got there, but when she went to check me, her eyes widened. The baby's head was right there, so no practice pushes were necessary. She looked at Troy and said, "see all that hair?!" When my doctor walked in the room, he looked at me and said, "do I even have time to change into my scrubs?!"

Once everyone was situated, I pushed for about 5 minutes and little Jovie made her debut into the world! We were awestruck that it happened so quickly that we (my doctor and nurses included) almost didn't know how to react. I fully anticipated pushing for longer and being emotional and exhausted from that, but the adrenaline made me feel great. Troy cut the cord and they placed her on my chest before whisking her away to be cleaned and assessed. We fell in love with her instantly and it grows every day that she is here. Having a newborn is certainly a lot of work, but she has been such a good baby and we are so proud to be her parents!

Okay, time for picture overload!

My cool OB :)

We wanted to see what a headband would look like on her just for fun. She was obviously amused :)