Hannah's Birth Story

There were many times during our marriage when I would turn to my husband and say "I want my little girl" or "I can't wait to see a car seat back there." Knowing that there were things that needed to be done first (finishing school was top of the list), he would kindly remind me that I needed to be patient and wait for God's timing. Heading into the spring of 2007, we had been married for 4 1/2 years and I was hopeful that I would finally get my strongest heart's desire soon. I prayed that it wouldn't take us too long to get pregnant. I became suspicious a few days before Father's Day (and a little less than one month after graduating from optometry school), so I made up an excuse to go to the store and get a test. I brought home Sonic breakfast burritos and a pregnancy test. Wanting to surprise him, I took the test by myself but it was inconclusive! Although it said positive, it took longer than the directions said and the line was really faint. So, I made up another excuse to leave and went back to the store. This time, I bought a 2-pack and a Father's Day card (just in case). Both of the tests confirmed my suspicions and later that day, I was able to give Jason his first Father's Day card from his new baby girl.

After 5 months of morning sickness and throwing up twice a day, I finally was able to start enjoying being pregnant. While I was "patiently" awaiting her arrival, I crocheted a blanket for my bundle of joy (you can see it on the edge of the crib). Although I don't remember having any weird cravings, the ones that I had were usually short-lived. I would wake up one day wanting Rocky Road ice cream or gherkin pickles (not together), or orange sherbet, but as soon as I would eat it, I would no longer want anything to do with that food. On New Year's Eve, we had our great friends, the Baugh's over for spaghetti and Wii. Unfortunately I had the absolute WORST heartburn that I ever had that night and was unable to enjoy the fun. It felt like I ate a whole bottle of Tums, but it wouldn't go away until almost 3 am when I was finally able to fall asleep.

Sunday February 10th, I woke up feeling under the weather. A cold was coming on, so I spent most of the day resting. When I woke up on Monday and was still feeling sick, I called work and told them I wouldn't be in that day. I still had to make my 39-week OB appointment though, so I put on my uniform (tent) and had Jason drive me to the clinic around 7:30 am. During my visit, the nurse said that I was having mild contractions and wanted to put me on a monitor. After about an hour of watching things, they noticed that Hannah's heart rate was dropping each time I had a contraction, so I was immediately sent to the hospital. By now, the contractions were getting stronger and I asked for pain meds as soon as we got to Labor & Delivery. They said, "Sure, as soon as we get your IV and blood labs."

Almost an hour or two later (and 6 attempts by 3 different qualified personnel to get my blood) I had an IV in and my blood was on it's way to the lab. (Because I was sick the previous day and hadn't been drinking water that day or during the night, I was a little dehydrated and my veins were hard to deal with). The Nubian in my IV helped significantly take the edge off and I was thankful that I had it - especially when the anesthesiologist came in to tell me there was a problem with my blood and he couldn't give me an epidural! Apparently my tested blood didn't clot well but after talking to him a little longer, I demanded they take more blood to test. Finally, my labs were normal and I got the epidural within 30 minutes.

During the next few hours, I was feeling pretty good about things, but Hannah wasn't doing as well. The belly monitor that measures her heart rate kept moving and they would lose the signal over and over again. A few times, her heart rate lowered enough that I was put on supplemental oxygen. Finally around 4:30 or so, they decided to try and put a heart monitor directly on her head! At this point, Jason was starving so I sent him downstairs to get something to eat. Before applying the monitor to Hannah, the nurse checked her placement and said "No monitor, we are going to start pushing!" I quickly had my friend Crystal call Jason and tell him to get back upstairs!! When we were all set up and ready to bring our little princess into the world, we found out about another small problem - the monitor measuring my contractions wasn't showing them anymore. So, the nurses relied on me to tell them when one was starting so that I could push correctly. Although it may seem weird, I had enjoyed the day until now and this part was no different. I felt calm, cool, collected, and super excited that I was doing everything right. As a matter of fact, a few times after I counted to 10 while pushing, I relaxed briefly and started pushing again, instead of needing to rest. I felt like such a pro! After 25 minutes, Hannah Kay was born at 5:35 pm.

She weighed 7 pounds, 9 ounces. Her head was misshaped into a lop-sided cone on one side. She had an Apgar score of 9 and 10. She was almost perfect and she was my present from heaven.