Bump Month: Birth Story

Today is the official start of Bump Month where I'll be interspersing posts related to pregnancy, new moms, and babies throughout the month of May.  To kick things off, members of Splash Creative Media are sharing our birth stories- the good, the bad and the ugly! So get ready to share, talk, and learn about great products and enter an amazing giveaway valued at $1,000!   

As I wrote this, Little Miss Techie has made herself a reading nook right behind my desk and was devouring the next book in the Rainbow Magic fairy series.  It’s hard to believe that 7 years have passed since she was born because the nine months we waited for her to arrive seemed like forever.

Certain moments from those nine months are forever ingrained in my mind:

• The nervous excitement of waiting for the home pregnancy test to show up positive or negative and then the elation of knowing I was pregnant and sharing the news with my husband.
• Calling my parents on my way home from work and telling them that they were going to be grandparents at the start of the new year.
• Working behind a closed door with my windows wide open to combat the intense smell of paint fumes due to the surprise of painters showing up unannounced in our office one summer day.  I hadn’t planned to share my pregnancy at work quite yet but one of my good friends poked head in my office to sympathize with the overwhelming smell and then said, “At least you aren’t pregnant.” “But I am,” I replied close to tears as I worried about what the fumes were doing to the baby.
• Guys in the office being relieved when I made my announcement because as one said, “We thought you might be but didn’t want to say anything unless you were just gaining a lot of weight.”  Thanks.
• Worrying that I would forget everything I learned during the birthing classes and infant CPR course we took pre-baby.
• Being terrified of a C-section.

I felt incredibly fortunate that my pregnancy was so easy.  I had no morning sickness, gained a moderate amount of weight, and there was a baby inside of me who looked healthy throughout my nine months.  I hoped that my labor and delivery would be as easy as my mom said hers was with me.  After all, everyone had told me that your mother’s labor and delivery indicates how easy or difficult yours might be.  Not so true.

I woke up in the middle of the night on January 8 and realized my water had broken.  We called my OB and made the quick 5 minute drive to the hospital not knowing exactly how long it would be before our baby would arrive.  As it turns out, it was the beginning of a very long wait. 

My water had broken but I wasn’t dialated even a centimeter so I was connected to an IV and given a drip with Pitocin to speed along labor.  But speed was a relative term since I was progressing at a snail’s pace. 

We got to the hospital when it was still dark and as the sun came up and the morning progressed, we called my office to let them know that I wouldn’t be coming and updated family members with the news that there was no news.  I remember watching The Price is Right, trying to read my InStyle magazine, and later ER. 

Sometime after ER I was checked again hoping for good news and alas, it seemed that I was stuck at 8 centimeters.  After hours of being on the IV drip, my body had its fill of the Pitocin and it just wasn’t working anymore.  My doctor came to talk to me about what was happening and I practically burst into tears about my fears of a C-section. 

“Let’s take you off the drip for an hour and then start it back up to see what happens,” she calmly said.  She knew that the idea of a C-section scared me because my experience with surgery was limited to having my wisdom teeth out in high school.  But that doesn’t really count.

An hour later the drip started and within half an hour I was ready.  Delivery was fast compared to the excruciating wait time of labor because I think my body was ready for that next step. 

3 pushes and 15 minutes later we met our 7 lb 6 ounce baby girl.  She patiently tolerated the poking, prodding, measuring, and weighing by the nurses before being bathed and wrapped up and handed to me for good.  I remember holding her close and telling her how nice it was to meet her.  

Despite the long wait, she was most certainly worth it.  I discovered that she was happy when she found her index and ring fingers to put in her mouth and preferred sleeping in my arms instead of the cold plastic box on wheels.  Seven years later I still love her just as much as the day I first met her.

These days I love the growing independence of our two children but I do miss  the first year.  The incredible baby smell, snuggling a sleepy cuddly newborn who conforms to your body during naps, the portability of having a child who fits in an infant carrier, the amazing growth and rate of change…I cherish the memories of my daughter and son as they were and look forward to what our future as a family holds.

Read more Bump Month Birth Stories from the Splash Creative Media team:

• Alison Ray from Sassy Moms in the City @sassymomchicago

• Andrea Fellman from Savvy Sassy Moms @savvysassymoms

• Grace Duffy from Formely Gracie @graceduffy

• Jessica Rosenberg from It’s My Life @kikarose

• Julie Meyers Pron from Just Precious @justprecious

• Kelly Whalen from The Centsible Life @centsiblelife

• Laurie Cooper from Guessing all the Way @clueless_mama

• Leticia Barr from Tech Savvy Mama @TechSavvyMama

• Whitney Wingerd from Mommies with Style @WhitneyMWS

Mark your calendars for the Bump Month Twitter Party!

Wednesday May 18th, 2011

Starting at 8pm EST / 7pm CST / 6pm MST / 5pm PST.  

It will be a 2 hour long Twitter Party where we'll be 

giving away nearly $5,000 in prizes!

Be sure to watch this space for more info on the #BumpMonth Twitter Party!  It’s gonna be Bumptastic!  Huge thanks to the sponsors below that have contributed fabulous prizes!

This post is apart of a series of posts inspired and sponsored by "All about the Bump Month.”  To visit our sponsor page please click here.