We are alive!!

Kim here. Finally strong enough to type for a few minutes. I've been meaning to write my thoughts for a while, but napping has taken priority over blogging!

So, we have survived the first week. I cannot believe that it has gone by so quickly. It seems as if there is no end to one day and a beginning to the next. It's just one endless day!

With this being the end of the first week, it made me reflect on what was happening this time last week. Of course, by this time, we were settled into our hospital room and being well taken care of by the nurses...how I wish we were still there! For those of you who haven't heard here is the birth story:

I began feeling "pains" Sunday morning. I was very excited as I was already plotting how I was going to get out of being induced. Alan and I went to church. I needed to get my oxytocin up and send up many prayers that I was actually in labor and would get to have my desired natural birth. I felt pains throughout the church service-obviously nothing that painful or regular. I decided not to tell Alan anything as I didn't want to jinx myself!

Around 4pm, I got an official contraction. I was thrilled; although, it did made me fall to the floor in pain! Michelin had called Alan at 3:30 and asked him to come in at 5 to work on a few problems. He had accepted since he had no idea that labor had begun. I finally confessed that labor had begun as Alan was leaving for work. He was shocked! Since I had been so highly trained on labor through my natural birth class, I knew that we had HOURS ahead. I continued to work on my chores and finally finish packing for the hospital. The contractions literally brought me to my knees, but they were 15 minutes apart.

Contractions continued throughout the evening. Alan returned home around 6:30 and made sure that all of the snacks were packed for the hospital. One thing that would not be left behind was the snacks! I became very best friends with my Yoga ball. It really took the edge off the pain. Alan and I prepared for bed around 10, but I realized that I wouldn't be sleeping. I told Alan to get as much rest as possible, and I moved out to the family room to watch tv and work through the pain. I kept time on my contractions. They started coming 2-3 minutes apart; however, they were never longer than 30 seconds. According to the labor instructions, we weren't supposed to go to the hospital until the contractions were 1 minute long, 5 minutes apart for 1 hour. So, I continued to suffer in silence.

At 11:30, I got a contraction that was much more painful than what I had experienced all night...then GUSH!! My water broke. "EMERGENCY, EMERGENCY," I shouted. Alan jumped out of bed-even Dora came out to check on the status. It was definitely time to go to the hospital. However, please do not believe that Dora was lost in this moment-she has not been forgotten yet! I called our neighbor who was going to watch her and we made sure to drop her off on the way out :)

So, I continued to gush and gush all the way to the hospital. We arrive and I get directly admitted to the delivery room. As much as I thought I wanted a natural birth, all I discussed from the triage area to the DR was what my options were. We arrive at the delivery room and I get immediately tied to the bed and was no longer able to handle my pain myself. When the nurse checked me, I was 6 cm. After the next contraction, I was 7. By the time I started yelling, "HELP ME, HELP ME!" I was 9.5 cm. To say in the least, I had no options. The RN called the doctor in immediately. By the time I got to 10 cm, all pain went away. I literally felt nothing from that point forward. All I wanted to do was sleep. It is amazing what the body does to protect you. They told me to push, but I just wanted to be left alone, so I would squeeze up my face like I was pushing but do nothing else. Unfortunately, since I was with trained professionals, they caught on pretty fast. At some point, I heard in the background that the heart rate was dropping, and Alan started getting much more frantic with his encouragement to push. So, I gave it my all and little Helen was born at 1:05 am.

This to me is truly a testament to the power of prayer. I had been praying for weeks to have a natural birth-why I don't even know. The Lord made sure that it happened by giving me absolutely no options!

So, a week later...would I do it again? Very surprisingly, yes. Immediately after delivery, I said no way, no how. But now I think I would at least give it another try.

That's the birth story. I left out a few details-Alan almost fainting, no security guard or wheelchair at the hospital, and busting through the doors in triage. That's far more entertaining to tell in person :)

More later on my thoughts on becoming the ultimate milk machine! Helen doth call...