Caroline is turning 1 and her birth story

My baby girl turns 1 tomorrow, so I thought I would share my birth story. To start off with, my mom passed away on March 31st of last year from Alzheimers at the age of 61. This was such a terrible loss for me. Well, 2 weeks later I find out I am pg. To me, this was God's gift to help me deal with the loss of my mother. It was a blessing, yet completely unexpected.

I was a little worried, being 37 and pg. My DH has 2 kids from his previous marriage, ages 15 and 13. And I have 1 DD from my previous marriage, age 8. My pregnancy was going along normal, until 18w. I went for my anatomy ultrasound and my cervix was measuring short due to a LEEP the previous year. My OB asked what kind of work I did and I told him I sat at a desk all day. Well, he wanted me to being working from home to where I could be laying back in a recliner or in the bed, as to not put too much pressure on my cervix. At 25w, I started having PTL, which I had with my DD also. At 28w, I was diagnosed with GD. Which luckily I was able to manage with my diet. I was miserable, with the PTL and contractions all the time. At 25w, I went out of work completely.

Longer story short, I was going to doctor every week to check for dialation and my cervix. I was begging my OB to do something, cause I was just miserable. I go my appt at 37w4d and I was dialated to a 2 and about 90% effaced. Had been this way for a few weeks. I call my DH and tell him we ARE having sex when I get home to get this show on the road.. Well, the next day, I woke up feeling about the same as usual. My DH takes off to go hunting, my DD goes to a friends and I go lay down. About 2:30pm, I get up to go potty and just felt like I wouldnt stop peeing. I go to the toilet and get back up and it is still coming. I call DH and tell him my water broke and we need to go now. The contractions came on hard and heavy. I called my OB and they wanted me to go to the office first to verify my water broke... ARGH!!! We get there about 3:30 and they say , yes your water broke (DUH), and I am 4cm dialated and 100% effaced. So we scoot on over to the hospital. Get there about 4:00pm and they get my in a L&D room, OMG Im in so much pain, I start shaking uncontrollably and I start vomitting. I told them I wanted an epi, but they said they had to get blood work and I had to get fluids in me first. Well, the anethesiologist finally gets there. He had to be 80, moving slow as christmas and I am laying on my side and ready and I looked at the nurse and told her, I HAD TO PUSH. She checked me and I was complete. No epi for me... I was crying terribly cause I didnt think I could do it. They called the OB to come on over and told me NOT to push... ARE THEY CRAZY?? Do they know how hard that it... That was the worst pain I had ever felt. Finally the OB gets there and gets in position and 5 pushes later, Caroline Hope is born is 4:51 pm weighing 5lb, 6oz. She was born Nov 23rd and my Moms bday is Nov 20.  That was the worst pain during all of that, but the recovery was a piece of cake cause I did not tear at all. She is mom's gift to us.

Happy Birthday Caroline.