Abrielle's Birth Story

It's been a week and a half since we welcomed Miss Abrielle into our family and already the details of her birth are slipping from my memory.

February 2, 2013:
The contractions started at about 2 AM, they were few and far between but they were most certainly powerful.  Somewhere around 6 AM I awoke Derik and told him I thought the baby was coming and that we needed to pack my hospital bag and get things in order.  I did some laundry, packed my hospital bag, started charging our cameras, and cleaned up our house.
With my other children once the contractions started they never let up and I KNEW I was in labor.  This time around my contractions would come and go and I second guessed myself as to whether or not I was really in labor.  The contractions were strong enough that I had to huff and puff my way through them.
After a morning of stop and go contractions, I decided to go with Derik and the kids and run errands, to see if that would speed things along.  It didn't! 
I even tried napping, but by the time 3 PM rolled around I was getting very emotional and irrational because I was worn out.  I said a prayer and I asked my Heavenly Father to either let my labor progress, or to let it stop so I could rest, but that I didn't think I could do this on again, off again, stuff for any longer.   Almost instantly my contractions picked up.  They went from being 10 to 15 minutes apart to happening every 3 minutes.  And they were whoppers of contractions.  I thought I was like 9 cm dilated they were so intense. 
We called a babysitter and headed out to the hospital.
I intended to have an all natural (drug-free) hospital birth.
And in the beginning of my labor I did a great job of breathing through my pain and imagining quiet and calm places.  I told myself each contraction was bringing my baby closer and closer to being born.  But by the time I was in the car heading to the hospital I couldn't control anything.  The pain seemed ten times more intense than I remembered it feeling.  I couldn't breath through my contractions, the pain was literally curling my toes and overwhelming my senses.  I knew I had to be  minutes away from having our baby, that's how intense everything felt.
After checking myself into Labor and Delivery I was strapped to a bed and hooked up to IV's and checked to see where I had progressed to.
The nurse said I was only dilated to a three.  (I had been dilated to a three for almost a month now, so I had made zero progress in a day of on again off again labor)
That was most certainly not what I wanted to hear.  I knew that meant there were hours left before I had the baby, and I already couldn't control my pain.
This is where I knew I could have never been a pioneer women, or if I had been I would have only had one child.
I knew in that instant that I did not want to be in agony for hours, I did not want to be traumatized, I wanted the birth of our last baby to be a happy pleasant experience, not one filled with pain I couldn't seem to control.  So I opted to have an epidural.  I feel no guilt over that choice either.   Having an all natural birth just didn't happen and that's okay.  
Once the epidural kicked in, I relaxed enough to tell Derik that since I wasn't making much progress he was okay to go home and collect the things we had forgotten and have some dinner.  Which he happily did.  We agreed to have him be back at the hospital at 10:00pm.
Somewhere around 9:45pm I began to feel tremendous pressure and I knew we were close to being done, they checked me again, and I had progressed to an 8.  The nurse said the minute my water broke the baby would be here.  I started to get a little nervous that things might happen to quickly now and Derik wouldn't be back. 
Just a few minutes later my water broke. 
It was a little after ten and Derik still hadn't arrived.  I called him and told him he'd better hurry up the baby was on its way.  He said he was 5 minutes away.
The nurse said they were still trying to reach my Dr.  and asked if I could just cross my legs and not push, which I was okay with since I preferred to give birth to our last child with my husband present.  After Derik made it back, they put me on oxygen and we waited for the Dr. 
Once my Dr. arrived I was given permission to push.  Generally when I get to push I get a feeling of relief, but this time was different.  The pain never went away and the pressure made me feel like I was going to explode from the inside.  Thankfully I only had to push through three contractions. 
We welcomed our beautiful Abrielle into this world at 11:06 pm.
I didn't get to enjoy those first few moments of mother baby bonding, because they couldn't get my uterus to clamp down and I was bleeding pretty bad.  After a half hour or so of having my uterus beat and being pumped full of Pitocin and looking at a ceiling with my blood spattered on it, my Dr said I think this should be your last baby.
I whole heartedly agreed! 
I got my little girl, we were all happy and healthy.  Our family feels complete.
I'm excited to move on.  But even more excited to love and hold and cherish this beautiful daughter we've been given.