At 3am my water broke. YAY! I was so excited! I got out of bed, just to make sure...yep, it was time! So I quietly woke Jason..."Jason, I think my water broke"....I have never seen that man, in the five years I've known him, wake up and jump out of the bed that fast! So we call the hospital, take showers, get the rest of our stuff together, and head out!
We get to the hospital at 4am, sure enough, my water broke, so they get me in a room by about 7am and start my IV port "just in case." About 8am the doc comes in, checks me & I'm at 1cm, yes, 1cm. So he tries cytotec, which does bring on contractions, but by 12pm, I was still only 2cm. At that point the doc orders pitocin (oh no, does that mean no water birth?! no, I can still have a water birth, yay!). BUT, if things weren't progressing in a couple hours, it was c-section time. So about 1pm they start pitocin, which had me terrified, I heard all the horrible stories of pitocin, that is was an "unbearable labor" with it, and I was determined to have a pain-med free, water birth.
Okay, so fast forward to about 6pm, and let me point out, pitocin is NO WHERE NEAR as bad as people make it to be, so please, don't fear it! I'm finally 6cm and able to be taken off pitocin and get in the water. Get in the water about 6:30pm and at 8pm finally 10cm, YES! I get to have this baby, finally! Another, let me point out, pushing doesn't hurt either, it's almost a relief, relief from the pressure! So at 10:04pm, our darling little girl was born! Although next time (IF there is a next time), I prefer not to have a 19 hour labor, I had an excellent labor & birth experience and would love to do it again!
Atalie Faith Gauntt
December 11, 2007
10:04pm
7lbs, 3oz...20 inches
Here are the very first minutes of Atalie's life...
