Finally I get to write the post that I’ve been dreaming about for the past ten months – the day that we had been waiting for.
Everly Grace has finally decided to come join us and make our family complete. After 10 months of pregnancy, 16 hours of labor, and the past four days of non-stop staring and pondering over every inch of this little angel that is our daughter, Marty and I are completely speechless when it comes to describing what our lives are like now. If anything else ever mattered to us before, it is now completely insignificant and incomparable to the overwhelming sense of LOVE that has taken over. I’m so happy to finally tell you the story of Everly Grace’s birth.
I had woken up Monday night around 3 am with painful contractions. We weren’t alarmed, since this had occurred the past two nights and had not resulted in anything. After I wasn’t able to sleep through them, Marty was awake and was helping me get through them as they occurred every fifteen minutes. When every fifteen minutes turned into every 10 minutes around 5 am, I had Marty go out to sleep on the couch so that he could get some rest. There was no sense in both of us being up, and I was confident that I could get through them on my own.
Each contraction got stronger, and I found myself in every position trying to alleviate the pain and breathe through each one. Thank God that I spent the past year developing my breathing and concentration with yoga, because I don’t know how I would have gotten through those hours without that. By 7 am, the birthing ball and breathing techniques had done all that they could and I went out to the living room to wake Marty and have him let his boss know he wasn’t coming into work. I knew that we were going to have this baby today.
I spent the next two hours trying to get some last minute stuff done around the house, packing my hospital bag, and even managed to get a shower in. By 9 am, my contractions were 3-5 minutes apart, and I couldn’t walk or talk through them. Earlier we had wondered if this was a false alarm, since my contractions had seemed a little inconsistent and didn’t always follow the same pattern, but now we knew we had to leave.
By the time we made it to the hospital, I was checked in Triage and immediately admitted to Labor and Delivery. I was 3 cm. dilated and 95% effaced. The nurse was shocked watching my contractions literally go off the charts and couldn’t believe that I had labored at home on my own with the intensity and frequency that they were occurring. I had back-to-back contractions while my epidural was administered and didn’t even feel a thing.
After that, I tried to get a little rest as Marty called our parents and best friends to tell them that this little girl was on her way. I said a few prayers, asking God to keep myself and the baby safe and protected, and asked for strength to physically do what I needed to do to bring this baby into the world. I had never been scared until this point, when I knew it was right around the corner and anything could happen.
After the house doctor came and broke my water, she checked me and I was 8 cm. dilated and 100% effaced. My doctor was called and would be coming to the hospital when I was 10 cm. dilated, so we closed off the room so that I could get some rest.
Marty sat with me as I tried, unsuccessfully, to sleep. I broke down and sobbed to him that I was afraid and started doubting myself. He listened to my ridiculous fears and held me as he let me have the cry and vent that he knew that I needed. Thank God he was there with me. I couldn’t imagine going through this without a partner to bring you back up. He kept telling me everything was going to be OK and that he knew I could do this, that he knew that I was more than capable of this and kept reminding me that we were going to finally meet our daughter soon.
By the time I was 9 ¾ cm. dilated, I had been feeling intense pressure and pain down low. The house doctor checked me and said that they baby’s head was already extremely low in the birth canal, which was probably the source of the pain. I got a top-off of the epidural and waited for the relief.
When the pressure intensified and the epidural top-off did nothing to alleviate the pain, we called for our nurse. Ten minutes (and no nurse) later, I started squeezing Marty’s arm and begging for my doctor. The pressure was so intense and I had an overwhelming urge to push. I kept saying “Where’s my doctor? I’m going to have this baby right now, I swear to God!”
Marty started getting upset, he had already called for the nurse a second time and she still wasn’t there. He was about to get up to get someone when my doctor walked in. When I told her I was about to push this baby out and she checked me, things started happening really fast.
“Where the heck IS your nurse?” she asked me. Before I knew it, my feet were in the stirrups, two nurses hurried in the room, and I was begging to push. My doctor wheeled in a table with her supplies, the nurses frantically got busy prepping me. Between the hustle and bustle of things and my verbal demands to push, a sink overflowed and started flooding the delivery room. The rest was a bit of a blur.
I pleaded with them to push, telling them I HAD to. My body was taking over now, and I had no choice. When they finally gave me the OK to start, I gave it my all. The pain was excruciating, but there was no going back. I had to make my body do whatever it needed to do to get this baby out.
The contractions were still coming back-to-back, so I would do three big pushes and then get a 20 or 30 second break in between to try and catch my breath. By the time she was crowning, I was so exhausted but knew I was so close. By the time her head was out, I did one more push and my doctor pulled the rest of her out. Within only twelve minutes of pushing, Everly was born and was immediately placed on my chest, skin-to-skin.
All I saw were big beautiful eyes, staring directly at me. I swear she looked right into my soul that very moment. I’ve never felt anything like in my entire life, nor will I ever forget it. It was in that moment that I wondered how people could ever question if there is a God, because she was living proof.
Even though she was covered in fluids I couldn’t help wrapping my arms around her and holding her as I cried like I never have cried before, dripping tears all over my tiny pink baby’s back. She truly was the most beautiful thing that I have ever seen. Marty and I hugged and cried, thanking each other for her. It was the most defining moment in both of our lives.
And so it was… This little bug popped into our lives and nothing else would ever be the same. We can’t stop looking at her, touching her soft skin, inhaling her sweet scent, and looking deep into those blue eyes and wondering how the two of us made something so perfect. Forgive us if you don’t see or hear from Marty or I in a while, we’ll be busy falling in love with our new precious daughter.
Everly Grace Buehler
August 3, 2010
8 lbs., 9 oz.
Born at 6:03 pm at Missouri Baptist Hospital
Pitter Patter of Little Feet 