The Lane's End

Molly Lucille: a birth story!

Every pregnant woman thinks about their "birth plan", although we know that Mother Nature is the major determinant of childbirth.  So, when my water broke at home at 3:20am on Friday, September 2, almost 4 weeks before my due date, Jesse and I knew our "birth plan" wasn't going to be.  We calmly warned Maternity we were coming, packed our bags, showered and headed over to DRMC West.  On the way, we sat almost in silence, as I prayed that God knew this baby was ready.  At one point, Jesse looked at me and said "we're going to have a baby today".  Wow.  Our baby--today.

So we get to the hospital around 4:30am, and after registering and verifying that my water had, in fact, ruptured, the nurse checked me, a mere 2 cm dilated, 100% effaced (which I had been since Tuesday of that week).  The doctor came in around 6am and suggested some Pitocin to get my labor going, which I begged to avoid.  He agreed to give me 2 hours, so Jesse and I started running (well not literally, but almost) the halls and swirling/bouncing on the birthing ball.  Over the next 2 hours, I noticed a definite change in my contractions, and was 4cm!  After a relatively short period in the jacuzzi and some more time on the birthing ball, I was checked again around 9am--5 cm!  At this point, contractions were painful and coming more and more frequently.  I vowed to try childbirth without pain medication, so I continued numerous positions to allow focus and concentration through the contractions.  With the continued support of Jesse, Judy, my Mom and Renee, I made to 10cm at just before noon!  27 minutes of pushing later, Molly Lucille was born.  Although the doctor did turn her away from us before announcing, "it's a girl!", it truly did not matter to us!  We had a healthy delivery and a healthy baby, it's just a bonus that God sent us a girl :)

The last picture of me before Molly was born--obviously early contractions (hence the smile), around 4 cm.

She's here!  The most supportive husband and proud Daddy with a relatively tired new Mommy and baby Molly!

Jesse's first time holding Molly!

A true miracle.  We couldn't stop staring at her!