The Grand Entrance

Excited to be admitted--Baby Girl is coming!

Baby Girl has arrived!



She weighed as much as Micah.

WARNING: This may be too much information for some. However, I need to express how awesome God is and how He presented Himself through Mary-Elizabeth's birth.

First of all, I want to say that at the end of this pregnancy I was done. Maybe it was the high heat in a non-air conditioned home or maybe it was the pregnancy in itself. None the less, I was ready to for Mary-Elizabeth to make her grand entrance.

The Tuesday before Baby Girl was born I began to have contractions for several hours approx. 3 min. apart. They were not painful. Then they stopped. The next day, I began to have contractions again and they stopped. On Thursday, I began to have contractions before my ob appt. Mark made me pack my bags and get prepared to have our sweet Baby Girl. That appt. was disappointing. I was only dilated to a small 2 but was showing signs of 'maybe labor wouldn't be far.' The Doctor told me to go home and rest up. We went to the mall. I had several painful ones and then they just stopped...UGH! Everyday, I would have contractions and then they would stop.

So, on Sunday, July 19th, I started having contractions around 4:45 pm. I also began to show physical signs of labor. Mark and I didn't wait for the contractions to get harder and then stop. We just left for the hospital in hopes of having Baby Girl.


Upon arrival, I was checked--dilated to a 5! Yeah, I was a keeper. Then I found out I was Group B strep positive. Not a big deal-antibiotics would be used for preventive care. I needed to wait to have her 5 hours after my meds began in order to keep her off of any iv preventive meds. Several pokes later, meds began and contractions were getting harder. They were afraid to check me because they wanted me to get as close as possible to the 5 hour mark.

All that said, things got crazy. I began to get stronger contractions and more pain. I also began to get nauseous. I was fairly sick and requested something small to keep from getting sicker. I also requested my epidural. With phenergan and the epidural in place I began to get some rest.

Not to long afterwards, I began to feel weird. I was checked-dilated to a 8! Yippee, except that it was only 10:45 and I had to wait until 1:00 AM to keep Baby Girl safe. Mark and I prayed fervently that God would keep Baby Girl safe.


More drama began when my blood pressure dropped. I received some meds to help it go back up. After some adrenaline for the blood pressure, Baby Girl moved out of her position and I dilated backwards-now I am a 7. At this point, Mark and I were thinking that it was God's provision in keeping Mary-Elizabeth well.


During most of the event, I was very sleepy-probably a good thing. As my blood pressure continued to decrease and drop, Mary-Elizabeth's heart rate went crazy. She was jumping all over the place and reaching beats of 200+. My water was slow in breaking because her head was disengaged. So, the monitor was put on her head and a small leak was started.

The next few hours are a bit fuzzy. I know that Mary-Elizabeth finally calmed down after a few hours of craziness. I also remember getting more meds for the blood pressure drop. Unfortunately, I did get sick to my stomach again. I requested no meds and hoped that the act of being sick would put Mary-Elizabeth back into position. I don't think it worked very well.

Our poor nurse was in our room for the majority of the night and morning. The next thing I remember is drops in Mary-Elizabeth's heart rate with my contractions. This was a sign of distress. It was 7:00 Am and I was dilated to a 9. The doctor went ahead and had me pushing in hopes of getting Baby Girl out safely. At first, I couldn't really feel where to push. Then God blessed us and her head engaged well. At 7:25 AM, Mary-Elizabeth was born after 15 hours of labor. However, the chord was wrapped around her neck twice. The doctor had expected this because of her dips in her heart rate during my contractions which were erratic despite all the pitocin.

After removing the chord, they put my sweet 7 lb 14 oz chubby baby on my chest and I began to cry. She however wasn't breathing well. So, they took her to the baby bed and began to suction and give her oxygen. Everyone told me she was okay, but I didn't believe them because she was not crying. They worked on her for awhile and cleaned her up. Finally, after I ate some breakfast, they gave her to me. Thankfully, she nursed well. Looking at Baby Girl, I was overwhelmed at God's goodness and faithfulness that was exhibited through her pregnancy and labor.

She made her grand entrance on her oldest brother's birthday. Now, twice on this one day I have been given a miracle-one ten years prior. The blessings and provisions are far too numerous to recount. However, I must praise God for protecting my mind and spirit from all of the ups and downs of this labor. I was not extremely scared or nervous through all of the drama. I am also thankful for my fabulous husband. Mark was a trooper and stayed awake. He also kept a mental record of all that was happening. He was well equipped to be my advocator and was willing to go the extra mile for me and his daughter.

I am blessed to have gone through this trial of a crazy pregnancy and labor. Mary-Elizabeth is perfect and I am in love with the family that God has given me.

First time to hold my daughter.

Going Home!