Elizabeth's Birth Story

In light of the fact that we just obtained a new niece and cousin yesterday- a baby girl for Aaron and Marrisse- six weeks early!- I am posting Elizabeth's Birth story.

I went into labor early Sunday morning- the day after my due date (Sep. 14, 2002). It was 2 am and I woke up with contractions! I was so excited! This is it!! I thought. (Little did I know that you would be born 2 days later.) I woke up your Dad and had him time the contractions- 8 min., 10 min., 7 min- they were all over the place. We called your Uncle Doug around 8 am- who was in Medical school. He said if we had more than 6 contractions an hour to go into the hospital- so we did. They sent us home (irregular contractions). We missed Church and went for a walk. The contractions started coming only every 30 minutes. I was discouraged. Josh said that they would probably not stop- it would just take a while.

My visiting teachers came over and taught me. Later, after dinner, Jen and Ben (your Aunt and Uncle) came over for games and I only had a few contractions. But, when we went to bed that night (Sun. night) at 11 pm they started again in full force a t 2 am. After no sleep, we went to the hospital. They checked me during an hour and I was at a 1- still no progress. They were going to send us home again! I said that I needed drugs! They asked if I wanted a shot. No, I replied! So, they gave me some morphine pills, which helped me sleep for four hours (4 am- 8am) Monday morning.

All day I labored. Josh stayed home from school and heated my red corn bean bag and fed me jello (I though I couldn't eat in labor.).At 3 pm I called a doctor (I would not go back to the hospital- they kept turning me away.) The Doctor was booked solid, but I went in anyway! He checked me and I was at a 3! I cried. He said we should go to the hospital in a few hours.

We went home and I told Josh I could make it until 9 pm. At 8:30 pm we got the bags ready and headed for the hospital. When we got there, Josh said "Do you want to walk around some more?" (He didn't want to be sent home!) No! I said let's go in!

We went in and I was at a 6! and ready for an epidural! They gave me one and later some Pitocin to help me progress more. At 2 am I was ready to push, but since I had gotten eight hours of sleep in the apst 3 days, I was exhausted already. I fell asleep in between contractions. The nurse would say "good job pushing" and turn to Josh and say "nothing's happening." After 1 1/2 hours of pushing and some forceps, you were born at 4:40 am weighing 7 lbs 10 ozs, 19inches long, with lots of dark hair that amzed everyone. I was tired, yet happy.

This is my blog. My name is Megan Abbott.

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