A Mother is Born
Welcome Maisie J!
When — March 2019
Where — Cedar City, Utah
Bringing our girl Earth side.
When a woman gives birth, not only a baby is born, but a mother and father too. This is our birth story.
The last few weeks of my pregnancy seemed to go so slowly. I had my hospital bags packed, the nursery ready to go, the Pack & Play set up in our bedroom, and a diaper changing kit in every room of the house. We were READY. Since the beginning of my pregnancy I was convinced that I would deliver at 38 weeks because my mother went into labor 2 weeks before her due date with my siblings and me. However, 38 weeks came and went and, although I was having Braxton-Hicks contractions and my belly was visibly lower, there were no signs of active labor. I was 2 cm dilated and 90% effaced for the last two and a half weeks of my pregnancy- I was sure I would go into labor at any moment.
When I hit 39 weeks on Friday, March 8th I prayed and hoped that the baby would come over the weekend so I wouldn’t have to come into work on Monday- I was barely hanging in there as it was!
On Friday afternoon, my aunt texted me that she and my cousin were in Cedar for the night and she invited us to dinner. When I arrived at the restaurant my husband greeted me outside and asked how I was doing. I told him I was exhausted from work, but happy to see my aunt and cousin. We walked over to our table and SURPRISE!- my mom and grandma were also there. They wanted to come up for the weekend to work on some things in the new house my parents recently bought in Cedar City and they, like me, were hoping I would go into labor over the weekend.
On Saturday, Blair’s parents stayed with us since they came down to pick up our nieces from St. George for their Spring Break. We ate breakfast at my parent’s house then I ran errands with my family while Blair went with his parents to check out some properties in the area. In the evening, we watched Legally Blonde (one of my favorite movies). After my family went back to their house, I took a nice long bath- like I did every night. Baths were one of my favorite things throughout my pregnancy.
On Sunday, I went down to St. George with my mom and grandma while Blair spent time with his parents and family at our house. I figured this would be my last St. George trip until after the baby and all the walking around the stores would help induce labor. In St. George, we went to Pier 1, Tuesday Morning, Target, and had lunch at In-N-Out ( I had been craving it since my mom mentioned it earlier in the week). We headed back to Cedar and planned on having pot roast at my parent’s house for dinner.
After dinner, Blair dropped his parents and nieces off at the airport and we hung out with my mom and grandma at their house. My mom and grandma planned on heading home early the next morning and we were all still hoping labor would start soon. My mom didn’t want to leave us and I did not want to go to work (sitting at my desk all day was getting super uncomfortable). While we were sitting around chatting, I noticed that my stomach would occasionally go rock hard and my abdomen felt really tight. I’d felt contractions like this before, but not so frequently or intensely. My family and Blair all thought this might be early labor, but I didn’t want to get my hopes up. It was getting late so we said our goodbyes and Blair and I went home.
When we got home I was still having the occasional abdominal tightening and I felt uncomfortable. Blair suggested I take a bath- he knew my baths always made me feel better. After my bath, I went to bed. It was a little after 10 pm. Just before 1 am I was awoken by what felt like menstrual cramps. The cramping lasted for about 30 seconds.
A little while later I experienced the same cramping sensation. I went downstairs to get some water and to tell Blair I might be going into labor (he was playing his video game). He was super excited and followed me upstairs to bed. I started tracking the contractions with an app and Blair helped. The contractions weren’t super intense- they just felt like menstrual cramps and they were about 15 minutes apart.
Around 3 am I told Blair he better get some sleep- if this was labor, I wanted one of us to be somewhat rested. Blair told me he was too excited and didn’t want to sleep, but he was out and snoring a few minutes later. I continued to track my contractions with my app and they were about 10 minutes apart for the next few hours. Blair woke up around 4:30 am and asked me if I told my manager I wouldn’t be in to work that day. I told Blair that I still wasn’t sure if I was in real labor, but Blair said I probably shouldn’t go to work since I didn’t sleep all night. I texted my manager to let him know I was likely going into labor and wouldn’t be at work that day.
By 6 am the contractions were still about 10 minutes apart. I texted my mom to let her know how my night had gone and asked her to stay in town in case this was the real deal. I fell asleep for about 20 minutes after I sent that text and missed two calls from my mom. This sent her into a panic and she thought we had gone to the hospital, but I called her as soon as I woke up and told her I was still at home. A little after 7:30 am my contractions were about 6 minutes apart and I knew I was close to heading to the hospital. My mom offered to bring us breakfast so we asked for smoothies. By 8:45 my contractions were 90 seconds apart and Blair told me it was time to go to the hospital. My mom and grandma brought the smoothies over a little after 9 am and my contractions were strong enough that I couldn’t walk or talk through them. My mom and grandma told me I definitely needed to get to the hospital.
We finally went to the hospital around 9:20 am and we parked in the special labor and delivery parking spots. As we walked down the hall to L&D I had to keep stopping with each contraction. I started to cry- not because the contractions were painful (they were just extremely uncomfortable)- but because I knew the next time I walked down the hall, I’d have my baby in my arms.
When we got to the doors of L&D, Blair picked up the phone and said, “Uh, I think my wife’s in labor” and they let us in. When we got to the nurse’s station, I was trying to tell them I pre-registered, but I couldn’t because another contraction was starting. One of the nurses walked me back to my room while Blair checked us in. The nurse said I would likely be admitted so I changed into my gown before they even checked me.
When they checked me they said I was at 5 cm and almost fully effaced. The nurses checked me in at 9:30 and asked me a ton of questions which I tried my best to answer between contractions. At this point the contractions still just felt like painful menstrual cramps. My doctor came in to break my water around 10:30. After he broke my water, the contractions were a lot more painful. They felt like the worst cramps in the world.
I received my epidural just after 11 am and once that kicked in, the contractions just felt like pressure in my pelvis. I could talk to Blair during my contractions once I had the epidural in. We talked about how cool it was that our baby would be born on 3/11 (one of our favorite bands is 311) and how we want to go to their concert this summer. Those were our last moments with just the two of us and they are something I will treasure forever.
My nurse came in to check me at noon and said I was just about fully dilated and she would check me again at 12:30 because I might be ready to push at that point. Just before 12:20 I felt a sensation that made me feel like I needed to start pushing. I told Blair how I felt and asked him if I should call the nurse or just wait until she checked me. He said I should call the nurse.
When she checked me she said I was definitely ready to start pushing and she would call the doctor in. My nurse coached me through the pushing (3 pushes each contraction with each push lasting 10 seconds). She showed Blair how to hold my leg and counted me through each push. While pushing, my nurse said the baby had a lot of dark hair. At 12:50 another nurse came in and said the doctor was about 15 minutes away. Blair and I looked at each other nervously because we knew the baby was ready to be born. My nurse told me we might have to rest for a contraction or two until the doctor arrived.
Blair and I were both worried the baby would come before the doctor could get there! The doctor arrived at 1:05 pm and started suiting up for the delivery. At this point the baby was ready to come out and the nurse had me lay on my side and close my legs during one of my contractions while the doctor finished getting ready.
Once the doctor was ready, I only had to push through 3 more quick contractions then my sweet baby girl was born. The doctor set her on my chest while the nurse and respiratory therapist rubbed her down to get her warmed up. She immediately looked up at me and it was one of the most beautiful moments of my life. She knew who I was and she knew who Blair was. We waited so long to meet her and she was finally here!
Miss Maisie Jeanne was born at 1:10 PM on Monday, March 11th, 2019 and was 19 inches long and weighed 6 lbs. 15 oz. She was perfect and her delivery went smoothly.
Blair and I are so grateful for our beautiful baby girl and for all the nurses and doctors who took care of us and kept us safe during labor, delivery, and postpartum. We were fortunate enough to be discharged the next afternoon and we were so happy to take our girl home and introduce her to her fur siblings.
There are moments in our lives that I wish we could replay over and over again because they were so perfect. Writing down Maisie’s birth story is the only way I could think of reliving the precious moments that took place in those few days.