Ivy Birth Story

I went to bed Sunday night like I normally do.  I don't remember what time I went to bed, but I remember not feeling like I would have another baby girl the next day.  I do remember feeling a little uncomfortable, and as I said my prayers that night I asked that I would be comfortable these last few days. (or something along those lines)  All I can say is, my stomach has been pretty comfortable since the 9th of April.  :)  

I woke up around 1:30 am on Monday feeling the most horrible cramps.  They were bearable...but I thought it was a little strange.  I went to the bathroom and tried to go back to sleep.  I laid in bed thinking about all the things I still needed to get done and hoped that baby wasn't ready to come yet.  (not that I wasn't excited, I just had a lot to do still, my due date wasn't until the 20th, and my mom wasn't scheduled to come till the 24th of this month.)  My contractions started to get more painful but still bearable.  I started to time them.  10 minutes apart...8 minutes apart...I thought it was just a scare.  I texted my mom around 2:30am telling her this baby might be coming today.  In the back of my mind I kept telling myself I was silly for thinking that.

I decided to hop in the bath...oh boy, did that help!  But it was temporary.  The contractions kept coming.  

I tried to go back to bed...but I couldn't sleep, so I decided to distract myself from the contractions.  I made a few headbands that had to go out the next day...through each contraction I'd hunch over and breathe and then quickly try to finish each bow or headband.  By this time, the contractions were closer to 6-8 minutes apart.  Painful, but still manageable.  (kinda)  

My house was a wreck.  I had loads of laundry to do that I was going to tackle the next day.  The dishes were still left out from Easter dinner the day before, and there was clutter everywhere.  I cleaned up the kitchen as best I could, did my hair, threw in a load of laundry and tried to pick up the house.  By this time, the contractions were ranging anywhere from 3-8 minutes apart.  Cason was still sleeping, but I'd wake him up every once in a while and tell him today might be the day.  And that he probably shouldn't go into work...just in case.  

Around 7:30 am, Millie and Cason woke up.  Cason fed Millie breakfast while I tried to catch a little sleep.  Between each contraction, it felt like I had slept an hour.  I'd wake up and look at the clock and it had only been six minutes...or three minutes...or eight minutes.  Clearly I was exhausted.  

Around 8:30 am I called the Dr's office and explained that I was having contractions, but they were not a consistent three minutes apart.  They asked me if I could talk through them and I could for the most part. They advised me to head to the Emergency Room.  I took it lightly, and took my sweet little time packing a bag, and getting things ready to go.  I called a dear friend (who I am so thankful for) around 9 am to see if I could drop Millie off.  Without hesitation she said yes.  I don't know what I would do without her!  

Finally around 10 am we left our house and dropped Millie off.  I walked her to the door and said that we'd probably be back to get Millie in a few hours.  I thought these contractions were a fluke because they were not a consistent three minutes apart.  

At 10:30am we arrived at the Emergency Room.  Cason told the officer at the door that I was about to have a baby.  I laughed and was a little embarrassed and told him that I was fine.  They put me in a wheelchair and wheeled me to the front desk.  I told them my name and the receptionist asked, "and you are having contractions right?!"  I told him I was.  Apparently they were waiting for me as I took my sweet little time.  I was then wheeled to a doorway and waited for a nurse to come wheel me to my room.  Right after she came another pregnant woman came through the doors with wet hair, breathing very heavily.  She said she was about to have her baby.  I felt so dumb, because here I was calm, having random contractions, in the emergency room and this girl was pretty much hyperventilating.  I almost hopped up from the wheelchair and headed back to the car.  

They wheeled me back to a room, I changed into my gown and they started asking questions.  The contractions at this point were painful.  They checked me and I was dilated to an eight.  They said that this baby could come in a half an hour.  I started crying.  I couldn't believe it.  I thought I would for sure go over my due date.  But lucky me, my prayers were answered.  

I was wheeled to another room where more of the same questions were asked (why do they do that?) and my water broke.  The anesthesiologist came in, gave me my epidural and it was smooth sailing from there on out!  The doctor came in around 1:00 pm and I was dilated to a 10.  I started pushing and at 1:33 pm Ivy Elizabeth Green was born.  She was 8 pounds 4 ounces and was 19 inches long.  

It was such a sweet moment.  I loved hearing her precious little cry, seeing her squinty eyes, and her puffy, wrinkly newborn skin.  We did skin to skin, and I held her and cuddled her while she let out little whimpers.  It was such a tender moment.  

She didn't have a name the first few days of her life, but on the last day we finally made the decision.  We love our little Ivy girl and are so blessed to have another sweet baby girl in our lives. 

proud dad!!

   
Later that day, Cason brought Millie to meet her new baby sister for the first time.
To say we were nervous for them to meet is an understatement.
We obviously didn't know how Millie would handle it.

At first, all she wanted was Cason.  She didn't like to see me in the bed.
Finally she sat by me and looked at her baby sister.
She wasn't too sure about the whole situation...

Day two came around and the little miss helped me burp Ivy.  And kept wanting to "hold it".

This picture absolutely melts me.

My beautiful, selfless, loving, giving, dear, mom changed her flight to come and help us out.
Oh, what would we do without her?!

The best picture we got as a family of four.

Oh, how blessed we are to have another beautiful baby girl in our family.
We love our little Ivy girl and Millie loves her baby "Ibee."