A month has already passed and I haven’t had a chance to write down this birth story. Although, if I’m honest with myself I have had moments where I could have chosen to do this, but instead I chose laundry, dishes, or just resting over thinking through Kylie’s birth.

Kylie was born on Friday, November 18th at 10:41am, but that of course is where her birth story ends.

I was one of those crazy ladies that decided to work until I popped and that’s actually what I did. I was at work Tuesday and Wednesday that week and I honestly believe that I was in pre-labor those days. I remember feeling bad at work Tuesday and having just a few random contractions throughout the day but mentally I didn’t think anything of it. I went to work on Wednesday and started feeling worse throughout the day. I worked the entire day and tracked my contractions at about 5 minutes apart on my 1 hour commute home. I still hadn’t really put it together that true labor could be coming. (My best friend told me that when I couldn’t walk or want to move that I would be in labor. I kept waiting for that to happen, to actually acknowledge that I was in labor.) I made it home, showered,and relaxed and then my contractions eased up and we continued to track my contractions through the night.

At one point we truly thought that I might be in the earlier stages of labor and we headed to the ER around midnight. It turned out that I wasn’t and in fact I hadn’t dilated at all. Therefore, they sent us home but of course as soon as we got home my contractions got worse (about 3 minutes apart for about 3 hours). I was not going back to the ER just to get turned back around again, so we waited till the morning to decide what to do. Both Daniel and I took Thursday off from work, thinking that she might be coming that day, though she didn’t.

We were able to enjoy (as much as you can while having contractions) our last day as a family of two together. We ran a few errands and went out to eat. I tracked my contractions the entire day and they were never close enough to go back to the ER, plus I was still functioning (aka I was still waiting for that moment where I couldn’t walk or move). By that evening, I finally understood what my friend told me. Active labor started at about 8pm on Thursday night and we decided to wait and let me labor at home for awhile to make sure I was truly in labor. I actually labored on the floor of our family room for about 4 hours. There was a point where I decided that we needed to go to the hospital, so we went again about 24 hours later (of course we had been awake for about this amount of time). This time they accepted us to the ER and checked us in; I had reached 4cm and was going on to 5cm.

My mom actually took a few cell phone pictures of me in labor which I really appreciated. My doctor didn’t allow professional photographers in the room.

The hospital we were at was fantastic and completely honored my birth plan. I wanted an unmedicated birth and that’s exactly what happened. I didn’t have any drugs of any kind, okay well I actually had a few Tums because I had acid reflux during labor, but that was it. My husband and mother coached me through about 8 hours of labor in the hospital. I honestly only remember bits and pieces of it all. During labor you are in a different world and have no concept of time or what is truly happening around you. The things I remember the most are moments of hearing my husband’s and mother’s voice telling me to breathe (I did breathing techniques through it all). When I reached 10 cm, I did remember thinking that that was it, it was over and the baby was just going to come out. I was wrong! I did two and ½ hours of pushing to get Kylie out. She wasn’t lined up right, so I had to do pushing on both my sides. The pushing got ridiculous; the nurses and doctors would tell me that it would be the last push and it wouldn’t be! That went on for awhile and in my head I kept thinking that this is sort of funny, but I wanted the baby out! (It was one of those moments that you either laughed at it or cried). She finally arrived, face up (which was also why it took so long to push her out) and I was relieved.

As soon as she arrived my adrenaline kicked in and I felt great (or it could have been the soda they let me have!). We had been up since around midnight on Wednesday night but that didn’t matter – she was here!

She weighed 7 pounds and 5 ounces and was 20 inches long with a full head of hair!

And as soon as Daniel saw her, I knew she had stolen his heart and would have him wrapped around her little finger!