Tuesday, July 12, 2016

Sweetie's Birth Story


Going into the last month of my pregnancy I had many thoughts. When would I call Mr. Cherry to come home from work, what would I do with the other three kids, would I get sent home from the hospital like I had with Peachy and Shortcake . . .

While I knew I had no control over these details and something would work out, I couldn't help but think about it. I am a planner. It is just the way I am. However, Sweetie's birth worked out wonderfully. I keep thinking about how God's hand of providence was over us all working out the little details as well as the big.

Mr. Cherry's sister was visiting us for a few days and we kept on joking/hoping the baby would come while she was at our house. However, three days came and went and there wasn't anything too promising on the baby front. I was doing all that I could to encourage the baby, walks, squats, sitting on our balance ball. I had a few times I thought it might be the start of something only to have it fade to nothing.

On Saturday night Mr. Cherry and I said we were going to bed at 10, because we couldn't guarantee a good night of sleep once the baby got here, so we should take advantage of the nights we had before he/she came. A little after we got into bed a I had a strong contraction and felt a pop. I checked and it sure seemed like my water had broken. With my other three deliveries, my water didn't break until I was in actual labor at the hospital and with an epidural, so I wasn't exactly sure that is what had happened.

I called the hospital and told them we were coming in. We gathered our things and drove the five minutes to the hospital where we checked in through the ER because it was after hours. By 11 pm we were up in the labor and delivery until in a room. They ran a test and determined that my water had broke, but by that point I was pretty sure that it had. Also my contractions were picking up.
The nurse called the midwife on call, one of the only midwives that I hadn't met yet. In the meantime, they got my iv going and started administering antibiotics because I was group b positive again. The midwife arrived and told us she had almost hit a deer on her way in. Shortly after she arrived I decided that I wanted an epidural again. It didn't take long for the anesthesiologist to arrive. He was really good and had it in and working pretty quickly.

Little Miss decided to give us some excitement in the next couple of hours. Her heart rate dropped and they ended up connecting her to a scalp heart monitor. She did it a few other times. Each time they would roll me to my side, give me oxygen, and increase the rate of my iv. Thankfully she came around each time. The final time, the midwife told me that I was far enough dilated that we would just deliver her and be done with the drama. She decided that I would deliver on my side since that was the position the baby seemed happiest in.As with my other deliveries, the pushing portion went very quickly. A few pushes and there she was. Our little lady. She did have the cord around her neck, so that may have been why she was having heart decelerations.
However, when  she arrived at 2:42 am, she was perfect. Mr. Cherry told me that she was a girl. We decided to use the girl name that had in mind for Shortcake. (We really struggled with names this time, but it is the perfect name for our Sweetie.) She weighed in at 8 pounds and 10 ounces and measured 20 inches long. (Just about the same as her siblings.)
While it was a long night, it went so smoothly. All of my worrying was for nothing. And I finally got my wish to just have my water break rather than worrying about timing contractions and deciding when we should go in. God has truly blessed our family.