All of my life I have dreamt of having children. I am the youngest of seven and being a mother, in my opinion,is the most important role a woman can have. Now, that being said, I have always thought about having a girl. I have four older sisters and ten nieces. Our family is dominated by girls! (I feel for my brothers, oye!) So, it seems that Scarlett was a long time coming. I had prayed and prayed for this little girl for 5 months straight. Once I was pregnant, I prayed and prayed that I would be a perfect vessel for her to grow within. Heavenly Father answered my prayers, once again. I want to remember the day her sweet little spirit made its arrival into our lives. I want to keep it fresh in my mind. I have been saying that to myself for 10 whole weeks now! (Why am I such a procrastinator?! Ugh.) Here's to hoping it's as accurate as the day of.
At each check up in my third trimester I was told that my baby was "head down and ready, already." Wow! There is no way I am going to make it to my due date! FALSE!!! This little girl is a trickster. I eventually gave up the idea of her coming early. Although I get epidurals for my deliveries, I was very against being induced. Only one thing could make me even consider it, and that would be my Mother. I am hopelessly and admittedly a Mommy's girl. She totally makes everything okay when I am in crisis, or in this case pain. So, living in Crapport, Louisiana (as I have so fondly named it), and her living in Jacksonville, FL and only having so much time off of work for the visit, we had to at least try and plan something. Slowly, but surely, induction seemed not so bad to me as long as it meant having my mom for the maximum amount of time that I possibly could. My due date was Friday, January 13th. Is it weird that I was a little freaked out about this? Even my OB was like "are you sure you want to be induced on Friday the 13th?!" As if you aren't anxious enough as it is, you know, about to bring a HUMAN BEING into the world and all. It's a bit humorous that we are all so supersticious, even if we think we aren't. We ended up booking my mother a flight out for the 11th and I decided that if I had not gone into labor by the due date, then Friday the 13th it was!
Thursday, January 12th was a pretty exciting day. I kept thinking that I would be holding my sweet little girl in about 24 hours. What a weird feeling. Anticipation for that sort of thing is really something you cannot describe. We were scheduled for induction at 5:00am and that meant I needed to wake up at 3:30 to prepare. When I laid down to go to bed that night, I noticed that I was feeling Scarlett in areas that I had never felt her moving before. Hmm. That's weird. I mentioned it to Travis and then we drifted off to sleep. I was violently awakened about an hour later by what was undoubtedly a contraction! Holy crap! I was going into labor... and it hurt! It was a long one too, followed by another long one only minutes later. I stood up and said "TRAVIS! I just had a contraction!" He woke up and I then went to the bathroom. And that was it. Yep, no more contractions. Nothing. I couldn't believe it. Oh well, I was still tired and went back to bed just knowing that I would wake up to more contractions or perhaps my water breaking. (By the way, Travis didn't even remember this happening. This is insane considering his reaction to this happening when I was in labor with Brody. Most of you know that hilarious story.) My alarm went off at 3:30am, as scheduled. We quietly got ready and left Brody with my Mother and Mother-in-law. Travis' sister, Michele, was going to meet us at the hospital a little later on. Then off we went to have a baby.
It was so strange to schedule to have a baby. My water broke naturally with my first born 5 days early so, this was really a sureal experience for me. With no great urgency we checked in downstairs and then went up to our room in L&D. We were greeted by a not so personable nurse (who was replaced only two hours later by an awesome one) who checked us in and had me change into my hospital gown. The events of the day were explained to me as the following: We will give you the gel to help your cervix soften and hopefully this sends you into natural labor. If that does not happen, then we will give you pitocin to start contractions and hopefully this will send you into natural labor. If that does not happen, then if the baby is fully engaged and things are somewhat moving along, we will break your water and then you are definately going into labor. Alright. Sounds good. Let's get this show on the road people! At the first check, my cervix was 1cm dialated and I was 25% effaced. Soon after I got the gel to soften my cervix my contractions started. They were not painful, just uncomfortable. Okay, I can handle that, no problem. My next check was four hours later. At this point Dr. Bellman (LOVE HER!) had come to see me, talk to me, and check me. Surely there had been some progress. Nope. None. Still 1cm and still 25% effaced. This time Dr. Bellman tells me that Scarlett is not head down and therefor not engaged. WHAT?! We were all so shocked. This baby that had been "ready, already" for months had moved her little body diagnally the night before her due date! That would explain me feeling her in places I hadn't felt her before. What a little stinker! Dr. Bellman thought this was pretty funny. She assured me that the pitocin would kick up my contractions and hopefully help her to get into position. Funny thing is that when they started the pitocin, my contractions slowed down. A lot. Interesting. Travis and I went back to waiting. I was still having contractions, they just weren't as hard or as close together anymore. Four hours later and the doctor checks me again. Nothing. You've got to be kidding me. NOTHING? Nothing at all? Nope, nothing. This is when Dr. Bellman says to me "You now have to make a decision. You have to decide whether you want to continue and have me break your water, which will be you committing to this labor. By that I mean if I break your water and she does not move into position, you will be committing to a C-section. I know you do not want that. Your other option is to stop the pitocin, stop your contractions, and go home." What??? Did I just hear you correctly?? C-section or go home? Those both suck. Seriously suck. Great. I just kind of sat there. Obviously this was a decision I couldn't just make right then and there because both options sucked. If I went home, I just went through over 8 hours of contractions for nothing but good grief a C-section was not an option for me. I asked to be taken off of the pitocin and if I could sit up and try to help little miss priss into position while I try and make up my mind. Dr. Bellman agreed and said she would be back in an hour to see what I wanted to do. I was going home. I knew it, I just didn't want to quite admit it yet. My mother and Michele were there at this point and we all were kind of dumbfounded. They stopped the pitocin and Travis helped me to position the bed into a chair. I then proceeded to push and push and push my stomach in hopes to move her. Almost immediately after they stopped the pitocin my contractions became harder and harder. About thirty minutes after the doctor left I was in immense pain. I mean, can't talk, gripping the rail, borderline crying pain. I remember with one contraction I was gripping the rail of the bed shaking my head back and forth telling everyone to "SHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!" (I am amazed at the will-power of the women who willingly have natural births. I do not have that kind of will-power.) All I could think about was where in the hell was my doctor?!?!? If I wasn't going to have this baby and was going home then for the love of all that is holy, stop my contractions and get me out of here! One hour passed and the nurse said that Dr. Bellman was stuck in another delivery and would be in shortly. She kept asking me if I wanted to have her paged but I knew I could tough it out until she came. Thirty minutes later I was crying and saying "no, please no..." as I felt another contraction starting. PAGE THE DOCTOR!!! I thought I could hold out but I was starting to have a melt down. I couldn't even think straight anymore and was exhausted going on 10 hours of labor and 2 hours of intense contractions. She came in and before she decided to give me the medicine to stop my contractions and send me home, she wanted to check me one last time. Fine. Whatever it takes. I am just ready to either have an epidural or go home. But no epidural without my water breaking so I am ready to go home. She asked my mom and Michele to step out of the room and when she checked me she said "OH MY GOSH! She moved! You are 4cm and 50% effaced! You are having this baby today!" I instantly burst into tears. I was so happy and relieved. Even thinking about that moment makes me tear up. Travis kissed me and held my hand as she broke my water and assured me that all will be okay. (I love that man.) The doctor knew I wanted the epidural and went to go get the anesthesiologist. My mother and Michele came back in the room and were shocked when we told them I was in labor. I distinctly remember my mom looking confused and saying "WHAT?!" It's like we tricked her. I don't know why this strikes me as humorous, but it does.
Ten minutes later, yes only ten, the anesthesiologist came in to administer my epidural. He asked me how I was doing and when I answered him he immediately said "You aren't from here are you?" To this day I don't know why he said that or how he knew, but I wish I would have asked him. He told me he had been to Jacksonville and loved it. I thought that was a good sign. If you have never had an epidural, they want you to sit still while they are doing it. This seems impossible to a woman in labor. I could not sit still when a contraction hit, my entire body would tighten up and rock back and forth. The only thing that might even make me sit still would be the possibility of not having to feel another contraction. You just have to keep telling yourself to not move and you will feel so much better. Sweet success!! After that epidural kicked in, it was like an entirely different day. I was laughing and talking and high-fiving. Okay, not high-fiving, but I would have if someone offered. I will say though that I was unbelievably exhausted. I was going to try and take a nap since Dr. Bellman told me she didn't expect me to have the baby until late into the night and at this point it was only around 2:45pm. No such luck. I sat there and talked to everybody for a while. I started to feel the contractions on my left side and so the anesthesiologist came back and boosted my epidural. Sweet relief once again. About an hour and a half after the initial epidural, I told my mom I was starting to feel a lot of pressure. A lot of pressure. I called my nurse and asked if she could check and sure enough, only about two hours after breaking my water, Scarlett's head was crowning. The nurse was shocked and had the desk call Dr. Bellman. I remember telling Travis how tired I was and I remember thinking "How am I going to push? I am so exhausted." The doctor was there in about 5 minutes and we began pushing. I loved that it was just me and Travis. My mom and Michele waited outside in the hallway. (Where they were told repeatedly NOT to wait. Ha! Rebels.) Travis was a rock. He helped me muster up the strength I needed and I ended up pushing only three times.
And there she was. They immediately put her in my arms. "Hey baby! Hey sweet girl! We've been waiting for you." Our happy, healthy, beautiful little Scarlett Paige Geiger had made her entrance at 4:47pm. She weighed 7 lbs 9 oz, and measured 20.5 inches long. Travis followed her around the room as they cleaned and attended to her. From that point on, it was a new experience for us as parents. When we had Brody, this is the part where suddenly there was a flood of staff in our room and they told me they had to take him to the NICU. I cried for three hours straight. So knowing that she was going to be with us the remainder of the time in the hospital filled us with joy. The very first time you nurse your baby is so special. It is an intense bonding moment that you will never forget. It was no different with Scarlett. Everyone came in to see her and hold her and then they moved me to my room upstairs. I look back on that night and remember how quiet and peaceful it was. Just me, Travis, and Scarlett. She latched great and we spent the night staring at her and kissing her. It is amazing how much having a child can do for your relationship with your spouse. It brings more love, more patience, more support, and more respect for one another. I know I say this all of the time but I love the way that Travis loves our children. I married a wonderful man and an even better father.
So now our family of 3 is a family of 4. Brody came to meet Scarlett the following day and seemed to not care too much about her. I took this as an appropriate reaction. I had missed my little boy very much and was so excited to see him and kiss his sweet little face. We left the hospital on Sunday and brought our daughter home to her family.
She is a blessing in every sense of the word. She brings joy to our lives daily and our love for her grows with each passing moment. I cannot wait to see what else her little spirit brings to our family as she grows. She currently loves to smile at us and jabbers like crazy! She also poops on her clothes at least once a day, and while this drives me crazy, I also think it's kind of funny. We are enjoying every second.
Brody, of course, had to update his blog too.
