Birth Story

So it has been quite a long time!  I’m sorry for not keeping up with this blog but it has been quite the few months.  The end of my pregnancy was exhausting; from finding out the baby was breech to getting a cold just prior to delivery (coughing after a c-section is not recommended by me!).  And then we were all of a sudden new parents and it took me until now to actually be able to sit down and think of what to write. 

On September 19^th we were blessed with a healthy 5lb 14oz baby girl.  We welcomed Elise Amelia Robertson into the world at 8:01pm.  She was in a hurry… her c-section was scheduled for the next day but she wanted to meet her new family sooner.  The funny thing is, before I knew she was breech, I was taking bets on the day she was going to be born.  I chose the 19^th at 8pm!  Mother’s intuition?

Birth Story:

I started having contractions very early the morning of the 18^th.  I woke up to use the bathroom around 12am… nothing unusual.  Went back to lie down and I started to feel tightening in my abdomen.  I thought, “Is this it?”  So, I laid there for about 30 minutes and timed them.  They were coming every 6 or 7 minutes.  I thought to myself, “the bathroom and kitchen is a disaster, I have to clean before I have this baby! And I have to wake Mike up to vacuum!”  (Mind you… not to tell him I might be in labor).  So I got up at 1 or 2am… continuing to time these weak contractions, and cleaned.  I kept debating if I should wake Mike.  At 3am I was done cleaning and so were my contractions.  I went back to sleep, upset and disappointed that the baby wasn't coming that day.

I had actually made a big deal about Mike getting the 19^th off, which he did.  When we woke up that day, he asked me what I wanted to do and I said, “have a baby and make jam!"

The morning of the 19th!  They don't get much lap time anymore!  

We had so many raspberries this year and most of them went to waste
but I was determined to make jam before having this baby!

I started having contractions sporadically around 2pm.  We went for an hour walk around the neighborhood and the contractions got closer together and were a little stronger.  We came home and I told Mike that he should eat and rest.  He made a pizza and I couldn’t resist.  I wanted to have something in my stomach and pizza sounded delicious.  So we shared the pizza.  After that, the contractions were about 4-5 minutes apart but not strong at all.  It was around 6pm that Mike called the on-call doc.  He told us to head to the hospital (I was actually a little in shock that he did).  Even though we really liked this doctor, I was a little disappointed that I wasn’t going to have my doctor deliver this baby.  We got to the hospital; I got in a hospital gown, all the while thinking this was a waste of time.  I got hooked up to the monitors and my contractions were real and really close together.  I asked the nurse if she thought I was going to be admitted.  She said it depends on the doctor but it looked like I was going to have a baby tonight!  Mike and I got nervous at that point.  It was 7pm when one nurse said MY doctor’s name and I asked if she was the one who was going to deliver.  She said that she was helping out the other doctor and heard that I was in labor and decided she would come down and take a look at me.  She was on her way and she wanted to deliver at 7:30.  At that point, I was shocked and so happy she was the one to deliver.  I called my family and Mike tried calling his family.  My mom was mad that we didn’t call her sooner.  Mike’s mom was at the grocery store and wasn’t answering her phone.  He said he must have called her 30 times.  I called my sister about 10 times until I finally just texted her that the baby was on the way.  The only person that made it in time to see me before surgery was my mom.  She was shocked and worried and wanted to cry when they rolled me out for surgery.

She wasn't very happy with me.

It's a strange feeling walking into an operating room.  The OR was chilly and it was much larger than I expected.  The anesthesiologist came in and explained that I would be getting a spinal block.  This was the thing I was most nervous about since becoming pregnant.  I wasn’t able to keep still and hold the position.  Thank goodness Mike was in there (I had read many birth stories and most dads are not allowed in until the mom was prepped for surgery).  He held me and my hand tight… my heart rate shot up to 150ish and I really wanted to cry.  Once that was over, I was able to relax a little better.  Then all my insides are out on display.  I don't think I really thought about it then… but how weird it was for me to go through surgery awake!  All I felt was a little jostling and some pulling and I kept looking over at Mike and telling him how strange this was.  

Right before becoming parents!

It took about 10-15 minutes and I heard my doctor say, “Your baby is about to come out… Mike do you want to tell her the sex?”  I also heard her say, “Look at all that hair!”  About 2 minutes later, she called Mike to look, I heard the baby cry, and he said, “it’s a girl and she has a lot of dark hair!”  I saw her and I was shocked!  I never expected our baby to have hair on her head for some reason!  

I was so happy! I’ve never seen Mike have such a big smile on his face.  She went over to the warmer to get cleaned up. It was so surreal at this point.  Mike cried when he brought her over to see me.  We got a few moments to ourselves behind the blanket of doctors and had our anesthesiologist snap some pictures.  

Then the two of them were off.  It took them about 30 minutes to close me up.  I often wonder what those 30 minutes were like for Mike… but I think those should only be shared with him and his daughter.  

I was taken to recovery and was greeted by my baby girl lying on her daddy’s chest. She was a champ at nursing that first time.  She nursed for almost the entire time we were in recovery.  Once we were deemed stable, it was off to the "mom baby unit" where everyone was able to meet the newest part of our family.  This new little life brought so much happiness to everyone.  Everyone fell in love with her instantly!

Welcome to our crazy family, Elise!  You are the best thing that has ever happened to your daddy and I!