The Story

I realize that so many are interested in exactly how our baby girl came into this world, especially considering she came a solid 18 days before her actual due date. So, here's my recount of the story.....

I'll start on Monday night. Matt and I went for an extra long walk down by the bay, plus we walked around our neighborhood again after dinner. I by no means was trying to bring on labor, just enjoying a little time with my husband!

I woke up at about 3am on Tuesday morning with some pain and a few other early symptoms of labor (I'll keep it clean here and not give you all the medical details). I finally woke Matt up about 4am to tell him what was going on and see what he thought we should do. We decided it would be best to just wait until the morning and call Dr. Shoemaker's office and try to move my appointment that was scheduled for Wednesday to that morning. After all, I still wasn't feeling any contractions, so I was pretty sure this was just the precursor to labor and not the real thing. Needless to say, we didn't sleep much for the rest of the night. Looking back, I should have been up and about getting a few things done around here! Oh well!

I finally got in touch with the office at about 8:30 on Tuesday morning and they worked me in for an appointment at 10:30. Dr. Shoemaker was in surgery all morning, so I was set to see the Nurse Practitioner. As the morning progressed, my early symptoms continued to get stronger and a little scarier but still no contractions. No contractions combined with the fact that from my last appointment I was not dilated at all, convinced me that I would get to the office and be sent back home. So much so that we didn't take anything with us when we left for the doctor. No bags and no camera, and gone was my vision of taking one last pregnancy picture before we left for the hospital. To compensate, I do have a picture of us on Saturday night when we had dinner with Matt's parents, brother Lee and nephew Charles. Definitely gives a picture of how large Hannah Cate had grown in my belly.

Once we got to the office, we only had to wait a few minutes. I explained the reason for my earlier than scheduled appointment and the NP came in to examine me. I was 2 cm dilated. Shocking to me considering I had felt no contractions, and contractions lead to dilation. One of the early symptoms I was experiencing lead me to believe that my water had broken. During the exam, it was hard for the NP to tell whether or not my water had broken. So, they hooked me up to a fetal monitor to watch my contractions (which I was constantly having and not feeling at all!) and Hannah Cate's heartbeat. More so to capture and record the moment for the future, I will also say that before this point Matt and I both had shed a few tears because everything seemed so uncertain and they couldn't seem to tell us exactly what was going on. There was some blood and this "water" but still uncertainty as to whether or not I was in labor. For us, it was scary, but we realize now that this happens every day and we are glad to have the experience under our belts and behind us!

After about an hour on the monitor and a few more checks by the NP, they felt pretty sure that we were in for a trip to labor and delivery and June 10th would be Hannah Cate's Birthday! It was all starting to sink in and seemed extremely hard to believe. After they were able to reach Dr. Shoemaker and pass along the details, he gave instructions to send me over to the hospital. They called the hospital to admit me for what would be an "augmented" labor and delivery. Augmented meaning they would go ahead with a Pitocin drip to speed up the delivery. By this time, we had called all of our parents to share the exciting news and get them going and heading our way. Mike (Matt's Dad) had already made it and was in the waiting room at Dr. Shoemaker's office. Bobi (Matt's Step Mom) was in North Georgia for a girls weekend and couldn't make it back in time. My Mom was on her way (John had to work and hold down the fort on Lay Lake), as was my Dad and Jami rode down with him (Mary Rose was in Spain and certainly had no chance of making it in time). Sandra and Bill (Matt's Mom and Step Dad) were also on their way from Birmingham. They all made it in time to welcome Hannah Cate into this world.

We got to the labor room at about 12:00 and the process got started from there. They started my IV and Matt and his Dad went back to our house to retrieve all of our things for a 2 night stay in the hospital. Soon after my IV, they started the Pitocin drip to speed up my contractions. I still wasn't in pain and was thinking this labor thing was going to be a cinch. Time was flying by! Matt and his Dad made it back to the hospital and we just hung out in the hospital room. I remember that I was extremely hungry, but they wouldn't let me eat anything. I wish I could have napped, but even given the minimal sleep the night before, I was wide awake. After the Pitocin drip, I continued to dilate. Dr. Shoemaker came in to check me after one of his surgeries and I had progressed to 3-4 cm and was 90% effaced. During that check, he confirmed that my water had not broken and he broke it himself. Quite the interesting sensation! Still no pain, amazing! We just watched the contractions on the monitor and I felt nothing....even when they peaked to their highest point. Dr. Shoemaker thought we would have a baby by 6:00! That was only 3 1/2 hours away.

Shortly after the visit from Dr. Shoemaker, I started to feel the pain and started to consider getting my epidural. Thank goodness, because by the time the anesthesiologist got to my room, I was REALLY feeling the pain! Once the epidural was in, I was on cloud 9. The advances in medicine amaze me and I am so thankful for them! The next few hours went by extremely fast. I remember being hungry, thirsty and had some heart burn but otherwise I was extremely comfortable. I went through a couple of labor and delivery nurses as the shifts continued to change, they were all phenomenal. 6:00 came and went with no baby, but Dr. Shoemaker still felt like she would make her grand entrance on the 10th.

Jamie was going to be our nurse for the actual delivery. She was great! At about 9:30, I was ready to start pushing. I've always had the hardest time imagining what this would be like. I mean, if I'm numb from the waist down and I have no idea how to really "push" out a baby, how was this going to work. Well, it all just works itself out! Our God is so good and in tune to details and it's comforting to know that He's involved in all of the details. In the midst of my pushing, I was sure that I was going to have to quit, that there was no way I was going to be able to push this baby out and there surely wasn't a chance I was going to try it again! It is one of the most tiring things I have ever done! I'm glad to say that I was wrong, and after about an hour of pushing, Hannah Catherine Miller was born at 10:41 pm.

So many people have told us that our lives will never be the same and that we are in for the biggest change we will ever experience. Boy were they right, but I only see it in the most positive of ways. This baby girl has indeed changed our lives forever and we are already the better for it. We love her so much and welcome the other changes that are headed our way because the Lord has entrusted her to us.

Here is a link to to pictures from the last week:

http://www2.snapfish.com/thumbnailshare/AlbumID=231991641/a=24035494_24035494/t_=24035494