Isabella's Birth Story

It was our first baby and I had extreme morning sickness the first four months. My doctor prescribed Zofran to ease the nausea because I was losing a lot of weight. The medication was helping but because I had to continue to work I took it at night because it made me extremely drowsy. My second trimester was a breeze, which was a nice reprieve. My third trimester came along and I made up for the nausea and gained 60 pounds! I was miserable my last trimester due to all the weight that I was not used to carrying and the ailments that came with it. My due date was a week before Christmas and I could not wait for it to come so I could see my little girl!

My due date came and went and the waiting was unbearable. We were completely ready with a name picked out and bags packed! It was getting closer and closer to Christmas and I did not want to deliver on Christmas due to stories of skeleton staff at the hospital and fear that my wonderful doctor may not be there. So I called a few days before and asked them if I could schedule an induction. My doctor agreed, so I was scheduled to be induced on December 23 at 9 AM.

I arrived at the hospital and was a bundle of nerves, but the staff, my husband, and mother helped to relieve my anxiety. I was one centimeter dilated so they gave me an epidural and broke my water. After a while they gave me Pitocin to speed up the contractions. All would have gone as planned except for the fact that I went from feeling no pain to feeling full-blown labor pains. The nurse kept upping my epidural medication but still no relief. She then lifted my back and discovered my epidural had fallen out and was administering medication under my skin. The pain was far worse than anything else so they gave me another epidural two hours later (although not the full amount, just enough to subside the pain). I pushed for 45 minutes and Isabella was born at 9 PM. Exactly 12 hours of labor! After her first cry the pain oddly disappeared!

I brought my little blessing home on Christmas day! The nurses wore reindeer antlers and the Women's Rotary Club gave each mother a beautiful picture frame for their new babies. As the automatic doors of the hospital opened and I held my new baby in my arms, I looked out into the sky. A light layer of snow was falling and I thought, I will never get another Christmas gift as wonderful as this!