Bayli's Birth Story

My newest little angel was never supposed to happen. Birth control pills are 99 percent effective. I fell into that one percent. On August 21, 2004, I found out that I was pregnant. I thought I was done having kids. My three children were 12, almost 11, and eight. I had no baby stuff and I had just sold all the Barney videos at our garage sale! At first I panicked, but as the days wore on, I started to get excited. My fiancé of seven years wasn't really excited either. His three children were 16, 12, and 11. He was definitely not planning on any more children. My faith in God kept me strong throughout my pregnancy. I began having contractions in January that landed me in the hospital. I was then put on bed rest for two months. The blessing of having older children is that they helped so much when I wasn’t able to do things–they would bring me dinner and help around the house.

On April 26, 2005 (a day before my due date and a glorious 38 pounds later) at my doctor’s appointment, I was having contractions but they weren't going into a regular pattern. My doctor said she'd induce me the next morning if nothing happened before that. My fiancé and I arrived at the hospital at 6:30 AM the following morning. I had never been induced before and had no idea what to expect. I thought since the contractions were getting stronger that maybe I wouldn't need the induction... WRONG!

They began the Pitocin at 8:30 AM and I got the epidural at 9 AM. Because I was able to feel sensation on my stomach where it should have been numb, they manually administered the epidural. At 11 AM, it began wearing off and more was administered. At 11:30, a nurse came in and said she needed me to turn on my right because the baby's heartbeat was dipping during contractions. That didn't work, so we tried turning on my left and that worked. At 11:45, the nurse checked me and I was four centimeters dilated. At noon, my sister went to get something to eat and my fiancé started to fall asleep. At 12:10 PM, the epidural seemed to have worn off so I told my daughter, Alyssa, to get the nurse because I was starting to really hurt. I felt a bump from inside and had no idea what it was! The nurse came in and I told her I needed more epidural–either that or the baby was ready to come. She checked me and sure enough, I was fully dilated. Everyone started to scramble because no one expected the baby would be coming so soon. They had to get the baby warmer on, my bed broken down, and most importantly, they had to get the doctor!

The bump I felt was the baby's head dropping. I started pushing at 12:20 PM and my sister came back in while I was pushing. At 12:27 PM, my beautiful Bayli Michelle made her entrance into the world and my life. Her daddy fell in love with her the minute he saw her! What a blessing God has given to us!