Cassandra's Birth Story

My husband and I had been trying for a year to get pregnant with our first child when we discovered we were expecting. I took four pregnancy tests before I finally believed we really were pregnant! Of course, we were ecstatic. I felt great in the early stages of my pregnancy with no morning sickness, and just fatigue in the evenings.

My pregnancy progressed relatively smoothly until I started having contractions in my seventh month. I was admitted to the hospital for pre-term labor, given IV fluids for dehydration, and then sent home with instructions to stay hydrated and to monitor my contractions. These contractions would come and go, some less than five minutes apart, others every 25 minutes or so.

It was also at this time that our baby decided to continuously kick at my ribcage. Over the next month, and with every kick, sharp pains shot through my ribcage and side. At my eight-month appointment, my OB determined that our precious little baby had indeed cracked at least one, and possibly two, of my ribs! There really wasn't anything they could do at this point so I endured the constant kicks, contractions, and pains. By 36 weeks, I was already dilated to two centimeters and was 50-percent effaced. My doctor was sure I would be delivering my baby early and since I had been dealing with constant pain for so long (and had gained 50 pounds!), I was more than ready to deliver! Christmas came and went with no signs of the onset of labor. Then, at 37½ weeks, on the morning of December 31, my water broke as I was getting out of the shower. There it went, all over the bathroom floor! Since contractions were only about five-to-seven minutes apart, we took our time getting ready and headed to the hospital. Once admitted, we called my parents to tell them it was time.

Even though I had been having contractions since my seventh month, I wasn't progressing very quickly. They gave me a Pitocin drip and I quickly determined it was not something I enjoyed very much! My contractions began to intensify and I finally got an epidural after I had been in labor for over 10 hours. Although the epidural did offer relief, it did not affect the right side of my body so I could still feel all of the contractions on that side.

At 9 PM, I finally began pushing. On New Year’s Eve, after almost three hours of pushing and 17 hours of labor (the doctor discovered our baby was face up which contributed to the long labor), I delivered a beautiful baby girl! Cassandra Alexis was born weighing only six pounds, and barely 18 inches long. She was tiny, but perfectly healthy. Not too long after, midnight struck and we could see fireworks outside our hospital room. What a way to welcome our new baby girl! Cassandra is now six years old. She loves playing tee-ball and everything that is princess! She is a great big sister to Stashia and Aiden, her sister and brother.