Mia's Birth Story

During my pregnancy, I promised myself I was going to wait for natural labor to take its course. I didn't want to be induced because I wanted to experience the excitement of telling my husband, "It's time to go to the hospital!" But closer to my due date, my doctor gave me the option of being induced and I just couldn't wait. Choosing Mia’s birthday was less exciting than leaving her arrival in God’s hands, but I wanted her to be with us so much that I couldn’t wait. My doctor told me that Mia was a whopping eight pounds and anticipated her to reach eight-and-a-half pounds by the day of my induction.

The days before Mia's birth, I kept thinking about how I was going to be a mom for the first time. I worked up until the day I was induced, but I couldn't keep my mind on work. The day I was scheduled for my induction, we got to the hospital at the appointed time of 6 AM, and I was told I was already in labor. How exciting! I was fully prepped by 7 AM and I thought I would have Mia around noon, or 2 PM at the latest. Around 10 AM, the nurse checked me and then realized she had lost the baby's heartbeat on the monitor.

The nurse asked everyone to leave the room, and my doctor was paged. Three nurses came in, and one of them put a breathing mask on me to make sure my baby was getting enough oxygen. I've never been so scared in my life. I started crying, and one of the nurses told me that it was important to remain calm and that everything would be all right. I could not calm down. The nurse told me that my blood pressure was too high and I could feel it too because my heart was beating fast. What felt like hours (but was really minutes later), my doctor and nurses were able to find the baby's heartbeat. I was told that it was very likely that the umbilical cord got wrapped around the baby's neck. My doctor broke my water, and I kept thinking that it must be pretty serious. I could not calm down. Minutes later, my family was able to come back into the room and they tried to calm me, but I was so worried about Mia that I could not stop looking at the monitor. Finally, my husband turned the monitor around so I would quit stressing myself out about it. Apparently this helped, because my blood pressure went down.

I had planned for a natural birth, but couldn’t bear the back pain, so at noon, when I was four centimeters, I got an epidural. I figured I would have my baby by 3 PM. Boy was I wrong! Hours went by and I just chatted away with my family (I was in heaven after receiving that epidural).

Shortly after 6 PM, I told my cousin that I was in a lot of pain and it was coming every couple of minutes. She told me I was probably ready to go. The nurse checked me and sure enough, I was fully dilated. Everything from there happened so fast. Again, my family left the room and only my husband and my mother stayed. I began crying again knowing that in a few moments (hopefully) my daughter would be in my world.

Mia was born at exactly 7 PM. When my doctor took her out, they rushed her to the warm incubator to flush out the fluids. When I didn't hear her cry, I began to worry. Suddenly, about 10 nurses filled my room and crowded around my baby. I asked my husband and mom to tell me what was happening, but both just looked at me, smiled, and looked away. I keep asking over and over, and finally I heard Mia cry. Mia was born with the umbilical cord around her neck and she was not breathing for over a minute after she was born. I didn't find this out until I was in recovery.

Fortunately, Mia was born a healthy nine pounds, 11 ounces. People usually say, "I counted the fingers and toes to make sure there were 10 of each.” That was the last thing on my mind. All I wanted to know was that she was alive and healthy, and she was. I call Mia my miracle baby, even though I know it could have been much worse. Every day I hold her, look at her, and thank God for my precious gift. Even though I had quite a scare during childbirth, I am ready to go through it all over again in a couple of years.