Juliet's Birth Story

Juliet's birth story is pretty insane...I keep reliving it in my mind and can't believe it happened how it did.  I am so thankful to God that she is healthy and that I am recovering well...

My doctor told me at my 38 week appointment that she thought Juliet would be coming soon, so we moved up my mom's flight by a week and started getting more mentally prepared for an early arrival. Mom arrived on Thursday night (4/27), and we were able to enjoy a nice relaxing few days with some gorgeous weather and some time at the pool (post with some pics on that to come). We went to our Saturday night church service and then spent most of the morning and afternoon on Sunday at the pool with some of our friends. I made dinner and dessert that night and Mom, Collin and I sat down to watch some TV.

At around 9:30pm I started feeling some light contractions. Given all of the false ones I've had over the past few weeks I didn't think much of it, but figured it was worth timing them.  I told Collin I was feeling them so we decided to get in bed, watch some tv and keep tracking them.  At about 10:45pm we decided to send the data to my doula and get her opinion on what was going on. The contractions were coming rather consistently, but there were some that were 2 minutes apart and then a few that were more like 6 minutes apart.  Some were getting stronger and some weren't too bad. I kept telling Collin I really wasn't sure if it was real. We decided to go for a walk down the street just to make sure they kept coming, but by the time we got halfway down our street something changed because I started feeling pressure and could hardly walk.

We got back to the house and decided to head to the hospital. The contractions were getting really painful and I ended up throwing up. At this point it was probably 11:45pm. Collin was getting everything in the car and as I was coming downstairs to leave I had a super painful contraction and had to stop midway down the stairs and wait it out. Looking back I had to have been in transition at this point. I made it down the stairs and immediately had another one, which was beyond painful and was followed by intense pressure. I knew the baby was coming imminently so we yelled for Collin and had to make the quick decision whether or not to try to make it to the hospital on our own.

The hospital is only about 8 minutes away and it was midnight, so we decided to try.  I got in the front seat kneeling on the seat facing backward and holding onto the headrest. Collin stopped at the first red light we hit and I told him he had to run them - this baby was coming. He knew I was serious so we ran every red light on our way to the hospital. My contractions were right on top of each other with very intense pressure. A few minutes into the drive I couldn't help but push and my water broke. With the next contraction Juliet started crowning and I was begging Collin to get to the hospital! Thankfully we were just around the corner and there was an EMT outside the Emergency Room that was able to get me into a wheelchair (rather uncomfortably given the fact there was a baby's head between my legs), and I was immediately wheeled into labor and delivery, literally jumped onto the table, the doctor came running in and Juliet came out and was in my arms. We left our house just after midnight and she was born at 12:20am.

We are so thankful she is healthy and doing well.  She weighed in at 7 pounds and 10 ounces and 19 inches long. I grabbed her from the doctor as soon as she was out just like I did with Laila and she started crying immediately.  The whole thing is just a blur of craziness now.

Unfortunately it didn't end there.  I ended up having the same issue with my placenta as I did with Laila.  After over an hour of two different doctors trying to get it to detach, about 1/4 of it was still in there and was being really stubborn. At that point I started hemorrhaging blood onto the floor and they had to rush me to the OR and put me under in order to get the bleeding controlled and get the rest of the placenta. Poor Collin was left with our new baby in a room all by himself and me in the OR for a good two hours after her birth.

Thankfully the doctors were able to get me all taken care of, and after receiving a blood transfusion and some other meds I was finally able to see Collin and the baby again. I wanted her in my arms so badly! I was so glad that I actually felt OK after going through everything I went through, and I was awake and alert enough to have Juliet in my arms and breastfeed her.  She has been eating like a rock star from her first feed and is doing great. We ended up spending the first night on the labor and delivery floor in case there were any more complications but then the next day we were moved to the postpartum floor and we were able to have my mom and Laila come see the baby.

More about Laila and Juliet's first meeting soon... :)