Finley's Birth Story

Finley is five weeks old and I'm just getting around to writing about her birth. But I guess that's what happens when you have a newborn; everything else gets put on hold. And that's ok.

When I was pregnant, I liked reading other people's birth stories because it gave me an idea of what to expect (sort of) when my time came. Every story is different, so I wanted to share ours. And I want to write down the details while they are still somewhat fresh in my mind so I can look back on it later.

On Tuesday, October 2, I had my 39 week doctor appointment (due date was October 7). I hadn't had any contractions up to that point and my pregnancy had been uneventful, which was good. My doctor doesn't "check" anything until you get to 40 weeks, or unless you have a reason to, which I didn't. I had it in my mind that our baby was going to be late. We had finally said we were ready for her to come, so I knew that meant she'd be late. That was our luck.

Wednesday was just another day. Thursday morning rolled around and while I was getting ready for work, I felt stomach pains like I had to go to the bathroom. Didn't think anything of it. I got ready and went to work. By about 9:00 am at work, I realized these pains felt like period cramps, but they weren't really going away. They would come and go pretty consistently, so I decided to start tracking them. I didn't know if they were actually contractions, but for the next couple of hours, they were happening every 8-10 minutes. I texted Kevin and told him I think I might be in labor, but I knew it wasn't anything serious yet because they weren't painful, just annoying cramps. At about 2:00 pm, I realized that I couldn't really sit still during a contraction anymore. Still not really painful, just uncomfortable. I left work around 4:00 and headed home. At this point the contractions were about 6-8 minutes apart.

When Kevin got home, I told him we needed to eat dinner, because if this was the real deal, I knew I couldn't eat once we got to the hospital. And being in labor AND hangry was not going to be a good combination for either of us haha. So we got some dinner and watched a show. The contractions were getting stronger to the point where I had to stand and bend over during them. Not unbearable, but getting painful. I decided to take a shower, which felt SO good. I could have stayed in there forever. But the contractions were about 4 minutes apart at this point, so Kevin said we needed to go the hospital.

We got to the hospital at about 8:30 pm and I was only dilated to 3. Better than nothing, but not much for having contractions for 12 hours. They had me walk around for an hour and after that I was dilated to 4 and the contractions had gotten much stronger over the past couple of hours. I couldn't talk through them anymore. They admitted me to a labor and delivery room and got me all set. I decided to get an epidural because the contractions were pretty painful at this point (I actually threw up during one) and I didn't know how long I'd be in labor. I wanted to be able to have enough energy to push when the time came. I got an epidural around 11:00 pm and that was the best thing ever. Life saver. I didn't feel a thing. After the epidural was in, they checked and I was at a 6. I kept progressing through the night to an 8, then a 9, and finally a 10. Finley wasn't quite low enough yet and my water still hadn't broke, so they called my doctor in around 6:30 am to break my water to see if that would speed things up. It didn't. She was still a little high, so they had me do "practice pushes" for about a half hour to move her in to position. At this point, my epidural had wore off a little on one side, so I could feel the contractions in just one spot on my stomach - so weird.

I had no idea he took this picture until after the fact. He thought it was pretty funny to take pics during contractions. Looking back, I can laugh now.

After she was in position, they got the room all ready so I could start pushing her out. I did one push, and on the second push, out she came! It happened so fast. She was instantly screaming (so happy to hear that sound) and they put her on my chest for skin to skin. They stitched me up (second degree tear, which they originally thought was third or fourth degree, but luckily it wasn't) and got me all set while I held our baby girl.

Going home! It was a Sunday, so of course she had to wear her Lions shirt.

Finley Marie Long
October 5, 2018
9:18 am
7lbs 8oz
21.5 inches

We stayed in the hospital for two nights (as first time parents, we wanted all the help we could get) and went home Sunday morning. I'm so grateful that my pregnancy and labor and delivery were all so smooth, and our baby girl is healthy. Also, the labor and delivery nurses are angels on earth. Seriously. Every nurse we had was amazing.

Kevin was off work for two weeks with me, which was so helpful. We are enjoying our time as a family of four (have to include Admiral) and are loving our beautiful baby girl!