Genevieve Jessica Pratt

11-23-2016

6:40 PM 

7 pounds 

This is what I want to remember: 

My mom came on Wednesday, November 16th. It was hard to know when for her to book her tickets because both of my other babies have come early, and my original due date for Genevieve was Nov. 15th, but then the doctors moved the due date to the 26th, so I didn't quite know what to plan on. It was really fun having my mom here for a few days without baby. We shopped, ate, hung out, played with my kids and I really enjoyed just having her here. As each day passed I started to get more anxious for baby to get here because I knew my mom would be leaving soon. My mom was able to come to my last Dr. appointment with me and the Doctor checked my cervix and said I was dilated to a 2 and would be easy to induce on Friday the 25th if baby hadn't already arrived. I ended up calling the clinic on that Tuesday (the 22nd) to schedule a time to be induced the following friday. The nurse talked to my doctor and called back and said they'd like me to come in tomorrow (the 23rd) and check to see how I was progressing. I woke up that wednesday morning feeling good and when I got to the L&D area of the hospital they acted like I was there to be induced which was confusing to me because I thought I was just being checked. I ran into an OBGYN resident that Dylan and I know and he told me that they talked about me on rounds that morning and that they were planning on inducing me that day. I started to freak out a little because I wasn't sure this was what I wanted. I didn't even come prepared with any of my things and I really wanted to go into labor on my own again and didn't want to rush things if my baby wasn't ready to come.  One of the doctors came and talked to me and said that since I hadn't really been growing much in the last few weeks it would probably be better for baby if she could grow outside of me now and that she thought it was a good time for me to be induced. This brought me some comfort. I contacted my sweet visiting teacher, Lindsey who was planning on taking my kids for me when I went into labor and she came and picked up my kids from my house so that my mom could be there with me throughout the whole process. Having my children in such good hands was such a blessing to me and I'm so grateful for Lindsey and her service. I absolutely loved having my mom with me this time. Dylan had previously worked from 12am-12pm so he was understandably exhausted and went to a call room to try and get some rest while I was getting started on pitocin. Everyone knows that when you get induced it takes a little longer for things to progress and it definitely felt this way for me. Each time the nurse came in to check on me I told her she could up my dosage of pitocin to speed things along. I started to get contractions that were hurting bad enough that I was ready for my epidural. My anesthesiologist was terrible. He was a classic example of what not to do when you are giving someone an epidural. When he entered the room he didn't introduce himself and from the beginning made innapropriate comments. He didn't walk me through all of the steps of what he was doing and I ended up having a huge zinger go down my right leg twice that I had never before felt and was completely unaware of and it totally freaked me out. I wish Dylan could have been there to witness the whole experience because it was terrible and I wish he could have seen such a bad example of what not to do. Although the process of getting the epidural was so negative, it did work and for that I am grateful.

Best support crew.

At 6pm the doctor came and checked on me and I was dilated to a 5. They said they anticipate I'll continue to dilate a centimeter and a half every hour so I should have a few hours of labor left before anything started to happen. About 20 minutes later I started feeling nauseas and shaky. This happened with my other babies and I thought I was probably nearing transition because of past experience. Then all of a sudden I started feeling an immense about of pressure and feeling the need to push. I told Dylan that he'd probably be able to see the baby's head coming out-it felt that extreme. My mom went out into the hall and told the doctor's "she's feeling pressure." The doctor rushed in and checked me and I was dilated to a 10 and it was go time! All of a sudden a team of young doctor's came in and I had my mom on one side of me and Dylan on the other. My baby came out in three pushes and everything went really well with the delivery. Giving birth is such a wonderful thing to experience. It is so amazing to see what your body can do. I remember after I delivered Genevieve and my other two babies having the shakes really bad and just feeling this amazing adrenaline rush like none other. It is such a sacred experience and I'm so grateful to have a healthy body that has allowed me to experience this joy. 

Wearing the hat that Daddy made when I was pregnant with Clementine. Both girls wore the hat home from the hospital.