Morgan Lotte Bryan –
Wednesday, Dec. 11th, 2013.
Morgan’s birth story starts on Sunday, December 8th
when Opa and Oma fly in from the Netherlands: they hope to be here for her
arrival! Her due date was December 18th
so we were hoping to get them here on time (I had had many false labor
contractions in the weeks before) to be able to watch Andi and Tristan for us
when we would head to the hospital. Turns out the timing was right!
On the afternoon of Tuesday December 10th I was
starting to get a little antsy and decided to do a whole bunch of squats (an exercise
I never do). No signs of labor yet other than that a little bit of my mucous
plug came out (this never happened with Andi or Tristan so this was new to
me!). December 10th was also Oma’s birthday and that evening we went
out to celebrate her 61st at Texas Roadhouse. I ordered a full rack
of ribs and remember thinking “this could get messy if I go into labor
tomorrow!” (turns out it wasn’t a problem J
). That night, the annual Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show was on TV (something
Ben and I watch together every year J)
and while watching that with Oma and Ben I noticed I was having some mild
contractions by the end of the show at 10pm. I went to bed but didn’t think
much of them; they didn’t feel much different than earlier false labor
contractions I had had that had stopped after about an hour. In bed though they didn’t go away and got a
little stronger and closer together.
Even though very sleepy I was not able to fall asleep. By 1:30 am I woke
up Ben a little and told him that I had been having contractions for the last 3
hrs or so, but that I didn’t know if they were “it” or not so to just go back
to sleep for now. By 2:30am I had been timing them for a while and they were
about 40 seconds to 1 minute long and about 4 minutes apart but still I was not
sure if it was labor or not. I am very indecisive you know! Ben however was up at this point and showered
and said he was heading into work because things had been extremely stressful
right before Christmas and he had left some things open ended. I said “Honey,
it is 2:30am and I may be in labor. You are not going to work.”. J I showered shortly after because some
contractions had become painful and because a friend of mine had told me on
Sunday at church that she was praying for a quick 6 hour labor….at that point I
had been laboring for 4.5 hrs. In the shower though my contractions didn’t seem
too horribly painful anymore so I went back to bed. Yes, yes, VERY indecisive
mommy. While in bed I had a few pretty painful contractions and Ben says “We
are going now, it is time. Wake up your parents and I will pack the car.” Good
thing Ben knows me so well or we would have had a baby in the truck! I wake
up my parents to watch Andi and Tristan and we head for the hospital at about
3:15 am. In the truck my contractions are about 2 minutes apart and pretty darn
painful. The drive is usually about 30 minutes but Ben is great at speeding J. We end up sitting in
the ER for a while, huffing, puffing and squirming through my contractions and
by 4 am I am in my hospital room. They
check me at about 4:15am and I am 4cms. To be honest I didn’t think that was
very much! I seemed to be in a lot of pain already! Contractions get very
intense and painful at this point and in the meantime I try to answer their
seemingly endless health questionnaire and a nurse tries and tries to get an IV
started: the 4th time she finally got it, somewhat. Another nurse in
the meantime tries to draw blood from the other arm which totally ends up
failing; nothing comes out. This all does not add to my comfort level and meantime
I am still trying my best to breathe through these darn awfully painful
contractions. Shortly after that my water breaks and the nurse checks it and
sees meconium in the amniotic fluid: baby girl pooped. This makes me panic a
little as I know that is not a good thing! But, I pray over it. Our God is good!
I am thankful I can put this at His feet and can focus on labor again. The nurse checks me and I’m 8-9 cms. They
wake up Dr. Jessica McCullough who is asleep in the hospital. At this point my
whole body is shaking from all the intensity (4cm to 10 cm in less than 45
minutes). By the time I hear myself saying “I don’t want to do this” and think
“I sure wonder what the experience with an epidural feels like!” I realize that
I am in transition and I try to draw strength from that: the end is near! Ben
is at the other side of the room at the foot of my bed mouthing me
encouragements and this is perfect: he knows me so well. When I need I can look
at him and re-focus. When it truly becomes unbearable I remember to pray
through my contractions and that never fails. Shortly after I get the urge to
push and I tell the doc. She tells me to start pushing over the next
contraction! “Almost there, hang in there!!”
I keep thinking to myself. Ben in the meantime keeps telling me I am
doing great and encouragement is good to hear at this point. I push 2x in the
first contraction and the doc tells me I am almost there. She massages me a
little which I appreciate…I would like to not tear so much. And then, by the
next contraction Morgan is out in the 2nd push!
Again there are no words to describe this
feeling. They put her on my belly right away and I feel relief, I feel
thankfulness to God for another little miracle, and, I feel in love!
They suck out her mouth and nose a little while she is on my
chest but the meconium in the fluid seems to not have done any damage: Praise
God!
I only have a teeny tiny tear and the doc puts in one
stitch. (I realize in the days after how
wonderful it is not to tear!!).
After about an hour they take her to wipe her off (she is
kind of covered in green meconium after all), measure and weigh her and take her
footprints. 6 lbs 4 oz, 20.5 inches
long. Head 13.5 inches.
Welcome Morgan Lotte!
