Sadie Jo Dettinger

Warning:  This is a birth story, so if that grosses you out, just skip to the pictures:)

Wednesday, March 20th was my due date, and I was scheduled to be induced the next day.  At my appointment on Monday I was dilated to a 3-4, but I was pretty sure nothing would be happening and I would make it to my induction.  In fact, I was almost hoping for that because I had everything lined up for the kids and Josh's schedule, and I had an important meeting on Wednesday morning that I really didn't want to rearrange.  Around noon on Wednesday my friend Sarah called to see if we wanted to meet them at McDonalds for lunch.  I said sure, and got up to get my things together.  About a minute later I called her back and said, "ummm, I think my water just broke."  So she came to pick up the kids and take them and I called Josh to come home, by this time a couple minutes had passed and I was almost positive my water had indeed broken.  I hadn't had any contractions since it broke, but I was kind of in shock.  My body doesn't do this on it's own!  I was so sure of that that I hadn't even packed my bag or anything, so I ran around trying to get everything ready for me and for the kids and Josh and I headed to the hospital.

We waited in the screening room to do a few tests and make sure my water had broken.  It had, and there was meconium in it (her poop), and I knew I was positive for Group B Strep, so it was a sure thing we were staying and having the baby.  They started me on the antibiotics and told me that we could wait and see if my body would start things on its own.  So we waited, and walked around, and tried to get things moving.  I was having some contractions and I got to a 5, but I knew things would have to get going more than they were.  I was not really in too much pain at all, but I was starving because in the midst of all the excitement I had never eaten lunch and couldn't now, and I was getting tired.  I was having a hard time relaxing because I had a lot of things on my mind with all the stuff we've had going on lately, and Sarah called to ask if she could give Marissa some medicine because she had a fever.  I felt really bad about leaving her with someone sick and there not really being anything we could do about it, and what we would do with them the next day, etc. etc.  But thankfully I have the best husband ever who knew how to get me to relax and forget about everything else, a great nurse, and the world's most awesome friend who made me feel like it was no big deal to watch my sick kid overnight and who I knew they would be comfortable with.  Around 8 pm I decided to start the pitocin so we wouldn't be there forever and I would still have some energy, and the contractions started gradually picking up to where they needed to be. 

I was pretty sure I wanted to try this labor without the epidural again because it went really well that way with Marissa, but I wasn't necessarily against getting one either.  I am kind of lucky in that I feel like I am really not very uncomfortable until I get to a 7 or so, and even after that the pain is manageable and the last part goes fairly quickly.  I figured it wasn't so awful that I really wanted to get a huge needle in my back and knew I would get that huge adrenaline rush after if I didn't get one.  The nurse was really helpful with everything and helped me use a birthing ball to mix things up at the end and I think that helped too.  Also, when I was getting close to pushing she put up this bar thing at the foot of the bed that I could grab onto above me and kind of squat and that helped too.  I feel like the pushing went a lot better with this labor, it felt more effective this way than laying down, though they did make me lay down for the last couple pushes.  The doctor was a really good coach though helping me with when to push and breathe and stop etc. and I was really happy to do it without an episiotomy, just a couple small tears, and with probably 8 or so pushes.  She came at 12:10 am on March 21st, just 10 minutes shy of her due date:) I did get pretty shaky afterwards and it stung pretty bad after, but I did get that huge relief when she came out and recovered really quickly.  Yes it can be painful, but it is kind of awesome to feel your body do what it was meant to do and what a miracle it all is, and I feel grateful to be able to get to experience it.  And to have such a cute little babe at the end of all it :) 

Sadie was 8 pounds 1 ounce and 20 1/2 inches long (my smallest baby yet!)