Stacia's Birth Story

There are many things I could begin with...photos of our move, stories of moving in a new home, deer sightings, trips to visit friends and more....but many are asking for pictures and details of Anastacia's birth...so here you go....

The picture to the left....though not great...will give you the low down...16 August at 5 a.m. and I'm very ready to have a baby. We head to the hospital. Shortly after 6 a.m. they begin an iv of pitocin. Dr. Adams was due in to break my water at 9 a.m. She came in and was told they were ready to give me an Epidural and so she went across the street to her practice and I got an Epidural. This prolonged labor by many hours as she was not able to get back to the hospital until shortly after noon to break my water. Of course, who cares if labor is prolonged when you have an Epidural. After 7 au natural labors Mike and I spent the hours laughing, chatting, catching up on chapel news and discussing how strange it was not to be breathing, giving back rubs etc. Dr. Adams came back at 12:15 to break my water. She apologized for the wait but said she wanted to be sure I had the Epidural as she was convinced that when they broke my water things would go fast. They did. At one point Rose, the labor nurse, decided to do a check or some such thing and I heard her say something that sounded alarmingly like a curse. She said, "Your complete" and went to get Dr. Adams back to the room. By the time Dr. Adams arrived the contraction was over and evidently Stacia had moved back up the birth canal. Dr. Adams said (in a voice that made clear she expected this to take a bit longer), "well why don't you go ahead and push through the next contraction and we'll see what happens".

The next contraction began, I pushed, Dr. Adams said "Oh my," as Mike and Rose began to laugh. I asked if I'd done something wrong and was told that I'd delivered a baby girl. One push and Stacia was born....if we do this again it may take a hiccup!

Stacia - minutes after birth

It didn't take long to see that Stacia doesn't have Downs and has a "perfectly, beautiful" heart. She'll have a renal ultrasound in a month to be "completely sure" her kidneys are fine. A highlight of this birth experience is that Krista spent both nights in the hospital with Stacia and I. I was a bit nervous about the cockroaches I saw in the shower....and they do all rooming in and I was a bit tipsy that first night. The second night we just watched chick flicks and ate chocolate. Ah girls night out.

I have tons of pictures to add here but I can't seem to get them to work right with the text. I think I'll go try another one with just photos....oy vey!