Natalie's Birth Story
I know it's been 2 months now, but I finally have time to sit down and write this out. I have been super busy with obviously a new baby, school, and regular/crazy family life. So here it goes, no one has to read this if you don't want I just really want it for my records, you can skip down and just look at the adorable pictures my friends took. The Newborn Artists, which Roxxi took some of them and Heather!! Thanks girls I love my pictures!!!! ok so now to the birth story. So the whole time I'm pregnant I thinking this baby is going to come early because I keep having a ton of Braxton Hicks that would last about an hour then go away. So I'm thinking once it get closer to my due date this baby girl is going to want to come out as fast as she can. I kept praying that this girl would stay in at least until she is 36 weeks. So once I hit 36 weeks I starting to really prepare for this baby. My due date was May 13 and I was in an online class that would end May 16 so I was trying really hard to prepare and get as much of my homework done before my due date. I was also planning for this baby to come at least a week early because that is when my boys came. So here I was stressed out because I am in school, trying to clean my house and get organized all while I am babysitting a few kids during the week. Come to my surprise when I hit 37 weeks I usually at 2 cm, but at this Dr.'s appointment I am still at a 1. So i'm thinking "ok this baby might just wait for her due date or might go over, this wouldn't be such a bad thing". Once I hit 38 weeks I'm at a 2 and the baby has kind of come down, but not too much so know I'm thinking "Ok I need this baby to either come on Saturday night when I have finished all my homework for the week, Sunday, Monday or Tuesday. Any other day would completely throw everything off with school. I know LAME!!! I was more concerned about school then me going to have a baby. Trust me I was excited to meet her, but I also didn't want to be stressed with school either when she was born. I worked it out to take 3 weeks off from my last day of class on the 16. So now I'm 38 weeks pregnant and it doesn't look like this baby is going to come when I think she is coming. I had tried many things trying to get this baby to come naturally from eating certain foods to doing anything anyone told me that worked for them to go into labor. So I asked my Dr for any suggestions and she told me the typical things that I was already trying to do. She then suggested that I could be induced on Tuesday May 10. So Spencer and I agreed that Tuesday would actually work really well for us with his work and my schooling. I know LAME!!! So we decided we would get induced. After making that decision I kept doubting that I made the right choice. I was freaking out. I had never been induced before and had heard horror stories about it. I also knew that I had no problem going into labor naturally and progressing. I had Steven and Larsen just fine. I really wanted to do this birth naturally again with no medicine and have a natural birth, and now with this induction I was scared to do a natural birth. I kept hoping and praying this baby would come before my induction date and that she would come the week early like my boys did and Friday came no baby. Saturday came no baby. Sunday came no baby. Monday came and no baby. So we got ready and dropped the boys off at my mother in laws house and we decided to stay the night too since the hospital is only 15 minutes away. I was still hoping I would go into labor that night, but still no baby. Spencer and I woke up early and were at the hospital a little after 5 in the morning. I felt more calm once I was at the hospital knowing I would meet my baby soon. They started the potocine around 7:30am and slowly but surely I started to go into Labor. I loved my nurse, Jenn. She made me believe I could do a natural birth again and that she would do anything to help me accomplish this goal of mine. I didn't feel like I was in active labor until about 11 and then it started to feel like I was getting in the zone. Around 12:30 I was at a 5 and the Dr on duty came in and broke my water so my Dr. could work through lunch and make it to my birth. I had Spencer call my mom and let her know that I was already at a 5. Now at this point I was starting to get some back labor and so my nurse had me sit on a peanut shape exercise ball to try to relive some of the pain and help the baby move positions. I tried all sorts of positions to help this baby move down and change her position. My nurse was soooo sweet and tried relieving some of my back labor by putting pressure on my back. She then had me lay down and out that peanut shape ball in between my legs to help the baby move. By around 2 pm I was having a hard time controlling the pain because my back labor was really intense and I was starting to get the shakes real bad. I didn't know how much longer I could do this and have enough in me to push the baby out. Pushing Larsen out was the most painful part of the whole labor process and I also had back labor with him. This back labor was soooo much worse with Natalie. My nurse said she believed the baby was post-terrior. Thinking of what I still had to do to get this baby out I decided I needed an epidural to make it through this process. I was at a 7 at this point and knew I needed some relief. The anesthesiologist came in around 2:15 and administered the epidural. Poor Spencer I about broke off his fingers as the anesthesiologist was trying to do his thing with me not moving as I would have crazy intense labor pains. After the 20 to 30 minutes the Dr said I would feel some relief but the only relief I was getting was numbness in my legs but my back labor was still intense so my nurse administered another shot of pain relief. At this point I asked Spencer to call my mom and find out where she was because it wouldn't be that much longer. My mom showed up about 2:45 and I was starting to get some relief but still had the shakes. Around 3 my nurse check my and I was at a 10 YAHOO!!! Around 3:15 or so my Dr. came in and said we could start pushing. I started pushing around 3:20. I felt really good and numb and this point. I took me a little bit to push the baby out. Partly because I was really numb and also because the baby was post-terrior. I actually had a really good time pushing the baby out. Spencer, my mom, the nurses, My Dr and the student with her were all laughing and making jokes and having a great time. When the baby's head was partially out my Dr said it had a lot of hair. I finally pushed her all the way out at 3:45 pm. The most amazing part of the whole experience was when I was starting to push the baby out my Dr told me to reach down and pull my baby out. That was the most amazing thing to do. I brought the baby out and laid her on me. I made the Dr make sure it was a girl. This whole time I didn't believe I was having a girl because I never thought I would have a girl and I was so used to having boys. I was so happy to have my baby and have her laying on me. The nurse let me have her close to me while they cleaned her off. They then went to weigh her, 8 lbs 3 oz and 21 1/2 inches long. I thought while I was pregnant with her she was going to be small because I felt so good my whole pregnancy up until the day I delivered. I was quite surprised to have a good size baby. After weighing her and measuring her the nurse asked if I wanted to have skin to skin contact with her. Of course I wanted too so the nurse laid the baby on my chest and I got to snuggle her with her for a while. This whole experience was nothing how I pictured it, but turned out way better then I could have imagined. I didn't get to have the natural birth with no pain meds like how I wanted to but instead I got to have an amazing experience of pulling my baby out of me and getting to share those first few moments with her close to me and then snuggling her on my chest. I couldn't have asked for a better delivery especially with me being so nervous about the whole induction thing. I'm so glade everything went went and the baby was healthy, she handled the induction perfectly and she came out perfectly. I love having my little girl. She is such a sweet baby girl and couldn't have asked for anything better. It's funny after she was born I really didn't care about school anymore and didn't care if I didn't get an A+ on every assignment anymore. All I care about is spending time with her and soaking up these moments because they go by so fast.
Here are some pictures of me pregnant and of Natalie Elizabeth Rieck.
34 weeks pregnat
Right before my induction
Snuggling with Natalie after she was born
Steven with his new sister
Larsen with his new sister
I love how she is looking at her daddy
I love those Cheeks!!
Here are some of pictures my friend Heather Ellis took. They turned out so cute!!
Here are some of the pictures from Natalie's Newborn photo shoot with the Newborn Artists. They were so patient and got some great poses of Natalie. Here are just a few of the ones they took. They turned out so adorable!!
