She made her arrival on Friday, September 23rd at 11:57am.
7lb, 10oz and 19.5 inches long
When we had Kylie, nobody was allowed to come visit us due to COVID but with Mia, we were allowed to add one more name to our "list" other than Jeremy. We weren't really planning on using that spot since our list of people is so long, but my sister was in town and had to leave the day we were being discharged. Instead of making our arrival back home a bit chaotic, we decided that she should come to the hospital to meet Mia before they headed out! It was so special to have her there ❤
Fun note:
My sister was also in town the weekend that Kylie arrived. Of course for Kylie, I was two days past due. So we got out of the house, went to my parents to hang out with everyone and I even had a glass of wine! That night, we went to the hospital and Kylie finally made her arrival! When my sister decided to come visit the week before Mia's due date after she was also giving me the contraction craziness that Kylie did, I hoped that a glass of wine and my sister's good luck would work again 😂
Her Story:
In true "girl pregnancy" style, contractions with Mia started at 36 weeks. Although frustrating and exhausting, this was much better than the 32 weeks that Kylie pulled and I knew that I wanted to do things differently this time around. With Kylie, we went to the hospital multiple times wondering if she was making her arrival. Each time we'd get sent home and I desperately didn't want to do that this time. It's such a pain to get a sitter to the house and it's exhausting to sit in the hospital for hours. Then we have to do life the next day after getting no sleep (because these things always happen at night).
I was feeling conflicted, because although I didn't want to rush to the hospital for every sign of labor, I was also having a hard time trusting my body after everything I went through with Kylie. How would I know when it WAS time? I'm pretty sure I drove Jeremy crazy and gave him many panic attacks by not going to the hospital a few times that I'm sure he thought we should. I was basically waiting for a GUSH of water (versus the trickle I thought I felt on countless occasions) or I was going to wait for the contractions to become completely unbearable since I wasn't able to count on timing them (that had been happening for weeks). We started taking our hospital bag with us whenever we left the house 😂
At 1am on September 23rd Kylie woke Jeremy and I up puking in her crib. We spent the next couple of hours trying to get her back to bed, having her come to our bed and ending up on the couch watching Mickey. At 3am I was walking down the hallway changing out bedding laundry when I felt something. I'm not really sure how I knew it was the real thing because there was no gush of water or intense contraction, but there was something happening. I said out loud "You have got to be kidding me", because after weeks of waiting for her to come, THIS was the morning it would be? When my baby girl was puking? I went to the bathroom and had a VERY small amount of blood. Jeremy was ready for me to make the phone call but I told him I wasn't even feeling any contractions yet so I wanted to wait and see what came of this.
Contractions started and intensified pretty quickly. My goal was to wait until 6am to call my mom so that I wouldn't have to wake her up too early and have her drive in the dark. I called her at 6 on the dot and told her that she didn't need to rush but this was it.
We got to the hospital at 7am. They told me on the way in that I would have to be COVID tested outside of the L&D unit but when we got there and the nurse came out to test me, she took me right into a room after seeing my contractions and hearing that this was baby #4!
We got into the room and upon checking me I was only 1.5cm dilated. The doctor that was on call was the doctor who delivered Kylie that I was not a fan of, but they also had a midwife there. The midwife is the one who came in to see me (I actually never saw the MD) and asked if I wanted to go back home to labor more since I was only 1.5cm dilated. I told her that made me uncomfortable because of how intense the contractions already were, I wouldn't know when to come back in. She told me that she'd check me again in a couple hours and at that point she may send me home. Then, after watching me/the monitor for a few minutes she told me she was pretty sure I'd be staying and having the baby.
At this point I got hooked up to a wireless monitor and was told I could get in the shower if I wanted to. I had never been on a wireless monitor before and it felt wonderful to not be confined to the bed. I walked around our room for a while and then decided to try the shower. It felt terrible LOL After getting out I asked the nurse to check me again because I was pretty sure I was ready for the epidural. It was 1015 and with my history I was sure I would have only progressed to a 3 or 4. But - I was a 7!
Between 1015 and 1045 the epidural went in and I dilated to 10cm, 100% effaced - BUT my water hadn't broken yet, which I had never experienced either, so we were just hanging out.
The next hour went super fast. My water broke and the midwife came and literally sat on the edge of my bed. No stirrups, no bed breaking in half, no "forcing" me into positions. She literally sat there and put me in charge. I could do what I wanted, when I wanted. Jeremy said if it was my first baby I wouldn't have liked the lack of direction, but this time - 4th baby, it was incredible! It was by far the best labor experience I've had from start to finish and the most relaxed environment, for labor that is.
Mia came out with the cord partially around her neck and she was having difficulty breathing. They took her over to the other side of the room almost immediately which was incredibly hard for me. Jeremy asked me where I wanted him and I told him to go be with Mia. Shortly after that the midwife and my incredible nurse started hustling and bustling around me. I had overheard a conversation during labor that they'd be watching me for hemorrhaging since it's more common the more deliveries you have. Well, I was hemorrhaging. I will spare you all the details of what they did, but they were incredibly on top of it and I believe saved me from a trip to the OR or needing a blood transfusion. Jeremy kept asking if I was okay and he told me afterwards that he felt so torn as to where he should be. I remember telling him that I was fine, I just wanted my baby.
We both quickly became okay and have been snuggling ever since!
Here's our newborn shots 😍
Jeremy and I have said to each other countless times "How were we ever freaking out about her?" 💜💜💜 Stay tuned for a family update!
