My Anika

I'm not sure exactly how to start describing the past few days. Exhausting, amazing, excruciating, joyous, and blessed are the first that come to mind when I think back on the journey of labor and birth.
We started our journey on Monday morning, September 20th, around 10:30 when I could start feeling contractions about 10 minutes apart. They didn't hurt at all, but I could tell there was a definite tightening. We weren't sure if they were actual contractions or just more regular Braxton-Hicks. At 5:00 we went for a walk because I really wanted to get my body going, so we tackled the hills in our neighborhood for about an hour. During the walk the contractions started coming about 5 minutes apart and continued that far apart after we were finished. By 8:00 they were coming every 4 minutes or so and were becoming more uncomfortable and i had to use breathing patterns to get through the contraction. We called the midwife at 9:30 PM and she told us to try and wait a little longer and stay home as long as possible if the contractions were not unbearable. By 11:30, contractions were coming every two minutes and had been for about an hour, so we called the midwife again and she told us to come in to the hospital so we could check it out.
We arrived at the emergency room right at midnight and waited for a nurse to come bring us to labor and delivery. After being checked in and answering some questions, the midwife came in and checked to see if there was any progress. Unfortunately, though my contractions were still very regular every three minutes and getting stronger, I was only dilated two centimeters. This resulted in a two-hour walk around the halls of the labor floor. The contractions were a lot more painful now, so I was hopeful when the midwife checked me again at 3:30 AM that we would have progress. Unfortunately, I had only progressed to barely three centimeters. Boo. The midwife didn't want to send me home because of the regularity and strength of my contractions, but she wanted me to get some rest before the hard work that was ahead of us. She gave me a sedative that was supposed to only knock me out for one or two hours before we started working on the labor som more, but apparently I am a lightweight when it comes to drugs. I was practically unconscious for four hours while they continued to monitor the contractions. All through my "nap" the contractions continued to be every four or five minutes.
Once I woke up, it was back to walking around again for a couple hours. Unfortunately, this did not progress me any further. At 11:30 AM I agreed to have the midwife break my water to hopefully get active labor going. After working the hallways again, the contractions really started coming strong and hard and full of lower back pain. Baby was turned the wrong way in the birth canal, so all the pressure of the contractions was in my back. Extremely painful, just saying. After a few hours of these awful contractions every other minute, the midwife arrived to check my progress. I was praying quite hard for at least a couple centimeters, so we were ecstatic to hear I was at 7 centimeters after all that work! After another hour it was time to push, and the midwife turned baby so she could come out the right way. I pushed for about 15 minutes and out came our little girl!
The moment I saw her, everything I had just endured was completely worth the effort. During the hard parts I was wondering if I was just stupid for not wanting an epidural or any other pain meds, but after I was finished, the transition straight to motherhood was easy. I needed to be cleaned up, but nothing extensive so I could focus on my daughter right away. I also felt just fine afterwards, the pain was almost instantly gone.
When the midwife put her on my stomach and Garry had announced she was indeed a girl, I was elated. She was beautiful. She still is, in fact.
Now we have been home a few days and are adjusting to life with our little Anika Grace, I am even more affirmed in our decision for me to stay home full time for awhile. Figuring everything out is going to take awhile, but so far I am loving being a mom, and Garry is the best dad I could ask for. Our Father God has been wondefully merciful and gracious to us through Anika, and we are so excited to teach her all about Him and His love for her.