Announcing Little Sister Collins: Delivery

What an amazing pregnancy, 20 lbs. in weight gain, not many sleepless nights, no legs lodged in my ribs or constantly kicking uncomfortable spots; although back pain just cannot be avoided. My baby girl was a constant mover who glided with ease and completely freaked me out at times with her movements. I thought babies slowed down when they got closer to the due date but baby continued to move more and more. I don't miss going to the bathroom all night long ( I think a record 11 times one night) but I do miss being pregnant because it was just so nice, I really loved this pregnancy. The weather couldn't have been better, it was such a mild summer and I felt so full of energy and just happy-- not only to add to our family but for Charli to have a baby sister.

We went back to work on the 21st of August I was hoping to make it through the first week so that I could get my classes in order and leave with a sense of everything being taken care of, which is risky, but I was confident I would make it and I was able to do just that. Dan and I completed our Baptism class the night before she was born. We came home that night from class around 9 and at about 11pm I kept waking up from strong contractions, by 3am I couldn't take it any more and woke Dan up, my water had not broke like it did with Charli sending me to the hospital, but this was my first time really experiencing contractions- I did not have these in my previous pregnancy until being induced. I had a scheduled 39 week appointment at 12:15pm and I planned to keep it, especially because I had a few last minute things to do at work. My contractions were about 10 minutes apart and by my 3rd hour class they were about 6 minutes apart. At 12:00pm Dan and I headed to our Dr. appointment where I was hooked up to the non-stress test, measured at 3cm dilated (1cm a week before) and sent to the hospital to have my little girl. Dan and I stopped back home to do a few things and then we headed to Good Shepard in Barrington, this would be our first time there. It was such an easy check in and I was wheeled to our delivery room. I was hooked up to the same test that shows the length and frequency of contractions and we were on our way. My first pregnancy resulted in an emergency c-section so like the pregnancy, this delivery was completely different, well almost...

I was able to withstand the contractions until about 4:30pm and then I had enough. My pain on a scale of 1-10 through those 1:30 second contractions was close to 100--and sometimes 1000, I was not going to stay conscious at that rate so I brought in reinforcements aka "the epidural," and thank God for that. We were smooth sailing about 30 minutes later and it was up to my body to do the work. I was visited by Mom, Eric, and Charli and Dan remained by my side the entire time. By 11:00 pm I had made it on my own to 10cm dilated and was given the green light to push. Just a little history I had a yogurt for breakfast, a water bottle, and about 13 noodles. I was absolutely dying of thirst and all I could have were a few ice chips- my choice of not drinking enough water that morning will never happen again, trust me, I was in agony dying to have some water!!!!!!!!!

The baby was head down and it was the first time we heard, "She has a full head of black hair!" I thought at this point I was educated on child birth but I remember I kept thinking what happens next, doesn't that mean she is close? I was told when and how to push and I did just that as hard as I could and felt so encouraged when the Doctor said "Just like that one." As time went by the epidural was wearing off and the contractions were getting rough. The progress I felt I was making and the optimism I had started to decrease, and I would go at it and push harder and harder. I pushed through "The tonight show with Jimmy Fallon, Late night with Seth Meyer, and well in to late night 1 900 commercials that I could hear off the remote that lay on my bed side. I wanted this VBAC so bad and knew that it was a 50/50 chance. It was close to 2:30am when the Dr. said we were failing to make progress and the baby is stuck. She told me she had let me go longer than she should have and explained to me my options to which I knew the outcome. The wind was taken out of my sails, how could this be happening not once, but twice. I did NOT want another c-section, I was so traumatized by the first, why was this happening again, why do I have such a hard time? I want more kids I have to deliver naturally...it didn't matter, all that mattered was the safety of the baby and the safety of me.

I was being prepped for surgery and we were on our way. By this time I was in so much pain and I was so nauseous, I was vomiting, crying, so thirsty I had become agitated and I just wanted to give up. I wanted to be left alone and the Operating Room staff just kept on going, at one point exasperated I yelled out,"Can't I just have some water?" To which I was met with a very simple and firm kindly toned, "No." Unlike the first birth, at this time Dan entered the Operating Room and held my hand throughout the surgery and we just listened to seconds of the clock tick, there was a lot of pressure on my stomach- more than I experienced with Charli and I had to ask for more drugs and my request was met almost instantly. When baby arrived the first thing I heard was, "It's definitely a girl." We were not met with cries which like Charli brought back bad memories. Soon enough we did hear her first "waa- waa" and it brought tears to both my eyes and Dan's- it was truly a moment that we shared together and filled up our hearts. When she was brought over to us, she immediately was bright eyed and trying to eat my face, what an alert little baby. I had about 15 minutes left of surgery so she was taken to the nursery and I was wheeled to recovery where we would meet again. Danica Liv Collins was born at 3:50am on August 28, 2014. 6lbs. 80z and 21 inches long. She was face up and unable to clear the birth canal and was so lodged in it made for all that pressure during the surgery, she just didn't want to come out- but she was here full head of black hair, 10 fingers, 10 toes, healthy and my little angel. I am so in love with her, she has made my feel complete when I didn't know anything was missing. It truly feel my Dad and Dan's parents were with all of us that morning as there was a rainbow sky met with what appeared to be an image of angel wings and 2 butterflies. Whatever it was to anyone else, for me it was my Dad.

My hospital stay was very relaxing. I had a few girlfriends come to visit including my friend Amy, who fittingly was my first guest other than family, and Danica's Godmother. I also got a pedicure in the hospital one of the perks!...and oh the apple juice- it was just amazing. Remember how dehydrated I was, I asked for water and apple juice from every nurse that came to visit me. The staff was terrific and it felt so surreal, Danica and I were so at peace and in love.

On August 30th we left the hospital as a family of 4, one of the most wonderful days of my life.
Charli is truly in love with "baby Danica" and just cannot get enough of her. She wants to hold her, feed, her squeeze her, love her, I didn't know that I would have to try to separate them from one another all the time!