Our little Myriam Alyvia arrived on her due date, March 28, at 11:36 am. She weighed 8lbs. 9oz. and was 20.5in. long at birth.
The morning started out early yet beautiful. We had dropped the kids off at my sisters' house the night before. We didn't get to bed until 11:30. The alarm was set for 5:15 but we woke a few minutes before the alarm went off. We laid in bed for those few minutes and talked about our beautiful baby girl that would arrive just hours from then. Ben hadn't been nervous but his nerves started getting to him that morning. He was anxious yet nervous. This would be his first time experiencing the birth of his child. I had been a little nervous the night before but my nerves were calm by morning. We held each others hands, closed our eyes, and bowed our heads while Ben said a prayer asking our Father in Heaven to bless the baby and I.
Ben got our breakfast for us while I curled my hair. We had a delicious fruit breakfast made up of strawberries, grapes, oranges, and a glass of milk. The relief society had brought over some left-overs from the relief society birthday party the night before. We enjoyed our breakfast together, and I called the hospital to see when they wanted us there. They hadn't had a chance to look at the schedule yet and I was told that they would give me a call back to let me know when I needed to be there. By 7 I hadn't heard from them and was becoming anxious so I gave them a call. They told me that we needed to be there by 7:45. We headed out and arrived at labor and delivery at 7:45 on the dot. Once I got admitted I was taken to my room and I changed into the hospital gown. My mom showed up shortly after. I was having little contractions from the beginning but nothing major. I had been having little contractions off and on for a couple weeks before that day. Once they started the pitocin my body started contracting harder, but still nothing too major.
The doctor came in about 45 minutes later and broke my water. He said that my water had a little meconium in it. I was told that my baby had a bowel movement. I was terrified for her, but the doctor and nurse put my worried mind to ease.... well they put my mind to as much ease as was possible at the moment. I was still worried but I knew everything would be fine. I said a quiet prayer and asked Heavenly Father to bless my beautiful little baby with health and strength. Once my water was broke my contractions started up so hard that I could barely stand it. I was dilated to a 4 almost 5. The contractions were coming so quick. I quickly asked for an epidural. I was told that the anesthesiologist was eating breakfast but they paged him and he got to my room pretty quick. The epidural wasn't working as quickly as I had hoped. I was in tears due to the overwhelming pain and asked why the epidural wasn't working. My legs were pretty numb but the contractions were so overwhelming and strong and I could feel them getting more and more intense. The nurse told me that I was progressing so quickly that the epidural was having a hard time catching up with my body. The anesthesiologist had to come in and give me more medicine after I had already had 2 doses. Finally after an agonizing and long half hour or so the epidural finally did its job.
I finally started to relax. About 20 or so minutes later the doctor came in and checked me. He said, "You're a good girl. You're complete. Are you ready to push this baby out?"
I was shocked. Normally I could feel pressure down there when it was time to push, but this time I felt nothing. They gave me so much medicine for the epidural that when it finally kicked in, it REALLY kicked in.
I pushed a quick few times and there she was! I wasn't able to do the skin to skin because of the meconium. They had to make sure she was okay.
I was told she was having trouble breathing. She was grunting when she would breath. All I could do was look at her from across the room with a huge smile and tears streaming down my face. I kept thinking how blessed I am! How beautiful she is! How absolutely perfect she is! How I couldn't wait to hold her in my arms!
I asked my husband, who had been taking endless pictures of her, to bring me the camera so I could see a close up of her. The nurse told me that I could hold her for a minute. She wrapped her up and placed her warm, tiny body in my awaiting arms. I got to hold her for a short minute and then they whisked her away to the NICU.
Since she was grunting as she would breath, they put her on oxygen to assist her so she wouldn't wear herself out. Once they had her on the oxygen for an hour they took her off the oxygen to monitor her breathing to determine if she was breathing well enough on her own. She was doing great on her own so they took her to the nursery for her sponge bath.
Ben stayed with the baby the whole time and my mom stayed with me. Even though I knew my mom would have loved to be with the baby, she stayed with me and showed me unconditional love and comfort. I am so blessed to have such a wonderful mom. When I called her the other day to thank her for staying with me and for being here for me she started crying. She really is the best.
Once I got into my recovery room I just laid in bed longing to hold my baby girl. I asked my mom to go see if Myriam and Ben had made it to the nursery yet for her sponge bath. When my mom got back she told me that they were in the nursery and that she was getting her sponge bath. She said that she hated it and that she was screaming her head off. My kids were on their way to the hospital to meet their baby sister soon and it was important to me that I be there when they saw their baby sister for the first time. I didn't want to miss their priceless expressions on their faces when they saw her for the very first time. Once my mom got back and told me that she was in the nursery getting her sponge bath I asked the nurse to take me down there. So, the nurse hurried to get me a wheel chair and took me to the nursery. When I arrived they had just finished her sponge bath and she was laying their so peaceful and quiet. Shortly after I arrived to the nursery my kids showed up. Marshall and Madison just grinned and stared at her. Courtney looked a little confused and looked like she was taking her time to process it all.
Once we got back to the room and it was finally time to hold my baby girl after a long 3.5 hours, I stood up from my wheelchair to get into my bed and blood dripped all over the floor. I started hemorrhaging. Everyone went into the hallway, including baby, while they got my bleeding under control and cleaned me up. I kept apologizing to the nurses for how much blood they had to keep cleaning up. It was everywhere. I have never seen so much blood in my life. So, once my baby was ready for me, my body wasn't ready for her because of the hemorrhaging. Once I got all cleaned up, and they got the bleeding under control, I got to hold and nurse my precious baby girl.
We came home from the hospital 2 days later. We love her more than words can express! She is the perfect addition to our family! She is absolutely perfect!
