Meeting Esmae Harper

I can’t believe it’s been a week already. It seems like it was just yesterday.

I am so grateful to God for blessing me with a great labor and a perfect little baby girl.

Many of you asked that I share this, so here is my labor & delivery story:

It was about 9:30/10pm and I was at home cleaning up my closet and doing last minute

laundry, when suddenly I felt my water break. I couldn’t believe it, I felt terrified

and excited at the same time. Immediately I called my husband who was at

work at the time and told him to drop what he was doing and come home immediately.

In the meantime I called my doctor and asked her what to do. She said to go straight

to the hospital, and we did just that. My contractions started picking up pretty quickly

as we arrived to the hospital. We had to check in and fill out some paperwork while

the staff got everything ready.  Before they gave me a room, a nurse took me into

the triage room, to make sure my water was indeed broken. Since it was, we received

a room right away and began the IV’s, blood pressure checks and all that jazz.

I was 4cm when they checked me, and it was about midnight at this point.

My contractions were at a level 5-6 pain-wise and I was breathing through them just fine.

The nurse said I’d probably deliver by 8/9am so we had some time to wait.

My contractions began to be about 1 minute apart and the pain level went from a 6 to

a 8-9. I couldn’t catch my breath at times, so I asked for my epideral.

It took about an hour for the anesthesiologist to get to my room, and I was terrified.

My whole body was tense and I was shaking nonstop. At this point my husband was

getting a little lightheaded just watching me go through this (poor guy). Little did I know

the epideral was painless to receive and worked very quickly! And gosh is it AMAZING!

I felt absolutely nothing, and was planning on taking a nice long nap until morning

when the PA came in and wanted to check if I dilated in the past hour.

At this point it was about 2:00 am, and I was 10cm! “You’re ready to push” she said;

I was in shock and so not ready. She said lets to two practice pushes before the

doctor comes in. The first push was a good one; again I felt nothing. The second

push was apparently even better and the baby’s head started to crown! “Stop pushing”

she said! “I see the baby’s head”. She goes “the baby has hair”, “how much hair?” I asked.

Hahaha! “A good amount, want to see in a mirror?” she asked. Nope! I said! LOL.

The PA asked the nurse to get the doctor so that I can deliver, but he was reoccupied

delivering twins a few doors down. “Don’t push, don’t sneeze, don’t cough” she said.

We will wait for the doctor if we can to deliver this baby. About 45 minutes later the

doctor comes in, introduced himself and said, “let’s have this baby”! I pushed for about 4-5

minutes and she was out!

It was so surreal, so fast; I couldn’t even register in my mind what had happened.

I was in pure shock. I found it amazing that I felt nothing, no pain, and just a tiny little bit

of pressure. Next time, I’m asking for the epideral even earlier! LOL.

They handed me my baby girl and my hubby and I kissed her right away. We did

delayed cord clamping (read about benefits here) and hubs cut the umbilical cord.

Everything happened so fast!

Esmae Harper was born on August 12, 2016 weighing 6.10pounds, 19.5” long.

My labor was about 4 hours from start to finish and it was a experience of a lifetime!

Thank you for reading and have a blessed day!

xo,

​Victoria