My Birth Story

She's finally here - Mira Joss Garcia! Born Monday, Oct. 29 at 12:34am; 6lbs, 7oz; 19 1/4in.

Sunday, Oct. 28 at 7:15am, I felt my water break while sleeping in bed. I ran to the bathroom and grabbed by "What to Expect When Expecting" book to make sure it was my water that broke. Sure enough it was. I went back to bed and waited for Mark to wake up. I tried going back to sleep, but of course, could not. A few minutes later, Mark rolled over in bed and rubbed his eyes. I asked if he was awake and told him I that I thought my water broke. We called my OB and, of course, he told us to go to the hospital. Mike Phi was over at the house and was suprised at how calm we were, getting ready to go to the hospital. I took a shower, we packed the car with all our stuff and headed over to the hospital around 8ish. We were admitted around 9am. At this point I was still not having any contractions. The nurse checked my dilation and said I was only "a dimple" dilated and had a long way to go. A little while later, I was transferred to the Labor/Delivery/Recovery (LDR) room. Shortly after, the nurses put in my IV and started me on a Pitocin drip to get my contractions going. Sure enough contractions started kicking in. At first, they weren't so bad, but since I was induced, they started coming on more frequently and stronger quickly. Pretty soon, they were only ~2 minutes apart and I was only 3-4 cm dilated. At this point, I asked for an epidural. I had planned on getting an epidural, but was hoping to wait until I was 5-6 cm, but with the Pitocin, contractions were coming on so fast, that I didn't have time to recuperate in between. After the epidural, I was all smiles. :)

A couple hours later, and 6 cm dilated, my epidural started to wear off so the anesthesiologist had to come back and give me more. I began getting back contractions because the baby was facing posterior. The nurse had me shift back and forth from my right side to my left side to try to get the baby to turn, but the baby wouldn't move. At 8 cm, the epidural began to wear off again. This time, the anesthesiologist was busy with another patient (there was only one anesthesiologist on the whole floor!) and I had to wait for him to get back to me. It felt like eternity for him to get to my room. My contractions were so strong and coming on so fast! Finally, I got another push of epidural. I could still feel pressure from the back contractions, but they weren't nearly as painful. The nurse checked my dilation again and noticed that the front of my cervix was swelling and the baby was still facing posterior. In addition, I began running a tempurature. The nurse called my OB. I talked to him on the phone and asked that he come in to examine me and advise on what I should do. Upon his examination, he gave me two options: push for another 4-5 hours, which may end up in a c-section anyway due to my swelling, or do a c-section now and get the baby out. It seemed like an obvious choice - I opted for the later. Approximately an hour later, Mira entered the world. And Mark was there for the entire thing and didn't once get quesy - through the epidural, the c-section, and me clenching the hell out of his hands. He did good. :)

And I would do it all over in a heartbeat! Who wouldn't for a beautiful face like this: