(Warning: This is going to be long and wordy but I want to document it all for prosperity sake.)
On June 28, 2013, our beautiful daughter Amelia Grace Cox was born. Being like any other girl, she had to make her own grand entrance on her own timing.
Because her brothers' both came early, I was fully expecting her to make an early arrival. Throughout my pregnancy I prayed that the Lord would just keep her in full term. Her due date was June 29th but after I hit 36 weeks, I woke each day anticipating if today was the day. I did this for days, which turned into weeks. Each day I grew more impatient (and bigger). At my 39 week checkup, I expressed concern how big she might be seeing that Cox babies tend to be big (my niece was 11 lbs). Dr. Meek said well if I made it to my 40 week appointment he would do an ultrasound, but judging by stomach she was probably upper 7/lower 8 lbs. At that appointment, he also stripped my membranes, saying that usually this helped induce labor by that evening or the next morning.
All night of the 26th I kept wondering if every move or cramp was the start. I went to sleep that night kind of crampy, but nothing really feeling like labor. I woke up the next morning feeling disappointed. The boys and I went on to Vacation Bible School, still disappointed that stripping my membranes hadn't done anything.
That afternoon around 3:30, while getting the boys something to drink, my water broke! And I mean it broke. I yelled upstairs to Jeremy (thank goodness he works from home) that my water had broke and he said, "It's about time!" :) I called my mom to come down from her lake place to watch the boys and then I called the doctor. The doctor wanted me to come into the office to make sure my water had really broken. I was aggravated because my water has now broken 3 times and it was gushing out. I obliged though since the office is literally across the street. Sadly though my water kept gushing so that was a little embarrassing to walk into the office with wet pants, but they were quick to escort me back. Once in the room, the doctor felt a little silly for having me come in. I quickly left and went back home to wait on my mom. At this point, I wasn't having any contractions so it was easy and exciting.
We arrive at the hospital a little after 5 and get checked in and all hooked up to the monitors. I still don't really feel any contractions, though they were registering every 3-5 minutes apart. The nurse said the contractions were enough to my uterus irritable but not enough to do anything. The doctor came in and said I was already at 4 cm. We went over my history and options. We finally decided to go ahead and start pitoticin since the last 2 deliveries have resulted in that after hanging out for 12 hours. I didn't really want to wait 12 hours so I was ok to start the meds.
Around 9ish the contractions were getting hard and fast. I was at 6 cm and was ready for epidural. It seemed to take forever to get it going (Jeremy's hand can probably attest to that) but it was great once they did. I was able to doze off and on (thank you blood pressure cuff for going off every 15 mins) from about 11 to 1:30. Around 2 the nurse came in and check me again. I was at 10 cm and 100% effaced! She asked me if I felt the need to push and I didn't. I felt nothing, ex. tingly feet and butt. Amelia was still far high up in the birth canal, so the nurse said we could just continue to wait. Of course at this point, Jeremy and I can't really sleep because we think her arrival is eminent. We play games, watch Netflix, and wait. I'll still feel completely relaxed, like we're just at home hanging out. It was weird!
The nurse comes in every 30 mins or so and tells me to roll over to the other side. She and I are both baffled that I don't feel the need to push. Finally at 4 am, she comes again and says, "Let's do a test push." I agree and she yells to stop that she can see the head. She calls the doctor on call from my office (Dr. Roginsky) and goes into prep mode. In come a handful of another nurses and we all laugh that I still don't feel anything. The doctor uses the monitor to tell me when I'm having a contraction and to push. At 4:20 am, 3 good pushes later, she made her arrival into this world! It was love at first sight!
They immediately put her on my chest and we cuddle skin-to-skin for the next hour. The hospital staff all try to guess the weight of this big baby. After the first hour, they finally take her to be weighed and measured (still in our room) and she was a whopping 9 pounds 13 oz and 21 inches long! Dr. Meek definitely missed that estimation!
Around 6 am, we finally call our families to let them know of Amelia's arrival. My mom brought the boys to see us around 7:30 (they are early risers) sporting their big brother shirts. They were reserved but interested..Owen a little more so than Oliver.
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| Oliver looking from afar |
Jeremy takes the boys home with him so he can get a shower and wait for his parents. Mom stays with me and they finally give Amelia her first bath (yes, 5 hours later). All cleaned up, Amelia meets her other set of grandparents and they are smitten as well. My dad arrived later that night after work as well as BP and Lauren.
The rest of our hospital stay was uneventful and we ask to leave a night early after having a restless night on uncomfortable beds. The staff agreed and we came home on the 29th.
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| Ready to go home in her first smocked dress |
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| Ready to go home |
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| Once home, the boys loved looking at her |
