Eliza's Birth Story pt. 1

Hey friends!

I have been wanting to write this post for FAR too long, but I have kept putting it off! This is going to be my pregnancy story, birth story, and some postpartum story from when I had Eliza!

To share the birth story, I have to back up a little bit and share some of my pregnancy story first!

On March 30, 2019 I woke up to go work at the trampoline park I was working at. I woke up feeling like complete death. I was nauseous and just not doing well. I messaged my bosses, and they approved me coming in later. I finally gathered up all the strength that I had, and I made my way to work. When I got to work, I went to the front desk where I was working as a receptionist. I had to stand for my position, and as I was standing I got light-headed and almost passed out. I walked back to our break room and sat down. A little while later, one of the managers came back to talk to me, and we decided it was best for me to head home. It took me a WHILE sitting there before I was able to get up and drive back to my dorm room. When I finally got into my room, I passed out, completely dead to the world. I messaged Matt, who was at work at the trampoline park, and told him that I went home and was feeling awful. He had something to do that night after work, but I messaged him telling him that he needed to pick up a pregnancy test because the only thing I could come up with was that I was either pregnant or dying. He was very hesitant to go, but I told him if he didn't go, he was going to have to drive me to the emergency room. He went, after his prior engagement, and he came to my dorm and gave it to me. I ran down and grabbed it, then right back upstairs to take it. I, then, ran back downstairs to look at it with him; I knew I couldn't do it alone. We sat and talked for a little bit, and when we finally looked at it, it was VERY evident that it was positive. We sat for a little bit and talked about our next steps, and what our plan was going to be moving forward. We definitely knew that we weren't going to be getting rid of this little booger, and we were going to keep whoever this little blessing was.

Were we scared? 100%.

Did we have ANY idea what we were going to do? Not even a little bit.

Did we want to tell our parents? Not one bit.

I was originally going to try to go to the OB and get an ultrasound and initial appointment before we told our parents. After talking with the OB and insurance company, my parents were going to be notified when insurance was billed... So, I had to talk to them first. Since we were living in Hattiesburg, we decided to tell Matt's parents first. We chose a day that we knew wasn't as busy for his parents, and a day they'd be able to sit down and talk to us. I'm wanting to say it was April 4th that we told them, but I'm not 100% positive. Honestly, it didn't go well, and it was an awful experience. There were things said, that were not appropriate and should not have been said in the slightest. We decided to go to Mobile that Saturday to spend the day with my parents and tell them about this bundle of joy that was coming our way. I know we hung out with my parents all day on the 6th, but I genuinely cannot remember what we did or anything like that. We told them at the end of the evening, right before we were headed back to Hattiesburg. They weren't super shocked, because I had already told my mom on the 30th, that I was feeling terrible. They weren't super thrilled about it, but they knew that babies are a blessing, and they were happy to get another grandchild they could love and adore.

We didn't tell my sisters until the Saturday before Easter, April 20th. We went to the Grand Hotel in Point Clear, AL, as by family tradition, and we shared our news with them. They were disappointed, as expected, but they handled it fairly well. Matt's brother, Tyler, found out the same day we told his parents, because he walked out of his room in the middle of us telling them. After being told, he said "Okay," and went on with whatever activity he was doing. You can say he took it fairly well.

Our first OB appointment and ultrasound was on April 26; we found out that we're about 10 weeks along. They told us our due date was Nov. 18th. They did all of the typical first appointment things, ultrasound, blood draw, heart beat scan, etc. I am NOT a blood draw person, and I HATE needles going at my arm. Matt actually held me down for it. We ended up going to go get a smoothie bowl afterwards, and everything was okay. I got a huge bruise afterwards though.

I honestly don't remember dates or timelines of the rest of the pregnancy, but I know we ended up talking to my sister and deciding to talk to Stacey Bufkin, owner of Gulf Coast Midwifery, and "delivered" (another story that isn't mine to tell) my sister's baby girl on April 29. After we talked with her and discussed with each other, we decided that we wanted to do a home birth in Mobile. I was going to be in Mobile for the summer, and we had to figure out how the next year of school was going to go for me anyways.

In July, we found out that we were going to be having a little girl, and we were super happy about that! I had always wanted a boy, but as soon as I found out I was pregnant, I KNEW I wanted a little girl. We announced the gender and pregnancy to everyone we hadn't already told in person on July 12, 2019! We got hundreds of positive comments and congratulations! I was super excited for this little one, and I was getting less nervous each day. That's not to say we still had TONS to figure out...

I was staying at my parents house, and we ultimately decided that I would do a mixture of hybrid and online courses for school. I found out that I could do classes on the Mississippi Gulf Coast through a coastal campus of my university. I had classes on Mondays, Tuesdays, and Thursdays. The Monday classes were every week, where as the Tuesdays and Thursdays were only a few weeks in person a semester. This was August to November of 2019.

Sometime in November, Stacey (my midwife) was concerned about my low iron concentration, and she had to make the decision to dismiss me from her care. She found me a nurse midwife in Gulfport, Mississippi who would take me into her care. I met with her and was glad to have her. Her name was Jane Hitch; she was amazing and was accepting of my wishes for what I wanted for my birth. The only thing I wasn't pumped about was that I was required to have to have a saline-lock. It honestly made sense, since the reason I was sent to her was because my iron was too low, and they just needed a quick access point to get blood into me if I lost too much blood during delivery.

On the 18th of November, I started my Winter trimester of classes at William Carey, and I had a Monday night class, and two online classes. With the night class, you are only able to miss 2 classes before you automatically fail the class. This information is very important for later on in this story.

I was due on November 25th, which was the Monday before Thanksgiving, and Jane was going out of town to Texas for Thanksgiving, but she told me if I hadn't had Eliza by Friday night, she would leave Texas early to come back for my delivery. I hadn't had Eliza by then, so she left. She was originally going to leave on Sunday to come back, but wanted to be in Gulfport and prepared in case I had Eliza. I was really thankful for her dedication of being there for me and Eliza, it was such a blessing to know I had that support.

On December 2nd, a week after my due date, I had an appointment with Jane, and she asked me if I wanted her to check me to see if I was dilated, and how far. I didn't end up having her check me, and honestly I am really glad for my choice. I had class that night, and since I hadn't gone into labor, I was able to attend it. Jane talked with me honestly, and she let me know that if I hadn't had Eliza by the 9th of November, I would have to be induced. I desperately did not want to be induced, because that would completely throw off all of our wants for this labor and delivery. After class, I headed back home, and stayed awake for far too long just chilling out on my phone. I finally went to sleep some time after midnight.