Parents: Julie and Steve
Baby: Sierra Liliann Post
Date: March 31, 1998
Time: 5:18 am
Weight: 7 lbs, 13 oz.
Length: 21 1/2 inches
Birth: Hospital birth with help from the Epidural God.
Our perfect little angel arrived at 5:18am on March 31st. She weighed in a 7lb 13oz and is 21 1/2
inches long. I look at her and can't believe that a mere 3 days ago she was inside of me. More on
that later...now onto the birth story.
As I posted on Monday, my contractions started at 20 minutes apart Monday morning as soon as I got out of bed, and progressed throughout the day. I was dialated 3cm at my morning doctors appointment. By the time Steve got home from work at 6pm they varied between 10-15 minutes apart and were getting a lot stronger and lasting longer. I ate some chicken noodle soup about 7pm, then all hell broke loose! By 8:00pm they were 10 minutes apart, then by 9:00pm they were only 5 minutes apart and VERY hard to breathe through. We called the doctor at 9:15 and were off to the hospital shortly after 10:00pm. We had about a 30 minute drive to our hospital, during which time the contractions were only 4 minutes apart and lasting about 90 seconds each...OUCH!!! Got to my room and examined at 11:30pm at which time I was 4cm dialated. The Epidural God arrived shortly after and WOW what a difference! I was fully expecting the epidural to slow things down (from all that I've read on the boards about them) so imagine my suprise at 2:00am when I found out that I was 9cm! At 3:00am I was at 10cm and we got busy pushing soon after.
The first hour was a kind of hap-hazard pushing. I was trying to figure out which muscles to concentrate on since I couldn't feel much and my contractions started to stall out a bit. Finally at 4:30am I decided that this is it...I want this baby out now, no more distractions. We pushed hard until 5:00am then the doctor showed up. He helped me push through only 3 more contractions and her head crowned. At 5:18am she was born. I did not have an episiotomy, but did have a very small tear.
Now the mushy part. Steve was the best husband/coach I could have ever asked for. He helped me and motivated me so much that I could never imagine having done this without him. Watching his face when he saw her being born was the most fulfilling experience of my life. I can only imagine what he was feeling watching his first child come into the world. We both held our perfect little girl and cried our eyes out. She is the ultimate proof of our love and it's so hard to believe that she is real. It's now been almost 3 days since her birth and I still get choked up everytime I look at him holding her in his arms. He can't take his eyes off of her. He left the hospital for a few hours the afternoon of the birth to go home and shower, change the answering machine, etc... While he was out he stopped at a bookstore and bought a beautiful Journal which he has started for our daughter. Someday she will read his words and know how much joy she has brought into her daddy's life.
We're home from the hospital now, and getting ready to experience a whole new way of life around here. When we walked into the house with her today, I couldn't imagine how we ever lived without her in our lives.
Best of luck to all of you with your births. Take the time and enjoy all the wonderful emotions of those around you as I did. We'll all be talking about feedings, diapers, and spit-up in no time!
Love you all!
Julie & Finally Sierra 3/31