Mercy's Birth Story

So my fourth daughter was born in August during the Jubilee year of mercy so for blogging purposes, I will call her Mercy. Here is her birth story!

I was 39 weeks pregnant and I started having sharp pain in my right, lower abdomen. I tried walking, lying down, an ice pack, a warm wash cloth, stretching on my hands and knees and it wouldn't go away. I called the doctor and they recommended continuing to try all of the above listed things, and then when none of them worked they concluded that *maybe* it might be my appendix, and *maybe* I should get checked out. Since it was a Friday night, Ron and I headed to the ER. I knew I wasn't in labor but I was in SO MUCH PAIN. I couldn't even walk without stopping every few feet to recover. We left in somewhat of a panic and discussed what we would do if I needed to have emergency surgery or something and how to put the baby first, etc. Also, my life plan for my children in case I died. Always good conversations to have at the end of a pregnancy. We got to the ER and they took me back to labor and delivery. They did blood work and confirmed that I didn't have an infection anywhere. They monitored Mercy and she was doing great. They sent me for an ultrasound but could not find my appendix because my uterus was so big. So they basically just shrugged and said it was probably gas. GAS!?!?! Holy humility. It was so painful. But since the baby was okay and they couldn't find an infection they sent me home in the middle of the night while I still could not walk because of the pain. By noon the next day I felt mostly better. What a thing.

So then, it was the end of July and August and I was SO SWOLLEN! When was this baby going to be born?!?! On my due date, I scheduled an induction for the following week. I would be 41 weeks and didn't want to go past that date for many reasons. I hoped she would be born before I had to be induced but if not, so be it. I was scheduled to be induced on a Friday morning at 7am. Thursday night, still NOTHING! My sister came over and we walked for hours around the neighborhood. Nothing. I resigned myself to being induced on Friday morning and went to bed. We were all packed, Meg slept over so we could leave bright and early and hopefully beat the morning traffic. Around 2 am, a contraction woke me up! Hooray! Hooray! Hooray! I proceeded to move to the couch with my phone to mostly sleep through contractions. I was in labor and still mostly sleeping! More happiness. Around 6 am Ron checked on me. Of course, I wasn't really paying any attention to the timing of the contractions because I was dozing but they were pretty close and pretty long so I took a quick shower and we left around 6:30 am. I think he LOVES my contraction monitoring abilities, haha.

We got to the hospital at 7 am on Friday, the same time I was scheduled to be induced but they didn't have to induce me because I was in labor. It was wonderful. My contractions were strong. I insisted that I wanted to blow dry my hair because pictures and vanity and things like that. And then we watched the Olympics while I breathed through contractions. Ron had asked for an epidural on my behalf as soon as we arrived at the hospital, because he knows me and we have done this before.  I had to receive a certain amount of fluids before I could get the epidural so there was quite a delay. When I had to get the penicillin this time, I asked the nurse to run it with saline so it wasn't painful. The epidural went fine. Of course, I felt much more peaceful once I had it. I had not progressed much before I got it but once it was in around 11:45 am, things sped up and by 12:45 pm I had progressed from 2.5 cm to 10 cm and it was time to push. I was super shaky and nauseous and overheating and made Ron fan me with a folder so that I would not throw up. But then I turned a corner and my doctor coached me through the most peaceful birth I have had thus far and I got to meet my little Mercy!!!

So much joy!!! So many blessings! What a delight she is! Her birth was uneventful in all the right ways and amazing in all the right ways. Her sisters were THRILLED to meet her, and Ron and I were overjoyed to have a fourth daughter. God is so good.