Piper's Birth Story

It was on this day 2 years ago at 9:12pm that Piper Jolie entered this world.

My labor started at 1am on Friday, January 31, 2003. It was supposed to be my last day of work before I started my maternity leave as Piper was due On February 4th. She is advanced, however, and that started at birth.

The labor pains were not so bad and not at all consistent, but I was too excited to sleep and I made Jason stay up with me and time each one of the contractions. I decided to wait until my doctor's office opened in the morning and call and see what they wanted me to do. I am sure they went over all of that in the childbirth class that we went to but obviously we didn't pay attention.

8am rolls around and I call the doc's office, but neither him nor the nurse practioner were there so I received advice from the receptionist. She told me to go to the hospital. I said that the contractions still weren't that bad and still inconsistent and that I wanted to stay home for a little while longer and her response was..."Do you want to have this baby at home?" So, we went to the hospital.

When I got to the hospital, they checked me and as I thought, I was only 3cm dilated and the nurse said that I could either stay at the hospital and not eat lunch, or go home and eat and walk around. I opted to go home and so returned.

The labor picked up around 3pm and Jason and my mom started getting emotional with my moaning and screaming and pacing and ...etc...So, Jason decided to finish painting the dollhouse bookcase that he and my brother, Sean had built for Piper's room. I continued to pace and walk and sway...anything to soothe the pain.

My mom and Jason decided it was time to take me back to the hospital around 5:30pm. They hooked me up to the monitors and checked me again. I was only 4cm!! That is when I got discouraged. So, I asked for the epidural. Blood work had to be done, and my doctor came in and broke my water...he said that the epidural can slow down the contraction and he wanted to get them a little bit stronger and closer together. Stronger? You've got to be kidding, right? Those were my thoughts.

Finally, an angel from heaven came into my room...the epidural doctor. I got the epidural around 7pm and an hour later I was fully dilated and feeling the pressure to push. The nurses went into delivery mode and set up the room and brought in the baby warmer. I started to push. At exactly the moment when I was screaming the scream of giving birth, Jason's brother, Noah, knocks on the door to deliver a sleeping bag. Perfect timing, right.

20 hours of labor and 45 minutes of pushing later...Piper Jolie appears and she was the most beautiful thing I have ever seen. She was 7 pounds and 19.5 inches long. I then understood what unconditional love felt like. I would give my life for this tiny bundle of fingers and toes and lips and eyelashes.

I read somewhere that... " To have a child is to forever have your heart living outside of your body," and never was this more true than on the day that I gave birth to my first sweet child.

I love you, Piper. Happy Birthday!