Dave & Alisha: Jade's Birth Story

Alisha says: She's here! She's here! It's crazy how you wait and wait to meet your baby. There is so much uncertainty of when the baby will come and how labor would go and at times I felt like she was never going to come but she did and now it is all a great memory and we are so in love with our new baby daughter, Jade.
On Tuesday January 30th I had a doctors appointment. It was pretty standard business and I knew the routine as I had been having weekly visits for the past four weeks. I was 39 weeks +2 days pregnant and still only dilated to a 2 (I was a 2 at my 36 week apt.). The baby was fine and measuring average size but I was ready to meet our little girl so I had Dr. Beck sweep my membranes to see if that would help bring on labor. I left feeling fine and continued on my way. I was up in the night feeling a little crampy but mostly just uncomfortable from being pregnant.
Wednesday started off as usual. I slept in a little and Dave ended up working from home just in case anything was going to happen. Skye was being a bit wild and needed to get out of the house so I texted my friend and we met up with her and her little girl at the park. We stayed until a little after 11:00 and I was still feeling a bit crampy but nothing too bad. We went home and as I was getting lunch ready I started having a few stronger contractions. Around noon I was having fairly regular contractions about 10 minutes apart so I called my mom and had her head our way. In the meantime we put Skye down for a nap, I took a shower, finished packing the hospital bag, got ready, and then laid down for a little rest. I started timing my contractions again and they were around 7 minutes apart. I even went 15 minutes without one so I thought it might be false labor. My mom arrived around 2:00 pm and so I got up and started moving around again and the contractions started coming fast and hard. I stopped timing them but it felt like they were one right after the other. We headed to the hospital and arrived around 2:30 pm. We walked into the lobby and went to check in. The receptionist was already helping someone and even though Dave told her I was having close contractions she told us to have a seat in the lobby and she would get us when it was our turn. There was a number of other people in the lobby and as we would come to find out that the maternity ward was very busy that day. I made my way to a couch but couldn't even sit and ended up kneeling crouched over in front of the couch as I struggled to breath, stay quiet and not make a scene it the lobby. The contractions were crazy intense now and really close together. After a while Dave went and talked to the receptionist again and finally she came out and talked to us and realized that I needed a room or I might have this baby in the lobby. She said that they didn't have a room but were working on it. So finally after 20 plus minutes in the lobby I bypassed the actual registration desk, triage, and went straight to a delivery room. It was just after 3:00 when I got in the delivery room, the nurse asked me what I wanted to do about pain management and at this point I wanted an epidural. I got changed and in the bed asked the nurse how realistic it was that I would have time to get and epidural and she said, not really. I was checked and was already dilated to a nine and the anesthesiologist was in the operating room so I was going to have this baby the good old fashioned way. I panicked a little but soon Dr. Beck arrived and I was ready to push. The baby was head down but face up and the doctor wanted to try and flip her over and that was painful. I don't really know if he was able to flip her or if I delivered her face up but the next thing I knew I was pushing. On my very first push I was still fighting the pain but I just told myself to give in to the pain and just do it. So after 2 contractions our sweet baby Jade Mae Welsh was born at 3:27 pm, weighting 6 pounds 13 ounces and 20 inches long. She was so beautiful with a lot of dark brown hair and long fingers. I couldn't believe that she was here, how fast it happened, and that I did it without pain medication. I always wanted to go natural but I didn't know if I would be able to do it so in the end I was glad that I didn't have the option of an epidural. I was amazed and proud that my body had created this little baby and then delivered her into the world. It was a very empowering moment.

We recovered for a few hours in the delivery room where I got to breastfeed and bond with Jade before I was moved to my recovery room. I ordered some dinner and then Dave and I snuggled with our new daughter. Her first visitor was my mom, the next day her great grandparents Ivan and Venice came to visit and then Dave's parents also came back early from their vacation to see her. The hospital was still very busy and we were doing great so we just stayed the minimum of 24 hours at the hospital before checking out and bringing Jade home. We arrived home around 5:00 pm and introduced Skye to her new little sister. She was interested and kept saying "baby, baby". Now the real fun begins figuring out how to juggle a newborn and a toddler but right now, my heart couldn't be any fuller.

Welcome Jade Mae Welsh

January 31, 2018 (Wednesday)

Birth Time: 3:27 pm

Weight: 6 pounds 13 ounces

Length: 20 inches