Isobel's Birth Story

Isobel's due date was November 28- Thanksgiving day. I was hoping she would come a few days early so I would have most of this week to recover before going back to classes. To my surprise she actually came almost a whole week late. I had my doctor appointment on Tuesday, Dec. 3 around 4PM. My doctor told me I was already at a 5. I thought "wow, 5 cm already?" I had no contractions or any signs of labor all day. We decided to go home and get some rest. If she wasn't here by morning (7:00 to be exact) we were going to go to the hospital and have my doctor break my water.

We went home, called our parents to tell them the news, and then had dinner around 6PM. It was during this time that I began to feel my contractions. They were about 1 minute every half hour or so. We got Xavier all bathed and ready for bed and took him over to our friend Margo's house. We did this so we wouldn't have to wake him in the middle of the night if we had to go in to the hospital. By this time Drake's family and my mom were all on their way down.

I could feel my contractions getting stronger as the evening went on, so at 10PM I decided it was time to try to sleep. I tossed and turned all night, going in and out of sleep. I don't know if it was because of the contractions or because I was excited to finally be meeting my daughter soon. Either way I didn't get much sleep that night. My mom arrived at our house sometime in the middle of the night and went to bed. At 2:30AM I woke up Drake and my mom and told them it was time to go. At this point my contractions were pretty strong and pretty close together. I didn't time it exactly but they were happening every few steps I took.

We were all checked into the hospital room by 2:45. The rest is a little blurry. I remember the nurse asking me a lot of questions. Some I answered myself, the others were answered by my mom and husband. It was hard to think/ talk through the contractions. The doctor came in and was washing her hands right as my water broke. She told me it was time to push. I don't know how long I pushed for, but I know it wasn't very long. At 3:55AM Isobel joined us. I got to hold her right away while they cleaned her and Drake cut the cord. I was able to breastfeed right away. She latched much easier than Xavier did! She came down so quickly that she got bruises around her nose, poor thing!

My mom, and Drake's family were able to visit Isobel in the hospital. My dad and siblings didn't come down until the weekend because of work and school. Xavier couldn't come visit either because of the hospital's policy- no person under age 12 could be in the room during flu season. Drake and I went 2 days without seeing Xavier. This was hard for me to handle! I did get to talk to him on the phone a few times which helped a little.