Carolina's Birth Story

I wasn’t sure if I was going to share our birth story our not but, what the heck!

I must warn you if you don’t wish to read about child birth and all that comes with it I would stop reading now. Thank you!

At 40 weeks and 2 days I thought that the birth of our second child was never going to happen. I was in pain most of the time. I was having irregular contractions all day long and I had pulled one of my abdominal muscles so every time she moved in my belly I thought my stomach was going to rip open. On top of the anticipation of child birth I was seriously worried about what was going to happen with Aurora, our three year old daughter. Since we live 2,000 miles away from where my husband and I both grew up, I didn’t know what was going to happen. I thought that I could go through delivery without Marc, my husband, but as time grew closer I knew I really wanted and needed him to be there.


At 3:00am on Saturday August 20th I didn’t have to think about it for much longer. My water broke while I was sleeping. I woke Marc up and we wrangled the dog into his crate and dragged Aurora out of bed. By the time we got to the hospital, which is only about 10 minutes from our apartment, I was having regular contractions. They took me back into the “holding area” (that’s just what I’m calling it) to monitor me and see how far a long I was. Kids aren’t allowed back in that area so Aurora and Marc had to stay in the waiting room. I was panicking a little about Aurora. What should we do? Where should she go? When I couldn’t find my cell phone and then couldn’t reach my husband on his the nurses were kind enough to bring him back for me. Little Aurora started crying when she saw me. I felt terrible. I was in a decent amount of pain at that point and I know it probably scared her a little. Marc took her home for a while and I cried as they left. The sweetest nurse came in and talked me down. It was going to be worth it and everyone was going to be okay.


When Marc got back home he got in touch with one of our neighbors and good friends. Becky has a son that Aurora loves to play with and I have to say I am so thankful for them both. Becky was willing to watch Aurora so that Marc could come to the hospital and be with me. If you know anything about my daughter at all you’ll know she is extremely shy and picking about whom she spends time with. Marc was able to take Aurora over to their house and leave, no problem. Becky was seriously a God send for us. I’m so grateful for her friendship.


By this time I had been moved into a delivery room and they were keeping track of my progress. Marc was still at home with dog. We were hoping to get him into his favorite doggie hotel. Piston, our boxer, has horrible separation anxiety and typically barks while he is in his crate. We didn’t want to put him or the neighbors through that. At this point it was okay that Marc wasn’t with me. I was so ready for my epidural and the last time I got one poor Marc nearly past out on one of the nurses. The anesthesiologist was a sweet man. He was like a gentle giant. After he put in my epidural and got me settled he asked if he could pray for me. I choked up. He didn’t even know me and he wanted to pray for me and my baby? I thought it was so nice of him to do. It calmed me down a lot.

Unfortunately, the epidural stopped working not to long after it was put in. This happened when I gave birth to Aurora too. I guess it’s just were my nerves are in my spin that the needle doesn’t hit the right place or something. I kept pushing the little button they gave me but all it was doing was putting my left leg to sleep. Oh well.

By 8:50am I was 8 inches dilated. Marc still wasn’t there. I finally found my phone and texted him to get his butt to the hospital, dog or no dog. He got to the hospital by 9:20am and by 9:40am I was ready to push. They were trying to get anesthesiology back down for me but there wasn’t time. The doctor said it was probably best that I could feel more. She said it would make me a good pusher. I guess she was right. At 9:52am Carolina was born. Marc got to cut the cord and we were both so happy. All the nurses was chuckling and calling her “chubby monkey.” She really was! She was 9 lbs 2 oz and 22 inches long! A far cry from Aurora’s 7 lbs 9 oz. I was in labor with Aurora for almost 13 hours and they had to do an episiotomy. I did tear a little bit but the doctor had no probably sticking me up. I was relieved. It almost didn’t feel real it happened so fast!



The hospital we were at was wonderful. Even though the post partum room was teeny tiny, the staff was great! They were all very kind and helpful. After I got to my room Marc went home to take care of the dog and get Aurora. She was so excited to see her baby sister! I’m so proud of my little princess. She was so sad to leave us in the hospital but I knew she would be much happier at home, in her own bed. Marc told me she was fast asleep by 6:30pm, she had been up since 3:30am! Carolina and I had a nice first night in the hospital together. We really didn’t sleep that much but I was still a little wired from the day and couldn’t sleep myself. The nurses stopped in a talked to me every once and again. I think they felt a little bad that I was there by myself. It was nice to have a few moments peace with my new little girl. Although it was nice to have help in the hospital I was glad to go home within 24 hours of my delivery. All the nurses kept asking if I was sure I wanted to go home, but I was ready, ready to start our new adventure as a bigger family.