[ Beckett Joy ]

It's been a 3 months since I've shown up on here. So much has changed in our life! The biggest, most awesome change is Bitty Baby McCoy joining our family. She decided to come 2 weeks early and here's her welcome story...

(note: I wrote this with no corrections, no hitting backspace to reword and just let it all come out)

April 7th, I had my weekly appointment to see how things were coming along with Bitty Baby. The doctor let me know that she could come at any time and I should take it easy that day. Not really understanding that not only Bitty Baby could come at any time, but that I'd actually been in pre-labor since Sunday night, I of course did not listen to the wonderful doctor's advice. I went home, made sure my bag was packed and put up my feet for a little while, but then headed up to our church for my last baby shower. Because, that's what most women choose to do when labor could be imminent. In my defence, I did google where I was at with labor symptoms, etc, but Google said that I could be at this stage for a day or for a week. I shouldn't have trusted the Google.

My baby shower was nice, the ladies were very generous and we got some really neat gifts. I was so uncomfortable the entire time. My lower back killed me and I felt like it was 90 degrees in the room. A number of ladies commented on how tan I looked. Why thank you, I was actually just roasting from heat and not knowing that Bitty Baby was a-coming. I said my thank-yous and was chatting with some girlfriends when all of a sudden it happened. They say that your water won't break in public. They say it won't be a gush (sorry for the yuck!). They say these things. But they were not true. Both happened and apparently the look on my face told my girlfriends exactly what had just taken place.

My friends & family kicked in baby-coming-mode. I exited my own shower very quickly with no good-byes, as my mother-in-law grabbed the car to drive me home. I had made at least 2 good decisions since finding out that baby could come at anytime. 1.) I arranged for my mother-in-law to drive me to the shower. 2.) I arranged with the Hubs that if I called for any reason at all, at any time, that meant I would be in labor. As the car was being pulled up, I called the Hubs. The tone in his voice when he answered knew that this was "Go Time."

At home, the Hubs rushed around, throwing things into his bag which was not at all packed. We loaded up our truck and headed to hospital. I am so thankful that my husband works in a high stress job and has the calm demeanour to remember to call the hospital and let them know that we were coming. On the way to the hospital, my contractions started getting closer together (6-7 minutes) and their intensity was ramping up a little bit. We checked in, went to triage and got checked me out. Yes, I was have contractions. Yes, my water actually broke. Yes, I was dilated to 3.5 cm, 0.5 more than my appointment earlier in the day. Yes, we were going to have this baby.

We were moved to the delivery room and got settled in. Contractions were still coming on strong and I was continue to progress at a good pace. The nurse checked me and I had already progressed to 4cm. My back labor was the most painful part at this point. I had wanted to see how long I could go without drugs. At this point, it had been almost 24 hours since my back labor had started. I hadn't know that's why my back had been hurting the night before. I opted for an epidural and it was wonderful. I could still feel the pressure when I had a contraction, but it was manageable. The nurse recommended I try to sleep for a bit since it was about 11pm and we were in for a potentially long night.

Around 1am, the pain and pressure began to intensify again. I asked Hubs to get the nurse. She checked me again to see how things were progressing. I had dilated to a 10 just two hours! She decided that it was time to begin getting ready for the arrival of Bitty Baby. The room began to change as they pulled out the warming bed for her, the surgical stuff for the doctor and all of the others things that they needed. The nurse told me that it was time to start pushing. Bitty Baby coming 2 weeks early and being my first baby, I had no idea what was going to come next. Mentally, I was not prepared. The first hour of pushing did not go well. I was frustrated and tired. My nurse and Hubs were both amazing, supportive and encouraging the entire time. I am so thankful for a veteran nurse who had been delivering babies for longer than I've been alive. She was incredible and an absolutely God-send. The second hour, I was so tired that I began falling asleep between contractions. I would push for 30-45 seconds, sleep for 2-5 minutes and continued for an hour. Around 2:45am, the doctor came in and told me that she was coming. I was going to get to meet my baby. My sweet baby girl that I'd been waiting to meet for 8.5 months.

The last couple of pushes were awful. But totally worth it. Baby girl came out and started screaming right away. She was put on my chest and as soon as I started talking to her, she began to calm down right away. She weighed 6lbs, 14 oz. and was 18 inches long- a perfectly beautiful baby. She was 100% healthy!


Welcome to the world Bitty Baby Beckett! 
I am so happy to be your mum and love you! 




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