Our little Hannah has arrived! She was born March 22, 2011 at 12:06 PM. Even at birth Hannah seems determined to prove doctors wrong. All during March at my doctor's appointments I hadn't dilated and was only about 50% effaced. On March 21 I had been having contractions all day but they weren't very regular and nothing really all that new. We had our weekly doctor's appointment at 4:30 that afternoon and I started to have some contractions in the waiting room and also with the doctor. During my pelvic exam I was still not dilated at all and still only 50% effaced. My doctor thought that her head felt lumpy (not what a nearly 10 month pregnant mom wants to hear) so he decided to do an ultrasound to make sure that it was her lumpy head he was feeling and she was not breach. Sure enough she was head down. He noted that the placenta was starting to look a little old and didn't want me to past the weekend. We started to talk about the possibility that my funky reproductive system might not be capable of dilating so we started to make plans of having a scheduled C-section the next weekend if she did not decide to come before then. We left the office pretty excited that we had an end date and we were going to have little Hannah by the weekend.
We were having dinner at BJ's parent's house and during dinner my contractions that started at the Doctor's office were still coming pretty regular. I told BJ that maybe he should at least practice timing these contractions. The contractions were coming pretty consistently at 3 min apart. After an hour and a half of the contractions coming at 3 minutes apart we decided that we should probably at least get checked out at the hospital even though we were pretty convinced that they would just send us home.
In triage when the nurse checked me I had dilated to almost a 1, so we knew that at least I was making some progress because a few hours I wasn't dilated at all. An hour later I was dilated to a 1 and ½ so they called the doctor and decided to admit me. I had decided about the time that we found out that we were pregnant that with all of the many possible complications with my labor that I was definitely going to have an epidural. Our anesthesiologist suggested that I get the epidural sooner than later because contrary to popular belief there wasn't a time limit that I could have it placed and it was easier to place when I wasn't in a lot of pain. By that point it was about 11:00 pm and decided to have it done so that we could all try to get some sleep before the big moment.
With all of the controversy about epidurals I became completely converted to them after mine was placed. I don't think I really could appreciate how uncomfortable my lower half was until I couldn't really feel it anymore. I was completely relaxed and felt better than I had in 9 months. I was able to sleep for at least several hours during labor. I continued to progress throughout the night and by about 10am was completely dilated. There was a bit of a problem though, both of my cervixes (or is it cervi if you have 2?) had dilated and it looked like Hannah was coming right down the middle. The nurse wanted to wait for the doctor to arrive before I started pushing. Normally when a woman has 2 cervixes only one will dilate and when the baby is delivered the other one will push out of the way. The doctor took longer than he thought to get there so about 11am the nurse checked again and with my natural contractions during that time Hannah started to go down one cervix and the other cervix started to be pushed to the side. She had me start pushing just to see what would happen and Hannah continued to come down the way that we all wanted her too. After about 20 minutes of pushing our doctor arrived and he agreed that everything was going just how we had hoped.
About ½ way though pushing my vaginal septum was getting in the way and my doctor decided to just remove it. Just so you can get the mental image here (if you really want to) there I was in the middle of pushing with my legs in stirrups while the doctor is cutting away flesh and stitching me up when BJ got a call on his cell phone. Of course normally he would not even consider answering the call in a situation like that but it was our nanny and she never calls. He handed the phone to his mom who after talking to her for a few minutes handed it back to BJ and said you better talk to Miranda. Apparently Sam had accidentally eaten some banana bread which had a walnut in it of which he is highly allergic too. Sam was having a major allergy attack and Miranda needed to know if she should use the epi-pen. Are you freaking kidding me? We couldn't believe that we got the call at that exact moment. We had a bunch of extra nurses in with us just in case I had to be rushed into surgery if something went really wrong during delivery (and probably for educational purposes as well, it's not every day that someone with my anatomy comes around) so they were all telling BJ was he needed to have Miranda do. He got the epi-pen by the way and was just fine. The doctor said that he couldn't believe that I was so calm under that ordeal, but really what in the world was I supposed to do? I was truly in a situation that there was NOTHING that I could do so just had to accept that Sam was going to be just fine without me 'cause Mommy was a little busy.
After they removed the septum Hannah came pretty quickly. With all said and done I had only pushed for about an hour and that included my little mini surgery during it. Against all odds she came out perfectly. She was even a pretty big baby at 8lbs 10 oz and 21 inches long. I have to say that pregnancy was so hard and I was so sick though out it that the delivery was probably the easiest part of pregnancy. Until the last week I threw up on an average of 2 to 3 times a week though the whole thing including twice while in labor. Everyone assured me that as soon as I delivered I would feel so much better. It is a little hard to believe when throwing up becomes a way of life, but it was true. The nurses pulled BJ aside and gave him the assignment of making sure that I started eating and getting enough calories. They ordered lunch for me before I left the delivery room and I'm not sure if food ever tasted so good. I was just shoveling it into my mouth, and now my appetite is back with a vengeance. It is so wonderful to enjoy food again.
We are feeling so incredibly blessed that our Hannah is here. She is truly a miracle from the fact that she was conceived against all odds and that I was able to carry her full term to her miraculous delivery. After it was over my doctor told me that my delivery was truly a miracle. When we were in his office the day before he had mentally only given my about a 10% chance of delivering vaginally, not even he expected the delivery to happen so smoothly. Our little Hannah is just such a little angel baby. She has such a sweet disposition. Only parents can truly appreciate the fact that since we brought her home she only wakes up about one time a night. Heavenly Father knew what we needed and we feel so blessed to have our 3 wonderful children. Each is such a miracle to us. We feel so humbled to be the recipients of such incredible blessings.
PS. Hannah has a perfectly round head with not even one little lump on it.
Here is my front view. You can't quite tell how big I am until... 
I turn to the side and POP, I am much wider sideways than I front facing. 
And there you have it, me at 37 weeks pregnant. Only 3 more weeks to go. Ugh. 
