Where to start? How do you tell a birth story? We’ve been supremely blessed with a good labor and delivery and a perfectly healthy and beautiful baby girl. So…
First, I’ll tell you what you really want to know. Our precious bundle was born June 3rd at 11:09pm, weighing in at a perfect 6lbs 7ozs – pink and screaming. She was finally given her name, Amelie Dawn Pitt, the morning of June 5th. How we decided on her name will be a different post.
For now, the story…
I had been taking it really easy the preceding weeks trying to avoid going into labor until my dad’s birthday which is June 4th.
On Sunday, June 3rd, two of my brothers and myself decided to take our dad out for a birthday dinner. I had spent the morning doing some light cleaning then spent some of the afternoon hanging out at my dad’s house. In the late afternoon we went to Walmart where he picked up a few things, then we met the boys for dinner.
We had a great time at Mariachi’s in Frederick. There was lots of laughter and great conversation. I asked the staff to put a sombrero on my 56 year old father and sing happy birthday – ha!! He played along nicely.
The food was great. I wasn’t going to eat since in the last trimester I had a horrible case of “evening sickness” whenever I ate after 4pm. But I figured if I woke up vomiting in the wee hours of the morning maybe I’d go into labor and have my baby girl on my dad’s birthday as I’d hoped.
Little did I know in just a few hours I’d be glad I ate dinner because I would need my strength.
After dinner I took my father home. As we turned onto my father’s road I felt a strange, painless *pop* sensation. Uh oh. I didn’t say anything, just drove on. A few seconds later my father made me laugh and I felt a gush between my legs. Too much liquid to be urine, well if it was urine then I had problems I didn’t want to admit. I still didn’t say anything.
As we pulled into my dad’s driveway I decided to go to the bathroom and see what was going on. As soon as I got out of the car and stood up I started trickling. “Dad, I think my water just broke.” You should have seen his face, priceless.
It was right about now that I noticed the water running down my leg was green – not clear or yellow – green. And I got scared. You see, a week earlier, I had tested positive for Group B strep. I had decided to refuse the routine antibiotics during labor for many reasons (which will also be another post) and had been doing homeopathic treatments at home.
But when I saw that green water all I could think was my baby might be in danger – the thought of her fighting group b strep plus a lung infection or worse from the meconium tainted water scared me to death – and all my homeopathic ideals flew out the window. I decided right then to get the antibiotics.
I rushed to my father’s linen closet, grabbed a hand towel (trickling all the way) and went to the restroom. When I sat down there was a big rush of water, but I still trickled, and it was still green. So I shoved the hand towel between my legs, told my dad I was going to the hospital, jumped in the car and left. As my father waved goodbye he smiled and shouted “Wait till midnight!” Hoping he and his granddaughter would share a birthday.
I called my husband while driving home and asked him to grab the hospital bag, be ready to go as soon as I got there (it’s about a 15 minute drive from my house to my father’s) and explained my concern about the green water. I then called the doctor on call and left a message letting her know that my water had broke, it was green and since I was also strep b positive I was coming right into the hospital. She called me back and verified all the info.
I also called my mom – I had promised to call her as soon as anything happened since my labors go so fast. And honestly, I was scared – you know that irrational fear for your child’s life kind of scared? That was me on the inside even though I was calm on the outside. I shared all this with my mom and she prayed with me over the phone. I leaned into that prayer.
Shortly thereafter I arrived home. I kissed Bram goodbye, jumped into the passenger seat and Shane and I were on our way. I snapped this shot on the drive – the last photo of me pregnant with our Amelie.
Want to read the rest? Check out Part 2, Part 3 and The After!
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Image may be NSFW.Clik here to view.
The post Introducing Amelie Dawn – A Birth Story {Part 1} appeared first on Cheryl Pitt.