Under His Wings: {The Birth Story Of Ivy Victoria RuBright}

Well it is my honor to introduce to you the sweetest little blessing from above,

Miss Ivy Victoria RuBright!

This is the story of her BIRTHDAY!

On Monday, November 25, 2013 I had my weekly OB appointment. The past three appointments I was told I was dilated 1cm and to my disappointment my doctor told me she didn't think I was even at 1 cm. I was so discouraged to hear that... It brought tears to my eyes. I was 39 weeks and 2 days and wanted to be further along so badly. She asked if I wanted to have my membranes stripped which I said no to, even though she said it might make things progress faster. I wanted things to happen when it was time.

Well the next day, Tuesday the 26th, I started cramping a lot worst than just the regular Braxton Hicks contractions I was use to. These pains were getting consistent, happening about every 3-5 minutes. Around 1 p.m. I lost my mucus plug (which freaked me out at first). I was glad when Richard got home around 2 that afternoon. I was starting to have pains so bad that they put tears in my eyes. I remember I had went to the bathroom at some point and when I got up I had the worst pain on my left lower abdomen I have ever felt. I went in the living room to Richard and got him to massage my back as I sat on the birthing ball. The contractions were still coming pretty regularly and getting painful. I was kinda worried that I was in labor at that point. I called my Mama to see what she thought I should do. She told me to call the Birthing Center just in case so I did at around 10 p.m. and I talked to a nurse that said I am probably in the early stages of labor and it's best if I tried to labor as much as I can at home. So I tried my best to get rest that night but with the contractions happening every 5 minutes so I could not go to sleep.

Richard woke up around 5 a.m. Wednesday the 27th to get ready for work. He was just going to take two guys to work and come back but they ended up not having to go till later so he got to come home real quick. When he got home I was almost in tears. I was in pain. I had also went to the bathroom again and noticed more 'bloody show' along with some other fluids that I wasn't use to. I had a gut feeling that it might be my amniotic fluid leaking. That is when I started getting nervous. I knew if it was a leak then I needed to get checked. I called the clinic again and they told me to come in and just get checked out just to be safe. So we got the last few things we needed to pack and we were on our way to the clinic. On the way there I just remember thinking this could be the last time I leave my house without a baby. I could be a mom SOON!

By 5:30 we were at the clinic and getting check out. They said I was 3-4 cm dilated and didn't think I had any kind of leak but they took a sample just to check it out. Well after waiting for what seemed like forever, the nurse came back and said my water was leaking and that is when they admitted me. Around 9:35 a.m. the doctor came in and broke my water. That was a weird feeling for sure. After that contractions came really fast and really hard. About noon they came and checked me again and I was already at 5 cm dilated and they asked if I wanted the epidural and I said I could wait a little longer. Well I waited till around 1 and the nurse checked me again and said I was at 10 cm! I was shocked! I was like 'Are you sure?' So when the doctor checked me I was at 8 cm. That was a relief because I knew if I had gone any further I couldn't get an epidural. Well when the anesthesiologist came in to do the epidural I was in tears. I was ready for relief. He had put it in and I waited for the numbness to take affect and that never came. He asked me if I still felt my legs and I told him yes and he said "oh boy." He told me that he was gonna have to take it out and do another one. I was so sad that I would have to stand that pain a little longer but it happened. After he got the epidural in we waited and about 15 minutes and I could feel my legs going numb. I was one happy pregnant lady in labor! Oh I forgot to mention that they made Richard leave the room for the epidural so for about an hour I wasn't with him and that hour was the worst hour of the whole experience. Richard never saw me in real pain.

After everything went numb I could relax for a while. After a little bit my doctor checked me again and I was at 10 cm and could have started pushing but she said I should wait a little while and enjoy the epidural so that is what I did.

When I was ready to push I did for about two and a half hours. It was hard to push though because I couldn't feel a thing. I wasn't making any progress so they turned down the medicine so I could feel the pressure of my contractions and then I could finally feel where to push. Richard was a great coach even though he tried making me push for more than the ten seconds... Ha! The pushing was exhausting. I got to where I couldn't breathe because Ivy's feet where still high into my ribcage and every time I would curl my head to push through a contraction I felt like my lungs where being squished. After hyperventilating they finally decided to give me another kind of drug to numb the top of my uterus so I couldn't feel her pushing and I was finally able to push again. I remember them saying they could see her head and that just gave me the biggest desire to push through all the pressure I felt. I wanted to see my daughter. I was tired of waiting. I had been waiting for her for what seemed like 10 years. She came into this world at 7:23 p.m. She weighed 8 pounds and 1 ounce and she was 20.5 inches long. My doctor told me that she thought Ivy was going to about 6-6.5 pounds.... When she delivered her she instantly said "I am so wrong". That she was!

They placed Ivy right on my chest. Her cry was the sweetest little cry I have ever heard in my life. I asked for the cutting of her umbilical cord to be delayed so after about 2 minutes Richard got to cut the cord. The nurses cleaned her off while she was laying on me. After about 30 minutes they took her over to her table and got measured and weighed. Richard got to help with her first little bath. I loved seeing how excited he was and anxious to hold his little girl. He had waited a long time for her too. We were finally a family of 4. (Ellie included of course!) I am so blessed to have had such an awesome pregnancy experience and labor and delivery story. The Lord made her perfect in every way. She is my everything. Richard and I are so thankful to be her Mommy and Daddy.