Adalyn Grace - Birth Story - Born September 11, 2014

Adalyn Grace Horan was born at 6:52PM on September 11, 2014 weighing 7 pounds, 14 ounces

and was 21.5 inches long. Here is the birth story of our little miracle...

September 10th came. Jimmy and I both took the day off work to prepare ourselves for the arrival of our beautiful daughter. We spent the day getting some last minute errands taken care of and took a walk with our doggies...the last walk as a family of four. I was pretty anxious all day which I know Jimmy picked up on. He did a good job distracting me as much as possible. We were told to call at 5:00PM to make sure a bed was available at Maple Grove Hospital for 6:00PM check in. I called a little early (typical of me... always early) and they said a bed was available but to check in at 7:00PM (or was it 8:00?? I can't remember specifically now). So the time ticked by and it finally was time to leave the house. We went out on our patio to let the dogs out and that's when I started to cry. Emotions were flooding over me. The last time with just us at our house...Jimmy hugged me and reassured me it was going to be okay. After saying goodbye to the doggies, we were out the door on the way to the hospital. While driving there, Jimmy took a wrong turn and took me to McDonald's for a vanilla cone first. :) He is seriously the best husband ever. I laughed and cried when we pulled through the drive thru. I ate it through tears driving all the way to the hospital.

Once we arrived and checked in I felt much more at peace. The anticipation seemed to be the driving factor being my anxiety. They admitted us to our room and I was put in a gown and asked a hundred questions that took over an hour. Once that was finished they gave me the pill at 9:00PM to ripen my cervix. The plan was to give me 1/4 of the pill every 4 hours through the night and monitor the baby and how I was doing. The nurse kept coming in to adjust the monitors on my belly so it was impossible to get any sleep. We watched Frozen and Monsters University while we waited it out. The second pill was given at 1:00AM. Again, we watched TV to pass the time. Around 2:00AM the nurse came in to check the monitors on my tummy and that's when my water broke. What a weird sensation!!

After that I spent the next 5 hours in labor with back to back contractions. I tried many different positions to get comfortable - sitting on the ball, getting on all fours, taking a bath, etc. Man, contractions are NO JOKE! I labored from 1cm to 4cm with no drugs and it was beyond painful. I have no clue how women do this without medication. I give them SO MUCH credit!

At 7:00AM I finally asked for the epidural. It was hard to sit still while it was injected as I was having a contraction during it. But I think that helped take my mind off the fact that a giant needle was going in to my back. Yikes. But oh my gosh. Once it was given to me, talk about instant relief! I was finally able to get a little rest and "relax." They started pitocin to bring contractions on faster. From 7:00AM until about 4:00PM I was doing great. I went from being dilated at 4cm to 7cm. 4:00PM my back spasms started. It's hard to explain what it felt like but it was like my entire back was tight and there was nothing I could do to release the muscle spasm and pain. It moved to the front of my chest which felt like my sternum was bruised and being twisted. My amazing nurse literally got in bed with me and gave me a massage to help ease the sensations I was feeling. I began to fear that I wouldn't be able to push as these were the only muscles I really had control over at this point. I could barely turn my head without excruciating pain. 2 more hours went by and 6:00PM came around. My Dr came in to the room with a look on her face that spoke a thousand words... she said that from 2:00PM - 6:00PM (current time) I was not dilating past 7cm. They had tried increasing the pitocin to help contractions move along but it was making baby girl's heart drop so they weren't comfortable doing that any longer. She explained I could wait a few more hours to see if I could get to 10cm on my own but that baby was under a lot of stress and that "it might not end well." That was all I needed to hear. She recommended that we do a C-section. After giving me and Jimmy a minute to discuss it, we decided it was the best solution. And then came the flood of emotion and tears. I was extremely tired, overwhelmed, disappointed, anxious and excited to know that I would meet my daughter shortly.

Once we told our Dr we decided to do the C-section it was like time flew by! Instantly there were about 5 nurses in the room who stripped me out of my robe and in to my surgery gown. The anesthesiologist was back and gave me a stronger medication to completely numb my lower body. And before I knew it I was in the operating room. Honestly it probably was 2 minutes tops!

Once we got in the room I was prepped for surgery and as sheet was put below my neck so I didn't see what was being done. I waited for Jimmy to get his surgical clothes on and quietly asked the anesthesiologist to make sure he wouldn't faint. Jimmy tells me he was not even near fainting and that he loved watching the whole procedure.

Jimmy came in the room and stood to my right and held my hand. About 8 minutes later I heard the cry of my baby girl.  I looked up at Jimmy's face watching his reaction to seeing our baby girl for the first time and could see the pure joy and love as tears fell down his cheeks. I was able to see her next and it was truly love at first site.

For the next hour I was stitched back together. I began to feel some sensation in my left side so they gave some extremely strong drugs in my IV. Once I was brought to the recovery room they gave me and Jimmy alone time to meet our daughter. Holding her for the first time was incredible. The feeling was surreal. This perfect beautiful angel was inside me. This is my daughter. Wow.

The rest of our hospital stay was filled with family and friends visiting and meeting our baby girl. It went by quick and 3 days later we were released from the hospital to start our new adventure!

In a short two weeks our lives has completely changed. For instance it has taken me 10 hours to write this blog post, LOL. Adalyn has been the most amazing miracle we could have ever prayed for. God has blessed us so much and she is absolutely perfect!!! Being a mom has been a huge adjustment for me. I have learned a lot in a short time about patience and sacrifice. And mostly about love. Unconditional love. A love like I have never known before.

Thanks to everyone who has prayed for me, Jimmy and Adalyn... at any stage. From our infertility, to our pregnancy, to our labor, and now. We appreciate all the love and support!

Now I will flood you with pictures to "oooh" and "aaaah" over. :)

Love,
Kristin