Mallory's Birth Story: June 23, 2012

So, we were all in bed and Nathan was making his way back home from Michigan. I had been having contractions off and on all week but they always tapered off when I went to bed. That night, they started up after I went to bed, waking me up. Previously, my OB had told me to call if I had contractions 7 min. apart or less for more than an hour. I was a scheduled C-section because my hospital does not allow VBAC's so they had planned to just have me go in and do the surgery if I went into labor before my scheduled date on June 26. Nathan got home at about 1:00 in the morning and I warned him that I was having a lot of contractions. He was exhausted from so much traveling so I told him to go to bed and I would wake him if they kept up or got closer together. I used the timer app. on my phone and decided to time the contractions for a little while. At some points, they were only 2 1/2 minutes apart!!! I could breathe through them but they were very uncomfortable. At 2:30, they still hadn't stopped, so I woke Nathan up and we called the doctor. Sadly, my doctor was not on call but Dr. Booker told me to go ahead to the hospital.

When we got there, they checked me and I was only 1 cm dilated. They decided to keep me and monitor my contractions which were still going pretty strong. They offered a shot of Demerol to try to stop the contractions, which made no sense to me considering I was 39+ weeks! I declined and we stayed to play the waiting game. Nathan went back to sleep and I did my best to rest in between contractions. My blood pressure was going up, which made me feel yucky.

By the time the doctor came to check on me, it was 8:30 in the morning! I had dilated a little more but not much and we all decided it was best to go ahead and do the C section. My mom brought the kids up to the hospital to see me, but most of all because they were so disappointed when they woke up and their Daddy was not there!

A friend of ours came to pick up the kids for the day so that my mom could stay at the hospital. We didn't want the kids to have to wait around and be bored at the hospital so we were very grateful that Alicia did that for us. Before she left, she took our last picture as a family of 4!

Nathan was ready to go!

So, after a quick prep, it was time to go meet Mallory Sue Henry! She was born at 9:50 am, weighed 7lbs 14 ounces, and was 18 1/2 inches long. She had a nose just like her sister, chubby cheeks like her brother, and was so alert and wide-eyed from the start! We fell in love!

Later that evening the kids came to meet their baby sister. They were shy and unsure of me in that hospital bed with all of those wires hooked up, but adored Mallory from the start!

We stayed in the hospital for 2 nights and I was so ready to go home! A C section recovery is not fun but I learned a lot from the last time and felt like it was easier overall. We dressed Mallory in a sweet gown given to us by my friend Katie. It felt so good to be taking our sweet baby home!

What a blessing from God!