Cadence Elaine's Birth Story

I have been wanting to get Cadee's birth story typed up before too much time went by and I forgot the details, but things have just been busy! This post may be long. So here we go!

Our due date was June 1st, 2012, and if you ask anyone who was around me the month before delivery I was determined our baby would arrive on that Friday because that's when I had 'baby due' in my calendar. Don't get me wrong, I'm not usually that crazy when it comes to things not going as I plan, however, with Daniel's military schedule in May and June and my sister's wedding & activities, our due date was the perfect day to have a baby. 


Daniel was in Indianapolis for a 5 day jaunt over Memorial Day weekend and had gone down Thursday evening and was planning on coming home Monday night. Saturday morning I woke up to my mom calling, here I had slept 12 straight hours, only getting up to pee a few times, but going back to a very deep sleep. I know now that my body knew what was going to happen and that I needed that rest but it was totally a God-thing that the dogs didn't wake me up to go outside or to be fed. Anyhow, my mom calls and says dad went to work at Menards already that morning but locked his keys in his car while it was still running and we needed to go over and unlock and turn it off. I was ready fairly quickly and we headed to Goshen. I had wanted to go to the Once Upon A Child store anyway to look for a changing table pad and mom wanted to get some flowers to plant around the house so we decided to make a day of it. 


We rescued dad's running car and returned his keys to him before heading in to the garden center. I had my wobble on, but even that day, I was able to zip and button my regular pre-pregnancy pants. This fact just drove me bonkers because even though I was visibly pregnant I could wear my regular clothes throughout the pregnancy. Guess that was the only benefit to having gained only 1.5 pounds during the last 39 weeks. Inside Menards dad introduced me to some coworkers and mom and I picked out some pretty flowers and a solar garden globe and 10 cases of bottled water to use at Christy's wedding. On our way to the other side of town, I convinced mom to stop at The Chief for ice cream cones. Can you believe she had never had it before! I cured that right quick with a heaping scoop of butter pecan in a waffle cone and blue moon for me. We ate was we headed to Once Upon A Child. I found a pair of maternity capris to wear and a new shirt as well as the changing table pad I was seeking. Mom spotted a great glider chair for only $60 and with my coupon would only be $47. I snatched that up right away but the highlight was trying to get it in mom's car. Upon completing the challenge mom turns to me and says, "Now we have everything, you can have the baby now..." 


As we were headed home I told mom I felt like I needed to pass gas but then I'd feel better for awhile before having the same feeling again a bit later. Mom wanted to head to Plymouth to visit my Grandma and she suggested I go home and take a nap and she'd come over when she got back to town. I did as she said and slept fitfully waking up to the same bloated feeling. Noticing it was like every 15 minutes when I looked at the clock I told myself, can't be early contractions, it's not my due date and Daniel isn't home. I got myself out of bed and showered and packed a bag just in case. I let the dogs out and picked up around the house, then called mom and explained to her that the gassy feeling was like every 13 minutes now. She said she's leave Plymouth and head my way.

I called Daniel to tell him I thought I was having contractions and mom was taking me to get checked. Because it was Saturday, I called the Anglemeyer Clinic and had them page the doctor on call. About 25 minutes later Dr. Schlorke called back and said to come on over to IU Goshen Hospital and he'd see how I was doing. Within the 17 minute ride there my contractions got more frequent and started getting painful. Nearly every 6-7 minutes. I was admitted and given direction to change and the doctor would come check my progress. After confirming that I was indeed in labor, mom called and told Daniel to come home asap. It was 6pm and I was already dilating. I knew I wanted an epidural so they got my IV ready, as I needed that before they would give me the relief I was seeking. It took several tries and eventually they called the Anesthesiologist up to try and get my IV in. The epidural also was difficult, it took them nearly a half hour to get it done, but the relief has wonderful afterwards. Christy had arrived and was with my mom and I was able to have decent conversation while the doctors came and went. I was progressing quickly but my water still hadn't broken, but they told me we could wait until Daniel got to the hospital. He finally arrived at 10pm and I was 9cm. The doctor went ahead and broke my water and kept checking me. At 9.5cm a nurse checked me and Daniel noticed she seemed unsure of something. She left the room and a doctor came to check me. Then we got the news. Sometime between my appointment on Tuesday morning and today our baby wasn't face down anymore. Here the baby was butt down with the feet up by the head. Every time I was checked before the doctors broke my water they thought they were feeling the head coming down the birth canal but after my water was broken the nurse could tell it was butt cheeks instead. Before midnight I was taken down the hall to the operating room for a c-section. It all happened so fast I really remember was them telling me I couldn't push anymore, that it was make the baby go farther down the birth canal in the breech position. Daniel was able to be with me in the operating room, but I could feel everything and the epidural couldn't hide the fact that I could feel the capris cutting my lower stomach, I could feel the doctors hands and the stretchy of my skin and muscles and I started to panic. That's when they decided I should be put under and wouldn't be awake for the moment my baby was born. The mask was over my mouth and nose so quickly I don't remember Daniel even being asked to leave. Several hours later nearly 4am I started to wake up a bit but I knew I needed to throw up. Daniel was right there, taking care of me as I dozed in and out of sleep. I must have been somewhat alert because when they asked me if i wanted to hold my baby I somehow knew she was a girl before they even told me. As if I heard them tell Daniel or something. My sweet baby girl, my little Cadence Elaine was sleeping so near me I could hear her. She had on a little knit hat and was wrapped so tightly she looked peaceful in a dream, so tired from her journey to meet mom and dad. -Mommy Maggie