Della Grace Bishop - Birth Story

                                                   Della Grace Bishop • 7/2/17 • 7:43 pm

I've been thinking for a while about writing a blog, and like most new parents I also want to document the life of this little creature that we've created. I figure the best way to do that would be a blog, and this way, family and friends can follow our journey and all the fun things we do. I expect this to be an outlet to write about the craziness that is our lives, the trips we take, the crafts I make and everything in between.

For this first post I'll start off by introducing you to the newest addition to the Bishop tribe, and that is Miss Della!

They say you forget a lot of the craziness that comes with birthing a child (luckily so or else we'd all just end up with one...), so I made sure to write out our birth story within a week of being home with our little one. So here it is, the story of Della Grace Bishop. It's a pretty long one, so hang in there, and I'm sure future posts won't be this long...

Pregnancy

8 week ultrasound

We found out we were pregnant on October 26, 2016 and were ecstatic! We told our immediate family November 17, 2016 when I did our family Christmas card photos and they were overjoyed as well! We told the rest of the family at on Christmas Eve, and posted to social media on New Years Day. Our due day was July 4, 2017.

I had a wonderful pregnancy, no morning sickness and felt great the entire time. I was diagnosed with gestational diabetes at 11 weeks, so we changed our diet to a low sugar; low carb diet and I lost 15 pounds in the first few months! Changing our diet really made a difference in how I felt and how my pregnancy went. 

Labor

Thursday, June 29th - I had some back pain while we were sitting on the couch, and I told Daniel I thought that may be the beginning… 

Friday, June 30th - I got up and felt fine, so I went into work to finish up things in case I went into labor that weekend.. I meant to leave early, around 2, but ended up staying till about 3:30.  I felt fine the whole day, jut a few Braxton hicks scattered throughout the day. 

Saturday, July 1st - We got up around 8 am and headed into town to eat breakfast at Cracker Barrel. I was having sporadic contractions that got my attention... After that we went to Lowe's to pick up a few things and just walk around.  We came home and did my 39 week photo on the porch, then changed clothes and headed to mama and daddy’s to cookout and lounge in the pool. I just had a few contractions, not in any kind of pattern, but they were beginning to get a bit uncomfortable.  We left their house at 10 pm because I was beginning to have some back pain and really feel the contractions, so I wanted to go home to deal with them. They were strong enough that I was cringing when they came. 

We got home and the contractions continued to get stronger and more regular. We didn’t get much sleep, as they were coming pretty close together, but not lasting long. Around 2 am the contractions were getting consistent at about 5 minutes apart, lasting 1 minute for 1 hour. This is what we were going by as to when to go to the hospital…  I called Josh at 3:30 am and told him we would be heading to the hospital soon!

The first trip to the hospital at 4 am...

We left the house around 3:20 am and arrived at the hospital at 4:00 am. There was a wheelchair out front, so we grabbed that for me. We went to Labor and Delivery on the 4th floor and checked in. They hooked me up to the monitors for an hour to see what my contractions were doing, and checked my cervix. I was at 2.5 cm, and 90% effaced. I was still having contractions about 5-6 minutes apart, but since I was not dilated much after an hour of monitoring, they send me home to labor some more. That was disappointing to say the least… and I had a bit of a breakdown in the parking lot on the way back to the car during a contraction. But, home we went. We stopped by McDonalds and got some breakfast, and headed home. We continued to labor at home as the contractions got stronger and closer together. Daniel was so awesome supporting me and helping me get through each contraction. As they got stronger he blew up the yoga ball so I could get in the shower with it and use the hot water to help with the pain. Then we would lay in bed with a heat pack on my lower back for a while. I was having constant pain in my back, with shooting pain coming around the lower part of my belly with each contraction. Some people say that it just feels like cramping… or like the worst upset stomach you’ve ever had… no, for me it was shooting pain wrapping around my lower abdomen like I’d never felt before, and it was getting intense. I wanted to try getting in the bathtub to help, but it is not finished and our toilet was in it.. so Daniel, bless his heart, get the toilet out, cleaned the tub and filled it with hot water so I could get in it. That helped some, and poor Daniel and Bernie were falling asleep sitting on a stool beside the tub. 

bless them...

Daniel was just amazing, helping me breathe and deal with the pain. I got back in the bed and by now it was around 9:30 am. Mama had called at 9 and I had missed it, so I called her back and asked them to come after church to get Bernie and take her to Angie. When Mama and Daddy got here, mama saw that my contractions had gotten to be about 3.5 to 4 minutes apart and I was crying through some of them, and not able to stand. We decided that we needed to go back to the hospital. I was hoping that my water would break as a signal to go back, since the first time we went we were sent home… I didn’t want to go back just to be send home again! But no water breaking, I told Daniel that I couldn’t do it anymore and wanted to go to the hospital and get some relief. Mama and Daddy left with Bernie and we gathered our stuff to leave. I texted Josh to let him know we were leaving also. Luckily he, Ashley and the kids left at 4:30 am to head this way from Florida so that they could get here to photograph the birth. They were already in town just hanging out waiting on us to head to the hospital. 

I ate a bowl of cereal and grabbed a protein bar to eat on the way because I knew that once we got to the hospital I wouldn’t be able to eat. We headed out, and Daniel reassured me that I only had to get through 10 contractions and we’d be there! (It takes 40 minutes to get to the hospital and contractions were coming 3.5 to 4 minutes apart…) They were strong enough now that when one came my back would not even be touching the seat; I was arching my back so much. But, I was able to breathe through them. We get to the hospital at 12:30 pm, and of course there is no wheelchair out front… so we walk into the lobby and head toward the elevator. There were people around and I had to stop in the middle of the lobby to have a contraction, and an old lady came up to us saying something along the lines of “oh, I know how you feel” and I just hid my face in Daniel’s shoulder and cried so that I wouldn’t punch her in the face… Daniel asked for a wheelchair, and they finally brought one out and we got in the elevator with a few other people (including the lady with the comments, who kept making them…) Josh and Ashley got there at the same time we did, and rode the elevator up with us. We got to L&D and checked in again (“we knew you’d be back soon!” 😒)and got put in room number 1. They got me all hooked up to the monitors and luckily the nurse on duty was Layla, the one that taught the birth class, and she was great! She checked me, a I was at 7 cm!

7 centimeters! yay!

Daniel gave me a high 5 and a “good job!” and the nurse told me that if I wanted to change my birth plan, now was the time. If I dilated any more they wouldn’t be able to do an epidural… so I said lets do it! I needed the relief, and was over being in so much pain. I was exhausted after having 12 hours of natural labor at home and being awake since Saturday morning… It took them about 45 minutes to get all the stuff together for the epidural, and I just had to breathe through the contractions when they came. Nurses were coming in and out asking questions and having me sign paperwork, and we would just stop for a contraction, then resume when it ended. Daniel was wonderful helping me breathe and holding my hand. They got the epidural in and it was wonderful to not be in pain! When the nurse gave me the numbing shot, she said “this will be the worst part” and I replied: “You haven’t been at my house for the last 12 hours… this isn’t the worst part.” 

All the family was there by then, Mama & Daddy, Kellie and Henry, Dan and Carolyn. 

Since the epidural depends on gravity to distribute evenly, I had to lay on my back for a bit, but then we tried changing positions to help with dilating, and turned on my left side. When we did that, Della’s heart rate dropped… the nurses came in and said apparently she just did not like me being on my left side, so I had to stay on my right side.  This meant that by the time I started pushing I had some feeling in my left side, mainly just in my lower back. I could have pushed the button for more meds, but it would have just gone to my right side, so I didn’t. Daniel and Mama were wonderful helping me push and just being there for support and encouragement! Josh was there the whole time and took photos from the head of the bed. I’m so glad we had him there to capture this incredible event. 

I started pushing about 5:00. That was so intense. I really had no idea what time it was or how long I was pushing. I just knew I was tired and praying that soon they would say “one more and we’ll have her out!” At one point I asked Daniel “are we even close?” and he replied: “Do you see a doctor in the room? When you’re close the doctor will be in here.” My doctor on call was Daphne Jones, Dr. Thomas was not there that weekend, but she was great too. Very straight to the point, and explained everything that was happening so that I knew what was up. We found out later that she used to be an army doctor, so that explained her demeanor. I was so exhausted by the end of pushing. They kept telling me to rest in between contractions, and sometimes I felt like I did, but sometimes not. I was telling Daniel this a couple days after she was born, and he said that I was falling asleep between pushes! I had no idea I was doing that but I was just so exhausted. At that point we had been awake for 2 full days… It finally came time for the last pushes, and I knew we were almost done because the doctor came in and put on scrubs! She said that Della was face up (which explains my back pain) and she was just a big baby, so she was having trouble coming out. She would crown, and then go back in. We needed to get her past my pelvis, so she said she would need to do an episiotomy and to use suction. If that didn’t work, we would have to do a C-section. That scared me, because we had come this far, and I didn’t want surgery. They would literally have to pull her back out of the birth canal if they did a C-section… so I pushed with all my might and on the third push out she came at 7:43 pm! I pushed for over 2 hours! They put her on my chest and it was the most incredible feeling. She was finally here, and she was perfect. It’s just amazing that we created this life and I gave birth to her!

Daniel was so awesome through all of it! He helped me focus and breathe through the pushes, gave me ice chips, and just encouraged me that I could do it. I couldn’t have asked for a better partner to do this with! He was great at home also when we were laboring naturally; he was the best support I could have asked for. 

Della Grace Bishop was born at 7:43 pm on July 2, 2017. She was 8 pounds, 8 ounces and 22 inches long. Her head was 14.4 inches around. She is beautiful and perfect, and looks just like Daniel! She has his nose, and we think she may have my lips and eyes. She has a headful of dark hair and a little crinkle in her left ear. 

We stayed in recovery for a long time. I was bleeding a bit more than they liked, so they had to get that under control, and we got to spend time with just us and Della, and I was able to breastfeed. The family got to come in and meet Della and take photos around 10:30 pm. We stayed in L&D until about 12:30 am and finally got to leave and push the button to play the nursery song! We got into our room, then got called to the nursery to see her first bath at 1:45 am. I’m so glad I was able to go and see it and take photos! 

Family and friends came to visit in the hospital, and it was great to have them. 

We stayed in the hospital longer than we anticipated, because Della needed to be on oxygen for a day or so. They said she was just taking her time adjusting to the world. Because she was on oxygen, they had to put her on an IV for her nutrients because she couldn’t nurse… the IV had antibiotics as a precaution as well. When they do an IV they have to leave it in for 48 hours… then when they took her off of it they have to monitor for another 24 hours… so I was discharged on the 5th, but she wasn’t discharged until the 6th. So they did put us in a smaller room for that last day. We were so ready to come home! We left the hospital around 9 am and headed home!

Even though sometimes things don't go according to our plan, in the end God knows what is best for us, and I'm so glad He does! Della's birth was a wonderful experience and the best part is that it brought us this beautiful little girl!

 

9 weeks old!

Photos in this post are by myself and Josh Mattox at Mattox Photography