Our Lovely Rose: Love at First Sight-Happy Birthday Rose!

Rose's Birth Story

It was about 4:45am on Sunday May 15th and contractions woke me up. My official due date was May 18th, so we were within striking distance. I had my membranes swept at the doctor on Friday the 13th, which also happened to be my last day at work. I alerted Ryan that I thought that something was happening and he quickly woke up and became very concerned. The contractions were coming regularly, about 4-5 minutes apart. They kept coming so I called the doctor and Ryan took a quick shower and loaded up the car with the bags I had packed for weeks now. We were on our way, could we really be having this baby?!

We didn't hear back from the doctor's office within a half hour so we just left for the hospital and arrived about 6:15am. Both of my mom's labors were very fast and she hardly had time to spare after arriving to the hospital so I didn't want that to happen. They wheeled me up to labor and delivery where I had to fill out some paperwork and then they took me to an exam room. The contractions were becoming closer together and the pain was more intense. They checked me and I was between 3-4cm dilated. My water hadn't broken, but I was fully effaced. They admitted me, so there was no turning back now and optimistically thought I might even have the baby by lunchtime, but Rose had other ideas.

I elected to receive an epidural and got this about 9:30am. It helped for about an hour or two. My contractions were topping the chart every 2 minutes and each lasted about 90 seconds so I didn't have much relief between them. All of a sudden, I started to feel intense pain in my back and low in my pelvis. Rose moved her position and her head was facing the outside of my left hip. Unfortunately, the anethesiologist came back and said when the baby is in that position, so low in the birth canal and turned that way, the epidural doesn't relieve that pain. No kidding!! All I could do was try different positions and I have never been more mentally focused in my life, even more than when I ran the Cleveland marathon. That was only 4 hours. This experience ended up being about 15 hours.

The labor room was quiet and calm all day. I had my eyes closed and didn't say much. I kept thinking about being on the beaches in Maui or driving along the ocean. Ryan was so supportive and had my music playlist going in the background. My mom was also there for a while to be there with us. Both of our parents, Ray, PJ, and the kids were eagerly anticipating the news in the hospital waiting room as the hours kept passing.

After a very long day, it looked like I was ready to push at about 6pm, approximately 13 hours after my contractions began. At 7:19pm, Rose Makena was born. She weighed 7 pounds 9 ounces and was 20 inches long. She was perfect and beautiful!! At last, we had met our little one and the difficulty of the day seemed to be a distant memory. She was so tough and strong throughout the entire pregnancy and day. The doctor and nurses couldn't believe how stable her heart rate and vitals were through my crazy day of contractions. Most people, would have had a c-section under those circumstances but Rose was tough and wanted to come when she was ready.

We are so thrilled to have her here with us and can't wait to share news and updates about her. Here are some of the earliest pics from the hospital.