It was a Wednesday afternoon, and I was scheduled to have my 39 week appointment, even though the very next day I would be 40 weeks pregnant. I always hope, like I did with Preston, that my babe will come early, but that's never been the case after him.John was still on break from the Holidays, so we took the kids to Araha beach to play, it was such a gorgeous day for it being December. I left the kids and John to play while I quickly headed off to my doctors appointment. It was the usual, no I have no complications. No, nothing unusual as happened. No, everything is fine. No, I don't have any questions, except will you stripe my membranes. So she did, or at least tried to, but informed me how tight everything still was in there. Nothing that hasn't been told to me with every single pregnancy.
I was feeling slightly discouraged, because I did NOT want to go over due, and I know my body well enough to know that it doesn't go into labor on its own, it needs help, and I was certain she failed at stripping my membranes. I began asking her how I could be induced on January 1st, since my mom was getting in the night before and I wanted to have every second of her being here count. But of course, as military rules go, the doctor was certain I wouldn't be able to be induced that day, since I wouldn't be 41 weeks yet. I left that appointment frustrated. Frustrated because I felt like this babe wasn't going to be coming anytime soon. Furstrated because I felt like the doctor was rather rude to me. And frustrated because I just wanted to have my baby and be done being pregnant, and I felt like it was never going to end.
I headed back to Araha beach with a few tears in my eyes, and after telling John what had happened, and how frustrated the doctor made me feel, we left the beach and he took us out to my favorite ramen restaurant to try to cheer me up.
That night I remember sitting outside on our porch swing, just hanging out with our kids thinking, I wonder if this will be our last night together as a family of five.
I woke up around 1am to use the bathroom, nothing surprising there, but I noticed I was having a few contractions. I tried to not think anything of it, and went back to sleep. Of course, with each hour of the passing night, I'd wake up to another few contractions.
When morning came, I jokingly came downstairs and said to John, "Do you think today would be a good day to have a baby?" I don't know if he believed me that I was actually feeling like I was in labor, especially since I had scheduled an appointment to get my eyebrows done that morning and was about to leave for it. I went to my appointment and then figured I probably better stop by the commissary on the way home and grab some groceries. At this point, I knew I was having that baby soon. I had to stop every few minutes in the commissary and pretend I was looking for something, when really I was just trying to get through each contraction.
I came home, and told John it was go time. Thankfully, our neighbors had offered to take Preston and Gwen with them up to the aquarium that day, before even knowing I was in labor, which turned out to be a major blessing. Another friend offered to take Josie for us, and I packed my bag to head out.
I was only dilated to a four when we got to the hospital, and even though my contractions were really kicking in, and coming every few minutes, the nurse told us they'd probably send me walking for two hours before I'd be admitted. Apparently you have to be dilated to a six before they'll admit you. Thankfully, the nurse came back and told us they'd admit me. I'm not sure why that was, maybe because they could see how strong and frequent my contractions were? I'm not sure, but either way, I was relieved to hear I wasn't going to have to go walk the halls for awhile.
As soon as we got checked-in to the room, I immediately requested an epidural. I was in SO much pain. Of course it felt like forever before the anesthesiologist got up to the room and could finally stick me with the needle to make me feel better. I should have known it wasn't going to work. I was already too far along for it to do much of anything, and at this point, I was in tears and sweating from so much pain. Even the sweet nurse said that I was catching no break between the contractions. It was rough.
My water broke quickly after that, and before I knew it, they were telling me to start pushing. The first few pushes NOTHING happened. I normally pride myself off of a super fast delivery once it's go time, but three pushes in and nothing was happening. I think at this point I said, "It's not working!" I'm sure they all thought I was crazy, but a few minutes and pushes later and she finally came out. But we didn't know she was a she just yet.
We never found out the gender, so as soon as she came out, I tried to quickly glance below to see what she was, and in the split second I saw her before she was placed on me, all I saw was the umbilical cord, which I may have mistaken for something else and shouted, "It's a boy!" Only to have the doctor pick her up about five minutes later saying, "Hold on...she's actually a girl!" We all got a good laugh out of that.
And I'll be honest, I was excited about thinking I had a son for those few minutes, but as soon as they said she was actually a girl, it was like I knew all along that was what I was having, and it just felt right.
I think we both knew immediately that we'd name her Bridget, it was a name we had talked about, but we wanted to wait for the kids to come see her and decide on her name. The day Bridget was born, also happened to be our nurses birthday, and she mentioned to us that the name Rae is a good middle name. Ray happens to be John's dad's dad's name, and Byrons middle name. So, we liked that it was a family name. After looking up spellings of the name Ray, we discovered that if we spelled it Rei, it was a Japanese name, and with the right kanji, it means Lovely. I couldn't not use the name after all of those meanings, a family name, our nurses name who shares a birthday with Bridget, and the fact that it's a japanese name and it means lovely.
Bridget Rei Lovell
born at 1:44pm
December 28, 2017
8lbs 12 oz
21.5 inches long
She's practically perfect in every way!
