First of all, thank y'all so very much for your prayers for our family throughout my pregnancy, during labor, and now that we have our precious girl in our arms. We have felt every single prayer.
On Thursday, March 28 I took off work to go to my two doctors appointments (weekly check up with Dr. Heraty and weekly monitoring/sonogram with Nurse Barb). I told my maternity sub that the chances of me coming to school the following day were pretty slim as my need to rest, relax, and just get ready for our girl was greatly outweighing returning to work. I had in my mind that we would be meeting sweet Suzanna Grace sooner than later and that we would be attempting every natural way to get her a movin'. That morning I went to the gym and walked for quite awhile plus I made a point to sway side to side every time I was standing. I had even scheduled an appointment with a student's father to have acupuncture done that afternoon.
When we saw Dr. Heraty at 10:30 she told me that although I was making progress and would induce me if I wanted, she recommended that I come back to see her again at 41 weeks and then we could seriously talk about helping SG make her debut. I felt a huge sense of relief as the thought of having to decide if I wanted to step in and induce was something that had weighed heavily on my mind and heart. After all, we had been praying for the Lord to work in His time throughout the past 9+months and I just hated to step in and try to take control then. SG's heartbeat was around 160 which is higher than it has ever been but Dr. Heraty said that everything seemed great and I was even measuring a little better than I had the previous week.
Kyle and I headed out to grab something to eat before my monitoring appointment at 1 and enjoyed a lingering lunch of daydreaming and talking about our girl. He walked me back to the hospital and then headed home to get some work done. During the stress test Nurse Barb kept me hooked up for a bit longer as she noticed SG's heartbeat dropping a little after some small contractions. She sent me over to have the sonogram done (which was fine) and when I returned she told me that she wanted the doctor to take a look at the results of the test. She came back and shared that when they see this happening with the baby's heartbeat it means that the placenta is getting old and, in a nutshell, it's time for the baby to come.
To say that I was cheesin' ear to ear is quite the understandment. As she began to explain what would happen I texted Kyle that we were going to have a baby sooner than later, to start getting ready, and that I would call him once I knew more. Nurse Barb explained that a wheelchair was on it's way, Dr. Heraty had been called, and I would not be leaving until we had a baby. Kyle immediately called, stating that sending a text was equivalent to writing an email or a note on a post-it and was not appropriate communication for such news. In my defense, I was just trying to listen to the nurse while giving him the heads up too.
Taking selfies to let Kyle know that he needed to get on to the hospital.
I was wheeled over to triage where Kyle met me and from there the party began. Once we got into the labor and delivery room (a big corner room-the same one that Dr. Heraty delivered in might I add), we met our own personal nurse (Becky) and she started Pitocin. A resident inserted a balloon thing to help speed things along too.
Kyle DJed the party...though he had several playlist on Spotify, he also took requests.
At first the contractions weren't so bad and I secretly thought to myself, "Hooray! I can be that girl!" Then the Good Lord laughed and they started getting intense and coming every 2-3 minutes. Bless his heart, Kyle was nearly yelling down the hall for someone to come to relieve the pain. Seeing as I just wasn't really sure if they were supposed to get worse or what exactly was going on...plus I had been warned that if you get the epidural too early it might wear off...I went through this 2-3 minute cycle for about an hour before sweet Dr. Heraty came in and boldly said, "Just get it...there is no reason to be in pain." She did confess though that she was hoping to at least see me yell or something dramatic since my temperament had not changed since the contractions began. HA! After telling me that she too had just gone ahead and gotten it...I quickly agreed. (Remember, I just like to do what this precious Doctor tells me that she did...)
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| Hooray for epidurals! |
Long story short(er), the epidural didn't really work on my right side so she did have to come back in and reposition it...afterwards it was great. At one point I realized that I would never feel Suzanna Grace move inside of me again and got a little sad. Just then I felt her rolls and realized that I could still wiggle my toes-thank you Lord for what turned out to be the best epidural ever!
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| Last picture as a family of two. |
At some point after this Dr. Heraty removed the balloon and broke my water. Nurse Becky suggested that we get some sleep and so we "rested our eyes" until around 3:15/30 when they said that it was go time. (Sidenote-they did slow down the pitocin at some point because SG's heartbeat was doing the weird dip thing here and there...they also put some internal monitoring thing on her head that helped them to keep track of her HB.)
The actual delivery was one of the most memorable and special experiences of my life. Everyone was so calm and cheerful. Kyle started us off by praying for our growing family, for the nurses and doctor, for mommy and baby, and for himself. It wasn't until this very second that I allowed tears to flow as the anticipation of finally meeting our girl was coming to an end.
With Nurse Becky, Dr. Heraty, and the baby nurse, I felt like I was amongst friends as Kyle and I welcomed Suzanna Grace in to the world. We listened to the Mississippi Blues (Junior Kimbrough to be exact) as each contraction came and in between we chatted and laughed...nothing like you see in movies. After about 4 contractions and pushing through them, I watched Suzanna Grace enter God's beautiful world. (No, I had not planned on watching it happen, but in the moment I could not help but want to really experience it all---and I would suggest it to all mothers.) She yelled out just enough to let us know that she had made her debut but she quieted down as soon as Dr. Heraty laid her on my chest.
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| "For this child I have prayed..." 1 Samuel 1:27 |
IL Masonic calls themselves a "Baby Friendly" hospital which means that they allow baby and mommy to always be together. Suzanna Grace stayed on my chest for 1.5-2 hours as I recovered and as we got to love on her. They did not take her to check her stats until after we had time as a family of 3, she nursed a little, and we had time to bond. I LOVED this aspect of the delivery too as I know how important that initial skin to skin bonding time really is.
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| Daddy holding his little girl for the first time. Yes, Suzanna Grace is the FIRST baby that Kyle has ever held. |
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| I love this close up of Suzanna Grace. Take a look at those LONG fingers and PERFECT little nose. Notice Kyle's drivers license picture on his ID tag too...pretty sure that picture was from a time when he was on summer break during college. HAHA! |
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| Moore, Party of 3. |
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| Daddy standing with his girl while she got all checked out. |
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| Proud Daddy. |
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| Happy Birthday Suzanna Grace! |
Birth Stats:
Time: 4:04 am
Weight: 6 pounds 15 ounces
Height: 19.5 inches
We made it to the Mommy and Baby room around 6:30 am or so on Friday and by noon the following Saturday we were headed home! (For documentation purposes: SG and I were fine and were told that we could go home whenever we wanted but Daddy Kyle really pushed for us to head out as he was ancy being in such a confined area...especially since he could not walk around and add steps for his Fitbit challenge. HAHA!)
A look at our short hospital stay and first day home through pictures:
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| Moving from the LandD room to the Mommy and Baby room required an additional set of hands...yes, I needed 4 changes of clothes for myself and SG...plus my curlers, make-up, treats for the nurses, house shoes, etc.... |
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| My parents and MA jumped in the car as soon as I called to tell them that I was being admitted into the hospital. They made it to Chicago about an hour after she was born. |
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| SuSu checking out Suzanna Graces fingers and toes. |
Daddy's first diaper change.
SG getting her hearing checked before we left.
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Bless her little heart, the hand smocked dress and bonnet plus the newborn shoes were just a little too much for her. We settled on just wearing the gown for the ride home.  |
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| Daddy Kyle and Big Jim were in charge of getting the car and car seat ready while Sissy, Aunt MA, and Mommy dressed Suzanna Grace to go home. We got call after call from the men asking how to get the thing out of the car. HAHA. The nurse so kindly stated that the directions should be on the side of the car seat. Sissy laughingly remarked that with all of the advanced degrees (including one in engineering) these two shared, one would think that they could take a baby car seat out. They eventually figured it out! |
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| Daddy showing Suzanna Grace her palace. |
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| Kyle's Dad was Big Jim when we brought her home...since then we have tried out several names but none have stuck...we will go with "NoName" for now. |
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| That Sissy is so excited to have another Moore girl in the family! |
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| So thankful for our girlfriends. SG is SO loved! And yes, Ashlee cried. |
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| Liz G. cracking a joke with Kev, the baby whisperer, looking on. |
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| Suzanna Grace, we are sure, will get her height from Keith...since we named her "Suzanna Grace Keith". Auntie Renee telling SG about all the walks we will take this summer. |
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| Sweet Fischer holding SG. |
Mommy and Baby MATCHING PJs!
I had no idea that my heart could be so full with love for Suzanna Grace and her Daddy. She is such an angel baby and I cannot wait to watch her progress through life. Our prayers now turn to her health and happiness, her development, our parenting...and yes, even to her future friends, husband, and children (it is never too early to ask for such blessings). Please join us as we pray for our girl and teach her to love God and to put other before herself.
We are blessed.
