My Baby Cakes Labor and Delivery Story

My Baby Cakes Labor and Delivery Story

I have been itching to write to you all for the last month (Harmony is officially 1 month old today) but boy oh boy is it hectic with a newborn.  I seriously thought I would be bored with nothing to do but nothing could be further from the truth.  I stay insanely busy to the point where I wonder how in the world I can get back to some type of normalcy.  At some point, I am sure I will get to the new normal with my baby.

Now speaking of my baby, I’m absolutely in love!!!  I am so excited to introduce to you my “Baby Cakes” Harmony Leilani Adams.  She is our angel from heaven, and I am so happy for you to officially meet her.  She made her arrival on Wednesday, February 7th at 3:46 am.  She was  7 lbs and 11 oz, 21 ½ inches long and is my greatest joy and achievement.

My original due date was January 27th but she just wasn’t budging in the least bit.  I went through the process of taking hypnobirthing and wanted to really embrace things happening as naturally as they possibly could however Harmony had other plans.

I think I made things way too comfortable for her in the womb.  She was literally having a party in there.  Each time I went to the doctor, I wasn’t making an ounce of progress.  I wasn’t even effacing or dilating so Baby Cakes was not having any of this outside world business.  She was beyond comfortable in utero, and from the time I turned 38 weeks, I was so over being pregnant.  I wanted to finally meet her.

By my due date and my doctor’s appointment, I knew I would still be in for a wait so Frederick and I went to dinner twice over the weekend and enjoyed Chicago Restaurant Week.  Each day I waited with anticipation thinking that day would be the day but each day was slower than the next and dragged on forever as I didn’t go into labor once again.  At 41 weeks and three more doctor appointments later, I had an induction scheduled because I was still not progressing.  I was to check into the hospital on Monday, February 5th at 8:30 pm for my induction to begin.

Through many false alarms, including a trip to the hospital that very morning, my Baby Cakes stayed put and we ended up going in the night of the 5th like scheduled.  When I arrived, I was still just a fingertip dilated so they began with a balloon catether which was terribly painful but effective.  After some complications that evening into the morning they ended up giving me an epidural early because it was seriously too much for me to bare anymore.  

This was originally outside of my plan of course but once the relief of the epidural kicked in, I felt like I was in heaven.  Everything started to speed up at that time.  I took a nap and woke up 4 1/2 centimeters dialated, and that meant the balloon could finally be removed.  Frederick and I did the nightshift by ourselves and then in the morning my mom, dad and aunt arrived keeping us company.  My doctor also decided it was time to break my water but it kinda broke on its own.  However when it broke, we found out that my Baby Cakes had a poop in the womb.  It kinda alarmed me because it meant we needed to make sure she didn’t swallow any of it as soon as she was delivered.

The next part of the induction would be pitocin, which I wasn’t looking forward to.  I’d heard horror stories about it but since I was already under the spell of the epidural, I was ready to roll.  Each 30 minutes they cranked up the strength to dilate me further however after a five hour check in the early morning around 12 midnight on the 7th, I was only dilated one additional centimeter.  I realize that the staff thought that I might have to have a c-section at that point since I wasn’t progressing.  My doctor told me that she would head home for a nap and check me again at 6 am and see what needed to happen next.  I was so discouraged however we rolled with it.

They started cranking up the pitocin more and more and for the first time, I started to really feel some serious pressure and with that some serious discomfort.  Also apparently Baby Cakes was having an interesting time as well because she kept moving around and they were losing her heartbeat every few minutes and kept shifting and turning me on each side.  During this time, the hubby finally distracted me with hypnobirthing because it was definitely needed.  Around 2 am, one of the residents and my nurse came in to check on me and thought maybe I needed to be checked before 6.  Something changed so they called my doctor and got her ok.

Sure enough, my cervix was completely gone, and it was time to push just two hours later.  I was finally going to meet my baby.  I was told that pushing would take one to two hours however 21 minutes later my baby was here.  I literally had no idea since my eyes were closed but my doctor told me to open my eyes and she was there.  She was born on February 7th (I was born on June 7th so it totally made sense) at 3:46 am.  They called in pediatricians and the next thing I know my baby was whisked away for them to check out.  She had swallowed the poop and they had to clean out.  She had tubes down her throat, and it was so excruciating to watch.  After about thirty minutes of hell they finally brought my baby to me.

I fell in love immediately seeing this little creature.  What I noticed first was how unbelievably alert she was.  She stayed up for at least two hours meeting everyone before we moved to our room.  Taking every single moment in was just unreal.  I was surrounded by so much family and so much love in those moments that I will never forget it ever.  

Thank you for all of your love that you have surrounded me with as we welcomed Harmony into our hearts and home.  I am so looking forward to sharing so much of our lives with you because you are our family.  

Photos by Naja Lerus Photography