Henley's Birth Story

On Saturday September 19th, Brian and I went on a date. We figured it would be our last date for a while since I was scheduled to be induced the following Wednesday. We went to Texas Roadhouse and enjoyed way too much food and then went to the movies and watched Scorch Trials. During the movie I was quite uncomfortable. I thought I ate too much food or that it came with the territory of being 40 weeks pregnant. Either way, we enjoyed the movie and came home and put on another movie, Captain Ron.... because going to bed at a reasonable time would be too grown up of a thing to do. By this time it was like 10:30 and I started to really feel uncomfortable. I sat watching the movie, timing my pains. They were about ten minutes apart and only lasted like 30-45 seconds. I really thought it was nothing. I kept timing them and the movie ended and we got ready for bed. By this time I was getting really uncomfortable. It was about 1:00 and I couldn't get comfortable. I tried taking a bath, I walked laps around my bedroom, I tried everything- but nothing seemed to help. I couldn't sleep. The pain kept waking me up. Me, in my innocence still didn't think I was in labor, I still just thought I was uncomfortable or that I needed to use the restroom. Like seriously, now I know why you hear about people giving birth on the toilet- because contractions are very misleading.

Anyways. Fast forward to 6am. I was getting out of bed for the millionth time and as soon as I stood up my water broke. I woke Brian up, we got ready and we were on our way to the hospital. It was the longest ride of my life. I felt every stupid bump on Ironwood and was pretty sure that I was going to give birth right there on the side of the road. My contractions were strong and really close together.

We got to the hospital at 6:30. They weren't convinced that my water had broke and I was only dilated to a 2. She was sunny side up (the back of her head was pushing on my spine) so they wanted me to walk around to see if I could get her to flip and to help my cervix drop. Let me tell you- that idea sucked. Walking was awful. Stopping every minute to hold onto the wall during contractions was awful. Fact- contractions suck. I'm a wuss and was ready to call it quits. The nurse came back after running a third test to confirm that my water did in fact break (um duh?!) and I was officially admitted into labor and delivery.

I got my epidural, which was literally heaven, and was able to finally get some sleep while they waited for me to progress further along. At about 11:00 I was fully dilated and ready to go. Henley's heart rate kept dropping during contractions so they were watching me really closely. Once I started pushing they noticed that she was too wide for my pelvis. I pushed for about 45 minutes and then they decided that a c-section would be best so that Henley didn't get stuck and have her heart rate fall.

We got ready for the c-section and were off to the operating room.

Once we were in there it all went pretty fast. I laid there on the table, arms outstretched and waited for Brian. He came in, sat by my head and we just waited anxiously for our daughter to be born. After about 10 minutes I heard the most amazing sound- my daughter, my sweet miracle baby's first cry. Brian and I looked at each other and shared one of my favorite moments.

Henley Elle Gibson was born at 1:55pm on September 20th. 8lbs 9oz of pure perfection. 22 inches long. 

{our first family pic} 

Since that moment my heart has been full. My life feels complete. I cannot remember what my life was like before meeting my daughter. She was worth the wait. Every tear. Every frustrating moment. Every emotional breakdown that I had the past six years- worth it. She was worth it all. 

We've settled into our lives as a family of 3. She is a great baby. A decent sleeper and an excellent pooper. 

She is my whole world. 

and I couldn't be happier.