The full story of Claire

warning: this post will contain many details from Claire's birthday so read at your own risk. :) 


 So my due date (Sept 4th) came and went and still no Claire. On August 29th, the doctor told me that we would have to wait until Monday, September 12th before they would induce me. Then, at my doctor's appointment on Sept 6th they moved the induction date to Sept 8th. YAY! 


So Thursday morning (the 8th) we had to be at the hospital by 5 am. Shaun and I didn't get much sleep the night before...but that morning as I got ready I had two pretty hard contractions. I was excited thinking that "today is the day." 


So at my appointment on Tuesday I was dilated to 2 cm and about 30% effaced. When they checked me Thursday first thing I was already at a 3-4 and 70%. YAY! They immediately started me on the Pitocin. My body took it really well, and the nurse actually kept turning it down because I was progressing so nicely. 


At 10 am my contractions started getting really hard so I opted for the epidural. Getting the epidural was actually worse than the contractions. The first time the doctor inserted the needle, my left leg immediately cramped up with the worst Charley horse I have ever had. As I moved my foot it continued to worsen. The doctor proceeded to insert the needle a second time. I got the same Charley horse but it calmed down and we were able to continue. Man, that was not fun! 


By noon I was dilated to 5, almost 6 cm and still progressing nicely. My contractions were lasting about 3 mins long with only 40-50 seconds in between. (I think the epidural slowed things down a bit but it's hard to say.) 


About 4 pm they checked me again and I was at a 10 and 100%. The nurse wanted me to "labor down" a little while so gravity could help as I was still at a 
-2. 


At 5:30 pm I started pushing. The crazy part was when I was laboring down my contractions were nice and strong, but when I started pushing they slowed down to every 5 mins or so. And I was having a really hard time pushing. I was completely doing it wrong and so I was exerting tons of energy for nothing. 
The nurse decided to put me back on the Pitocin to keep my labor going and once again we waited another 30 mins to let that kick in as I labored down some more. 


At this point I felt beat. While the nurses were gone Shaun and I said a prayer that I would have the strength to keep going. When they came back I was ready and truly felt like I had strength beyond my own. I was also at a +2 so that was helpful. 


So I kept pushing and pushing (finally doing it the right way) and slowly we made progress. The nurse staff switched at 7 pm and two new nurses were there. 


Pretty soon her head crowned and Shaun could see that she was going to have hair. You may laugh but all of his nieces and nephews came out completely bald and stayed that way for years...so hair was a nice bonus. :) 


At this point they called in the doctor and the pediatrician. They knew that Claire had had swallowed some meconium in the womb so they were prepared to suction out her mouth when she arrived. 


So her head came out and then without warning her shoulders got completely stuck. No amount of pushing on my part was going to get her out. Without even a seconds hesitation the two nurses jumped on the bed and as I pushed they also pushed on my uterus with all of their weight. Meanwhile, the doctor was maneuvering her and within minutes she was out. 


The pediatrician immediately took Claire and was working with her. For what felt like the longest time we didn't hear Claire cry. Shaun and I were completely stunned at the events that had just taken place. Claire was also in shock and was not breathing regularly. They immediately took Claire into the nursery to try and regulate her breathing. 


The pediatrician came in about 45 minutes later and gave us the update. Claire took a while to cry and her breathing was still irregular but she never turned blue. They were also trying to put an IV in her foot to give her some sugar to help regulate her. The pediatrician said the worst case scenario was that Claire would have to go to another hospital to their NICU but they would determine that in the morning. They also said they might be able to wheel me down to see her but that she needed to be monitored.   


My heart sank. I was so worried about her! Shaun went to peek at her and get some pictures for me. I just wanted to hold her! 


Well, a miracle happened. About an hour later the pediatrician came back and said that Claire was completely stable and doing amazing! She was doing so good in fact that they brought her to my room to eat. They weren't able to get the IV in, which was great because then we didn't have to wean her off of it. She latched on like a pro and with the help of the nurse we got a great start on feeding. 


Shaun and I were so relieved and both just cried tears of gratitude that everything had turned out so well! Those nurses just carried on as if nothing special happened but truly they saved her life! And I didn't have to get an emergency C-section either. What a blessing! 


My mom had flown in just hours before she was born and joined us in the hospital room when Claire did. It was so good to have the support of so many people. Even my grandma was sending me texts of encouragement. :) I also truly feel like there were angels among us helping us through this. 


We named her Claire Joan Broderick. Joan is actually pronounced JoAnn. It is my grandma's name. I have always had a very special relationship with my Grandma Murray and felt inspired to give her that middle name. We didn't tell anyone about the middle name until she was born so it was a great surprise. 


Claire has changed our lives so much! She has the sweetest disposition and is really a calm baby. She doesn't cry much but has this really high pitched scream that only lasts a few seconds... it's a bit piercing. I think it even surprises herself when it comes out. :) 


Shaun is an awesome daddy and so good to us! We loved having my mom here, too. She was able to stay about 10 days. It was so helpful to have some reassurance that I was doing things "right," as we started the transition into parenthood. 


We really feel so blessed and loved! We know that Claire is such a special gift and we sure love her so much!