On Sunday, April 18th Nick and I met at the hospital for an evening appointment with Dr. Naseem. She told us again that little progression had been made in terms of labor. Georgia was still very high and my body didn't show any signs of dilation or softening. So Dr. Naseem gave us 2 options that both had risk of c-section involved. ONE, we could induce with the chance that my body didn't move things along, therefore causing emergency c-section or TWO we could wait it out and possibly have a baby too big for normal delivery therefore also resulting in c-section. Didn't take much time for us to decide induction was our best option based on my history of L & D with the boys.
So the following evening on the 19th, we checked into the hospital and with our doc's permission had a pass to come home and sleep. Worked out perfect for packing our bags and making plans for the boys. The next morning we left Honey and the Bees sleeping at 4:30am and began Georgia's Birthday.
Headed out...one last big tummy moment at home.
Hospital where Georgia was born!!
Nick and our gear...we were told to bring everything but diapers.
We walked right upstairs to the room we were in the night before to get settled in, monitored, eat breakfast and get my first dose of misoprostal hopeful that things would move along. Here are few pics of our hospital room. This is the room we stayed in after L&D as well.
Because this is a Muslim country every hotel room, hospital room, etc has a marker pointing to Mecca so that Muslims know which direction to pray.
God bless the hospital food! One difference we noticed right off the bat, was that I could eat and drink before the induction. We ordered breakfast the previous evening so shortly after seeing my doc "something" was delivered. We ate the cereal and dinner rolls, but skipped the salad, hot dogs and omelet. The lemon artistry sure was nice though.
After we got settled in, my sweet buddy Jackie went to pick up Mom and the boys at our house. They came by the hospital for one last visit and to drop off Honey with us.
After spending a little time in our room and feeling a few contractions, Georgia's heart rate seemed to fluctuate too much so my doctor wanted me to transfer to a labor and delivery room. Something about this gown reminds me of what my mom would have wore when she was in the hospital with me. Its so long and it was heavier than I expected.
We made the most of our L&D room which was extremely sterile and more like an operating room. Boring and not comfy!! I'm a big fan of the exercise ball/birthing ball. It has huge effect on my pain level but as soon at the doctor broke my water she forced me to stay in bed. Nick played a little game of b-ball. Point guard as you can see.
No idea why they made Mom and Nick wear these silly things on their feet. Aren't there other concerns that might be more important than slipping or getting something on your shoes?
My contractions and progression were very very slow even after she broke my water. My doc first said she expected the baby by 6pm, then closer to 8pm, well...we just waited and waited. I tried to hold out as long as I could to get the epidural because I was afraid it would slow things down even more. I parked it at 6 cm for a very long time. Contracting often but not very consistently. After a while they finally increased pitocin and that's when I called for the epidural. By 9:15 I was feeling so much more comfortable and things began to move along. Not sure why I had to wear a hair net for the epidural. No doubt Nick enjoyed the laugh!
9:36pm...the room seemed pretty uneventful. Mom playing solitaire on Nicks iPhone and Nick on the laptop. I shouldn't have been surprised but things moved very quickly and within minutes Georgia had dropped and I was fully dilated ready to push.
My doctor had appointments until 10pm but came right upstairs to help with the delivery before she headed home. So I ended up with 2 of the best doctors. Both of them were amazing and so encouraging. God truly answered my prayers about that concern and also provided an extremely comfortable atmosphere. I was apparently the only one in L&D so we had a grand total of 12 people in the room for the delivery. The nurses were good and Nick was amazing. He's such a great encourager. Before we knew it...Georgia Elizabeth was in our world at 10:22pm. Weighing in it 8 1/2 lbs and measuring 21 1/2 in long!
Our first reaction was that she looked exactly like Barrett. And I was absolutely shocked she was so big! I shouldn't have been so surprised considering how I was feeling at the end and based on the boys arrivals and sizes. The boys were both at least 2 weeks early. Barrett weighed 7 lb and Brooks weighed 7 lb 15 oz.
Couple things I learned about my babies (and my body)...we're ALL better off if they come early and they don't like to drop or show that they're ready for delivery until the very last minute. Size matters and smaller tends to be better. Georgia came into this world ready to beat her brothers...girl's gotta do what a girl's gotta do!
Hospital policy is that there is only one family member allowed in the room. The head nurse over the hospital told us earlier in the day that either mom or Nick could be in the room but not both. We took that as a suggestion and never considered it an option! Turned out perfect. Honey assumed her corner position during our long day to prove she wouldn't be a problem nor was she trying to deliver the baby. Of course Mom got to know the nurses and they all loved her. By the end of the day they didn't even bring it up and thankfully Honey was able to be there the entire time. Would have been nice to have a few less staff in the room but apparently it takes and army in Doha :) Without Nick and my mom this experience would have felt a lot more foreign. The other hospital in Doha doesn't allow men in the waiting room...I can't imagine!
Thankfully most of the time we were comfortable with everything but we struggled a lot with communicating and getting a straight answer. The truth is that the miracle of childbirth is going to happen no matter what and there's no way to predict or plan how it might go. I'm certain that's the way God intended for it to be.
Quick conversion for us non-metric peeps...we really couldn't believe it (well until we saw those cheeks)!
I wasn't able to see or hold Georgia for about 15 minutes which was disappointing but it was for her own good. I still had a hard time believing that my sweet baby was a GIRL...a girl that would be a bride, a mother, a sister and MY DAUGHTER. What an amazing blessing on my life. Having a "dream mother" myself I can only pray she loves me as much as I love my own mom. I pray one day I'll get to see her have her own little girl or at least get to witness her with her own babies. That concept is beyond me!
After a 2 hour stay in L&D for recovery because I had the pukes and a fever, we finally made it back to our room. Nick took Honey home to sleep at our house and all the while the boys were sleeping away at Jackie's while their baby sister joined our family.
What a day...longer than we thought it would be but blessed beyond our wildest imagination. The Lord provided and protected us every step of the way. We were well taken care of and felt his steady hand all day! Thanks to sweet friends and family praying across the world, we did this thing in DOHA! A lot of people asked what it was like to have a baby in a foreign country. First of all, we were strictly depending on the Lord guidance and our trust in Him. Medically we got excellent care. I would do it again. We definitely had communication and cultural challenges. We quickly learned to ask a lot of questions and sometimes it took asking the same question multiple times to different people. I'm thankful this wasn't my first baby. No matter where Georgia would have been born, I would still be thankful for the same things...
God's miracle of birth
The grace of epidurals
Kind doctors and nurses
My sensitive mother
My loving husband
The miracle of nursing a brand new baby
The glory of pacifiers
The blessing of sweet and helpful friends
The comfort of my own bed and being able to actually sleep (on my tummy), even if its only for a few hours at a time.
So the following evening on the 19th, we checked into the hospital and with our doc's permission had a pass to come home and sleep. Worked out perfect for packing our bags and making plans for the boys. The next morning we left Honey and the Bees sleeping at 4:30am and began Georgia's Birthday.
Headed out...one last big tummy moment at home.
Hospital where Georgia was born!!
Nick and our gear...we were told to bring everything but diapers.
We walked right upstairs to the room we were in the night before to get settled in, monitored, eat breakfast and get my first dose of misoprostal hopeful that things would move along. Here are few pics of our hospital room. This is the room we stayed in after L&D as well.
Because this is a Muslim country every hotel room, hospital room, etc has a marker pointing to Mecca so that Muslims know which direction to pray.
God bless the hospital food! One difference we noticed right off the bat, was that I could eat and drink before the induction. We ordered breakfast the previous evening so shortly after seeing my doc "something" was delivered. We ate the cereal and dinner rolls, but skipped the salad, hot dogs and omelet. The lemon artistry sure was nice though.
After we got settled in, my sweet buddy Jackie went to pick up Mom and the boys at our house. They came by the hospital for one last visit and to drop off Honey with us.
After spending a little time in our room and feeling a few contractions, Georgia's heart rate seemed to fluctuate too much so my doctor wanted me to transfer to a labor and delivery room. Something about this gown reminds me of what my mom would have wore when she was in the hospital with me. Its so long and it was heavier than I expected.
We made the most of our L&D room which was extremely sterile and more like an operating room. Boring and not comfy!! I'm a big fan of the exercise ball/birthing ball. It has huge effect on my pain level but as soon at the doctor broke my water she forced me to stay in bed. Nick played a little game of b-ball. Point guard as you can see.
No idea why they made Mom and Nick wear these silly things on their feet. Aren't there other concerns that might be more important than slipping or getting something on your shoes?
My contractions and progression were very very slow even after she broke my water. My doc first said she expected the baby by 6pm, then closer to 8pm, well...we just waited and waited. I tried to hold out as long as I could to get the epidural because I was afraid it would slow things down even more. I parked it at 6 cm for a very long time. Contracting often but not very consistently. After a while they finally increased pitocin and that's when I called for the epidural. By 9:15 I was feeling so much more comfortable and things began to move along. Not sure why I had to wear a hair net for the epidural. No doubt Nick enjoyed the laugh!
9:36pm...the room seemed pretty uneventful. Mom playing solitaire on Nicks iPhone and Nick on the laptop. I shouldn't have been surprised but things moved very quickly and within minutes Georgia had dropped and I was fully dilated ready to push.
My doctor had appointments until 10pm but came right upstairs to help with the delivery before she headed home. So I ended up with 2 of the best doctors. Both of them were amazing and so encouraging. God truly answered my prayers about that concern and also provided an extremely comfortable atmosphere. I was apparently the only one in L&D so we had a grand total of 12 people in the room for the delivery. The nurses were good and Nick was amazing. He's such a great encourager. Before we knew it...Georgia Elizabeth was in our world at 10:22pm. Weighing in it 8 1/2 lbs and measuring 21 1/2 in long!
Our first reaction was that she looked exactly like Barrett. And I was absolutely shocked she was so big! I shouldn't have been so surprised considering how I was feeling at the end and based on the boys arrivals and sizes. The boys were both at least 2 weeks early. Barrett weighed 7 lb and Brooks weighed 7 lb 15 oz.
Couple things I learned about my babies (and my body)...we're ALL better off if they come early and they don't like to drop or show that they're ready for delivery until the very last minute. Size matters and smaller tends to be better. Georgia came into this world ready to beat her brothers...girl's gotta do what a girl's gotta do!
Hospital policy is that there is only one family member allowed in the room. The head nurse over the hospital told us earlier in the day that either mom or Nick could be in the room but not both. We took that as a suggestion and never considered it an option! Turned out perfect. Honey assumed her corner position during our long day to prove she wouldn't be a problem nor was she trying to deliver the baby. Of course Mom got to know the nurses and they all loved her. By the end of the day they didn't even bring it up and thankfully Honey was able to be there the entire time. Would have been nice to have a few less staff in the room but apparently it takes and army in Doha :) Without Nick and my mom this experience would have felt a lot more foreign. The other hospital in Doha doesn't allow men in the waiting room...I can't imagine!
Thankfully most of the time we were comfortable with everything but we struggled a lot with communicating and getting a straight answer. The truth is that the miracle of childbirth is going to happen no matter what and there's no way to predict or plan how it might go. I'm certain that's the way God intended for it to be.
Quick conversion for us non-metric peeps...we really couldn't believe it (well until we saw those cheeks)!
I wasn't able to see or hold Georgia for about 15 minutes which was disappointing but it was for her own good. I still had a hard time believing that my sweet baby was a GIRL...a girl that would be a bride, a mother, a sister and MY DAUGHTER. What an amazing blessing on my life. Having a "dream mother" myself I can only pray she loves me as much as I love my own mom. I pray one day I'll get to see her have her own little girl or at least get to witness her with her own babies. That concept is beyond me!
After a 2 hour stay in L&D for recovery because I had the pukes and a fever, we finally made it back to our room. Nick took Honey home to sleep at our house and all the while the boys were sleeping away at Jackie's while their baby sister joined our family.
What a day...longer than we thought it would be but blessed beyond our wildest imagination. The Lord provided and protected us every step of the way. We were well taken care of and felt his steady hand all day! Thanks to sweet friends and family praying across the world, we did this thing in DOHA! A lot of people asked what it was like to have a baby in a foreign country. First of all, we were strictly depending on the Lord guidance and our trust in Him. Medically we got excellent care. I would do it again. We definitely had communication and cultural challenges. We quickly learned to ask a lot of questions and sometimes it took asking the same question multiple times to different people. I'm thankful this wasn't my first baby. No matter where Georgia would have been born, I would still be thankful for the same things...
God's miracle of birth
The grace of epidurals
Kind doctors and nurses
My sensitive mother
My loving husband
The miracle of nursing a brand new baby
The glory of pacifiers
The blessing of sweet and helpful friends
The comfort of my own bed and being able to actually sleep (on my tummy), even if its only for a few hours at a time.
9 comments:
Wendi thank you for sharing your birth story loved every bit of it. I can not get over what a precious girl Georgia is. And your words about having a daughter seriously brought a tear to my eyes what an incredible miracle. Love yoU!!
Wendi, your words are so beautiful! Thank for expressing your feelings about Georgia. I feel the same way about Julianne. Such a miracle. So proud of you for going on this journey outside of your comfort zone! What an amazing story for Georgia to have about her birth!
Beautiful story! My first two kids were boys 12 months apart that remind me of your boys. And then I was blessed with a beautiful girl like you. I thanked God every day for months and months for that little girl, so he blessed me with one more girl! It's so nice to throw in some pink with all that blue. You have a beautiful family!
Tears reading about the big event. What a miracle that sweet baby girl is! She is already so very loved and those of us in Texas that love her are chomping at the bit to hold and kiss on her! Cannot wait for these three weeks to fly by. Love you!
What a gorgeous baby girl and I pretty much have just always LOVED the name Georgia. Such great taste! ;-) That looks like a pretty NICE hospital. Very cool!
I am so thankful you have a blog because I felt like you were telling me a wonderful story!! She is already a beauty, and having a daughter is AMAZING. It's hard to explain because I love both my children equally but there is something different and wonderful about a daughter. Congrats again!
Aw, thanks for sharing. She is so beautiful! I can't believe how big. My little Alex is only 9 lbs 12 oz at 4 months! She is going to be such a blessing to y'all.
I love the way you tell stories! Congrats on your not-so-little baby girl!!
I mean really, where do I even begin??????????
gah---just teared up reading your words about having a daughter. it is truly a BLESSING indeed. angel face, i must hold her ASAP! she is a little doll. I know you are having so much fun thinking about all of the "pink" action ahead of you! :)
loved reading all the details. so glad you documented. and yes---amen for epidurals, getting the pukes/fever is the worst, what a jewel mrs. jerry is, the hairnet was hysterical, hotdogs and salad before 11:00 a.m.? what doha?, and on and on. doha is funny
miss you!!!!!!!!!!!
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