Sarah Angelie

Sarah Angelie was born on 4.19.2010 @ 6:08am. She weighed 6 pounds, 9 ounces. She was 4 days late to the party, but now that she's here, it was totally worth the wait!

Sarah's labor & delivery story is very short -- mainly because it didn't take very long to have her -- which I'll NEVER argue with!

Sunday night (4.18), we went to bed at around 10:00, and at 12:50, I woke up with some contractions. They weren't really bad...just annoying more than anything. I tossed and turned and tried to go back to sleep, but I couldn't, so I jumped in the shower. I figured that since we were past our 2nd due date, this was probably the real thing (as opposed to the fluke the previous Tuesday that put us in Triage---ugh).

I woke Rusty up around 2:30 or so, and told him that we should head to the hospital. I called Mom over to keep the kids, emailed Angelyn, called Beth, and we headed to the hospital around 3:45am. We were sent to Triage, which is normal. They monitored me and the baby (just like the previous Tuesday), but for some reason, my contractions (that were getting faster and faster and more and more intense) weren't registering on the monitors.

The midwife that couldn't find my cervix (Debbie) over the last few office exams was on call. She came into Triage at around 4:45am to exam me to see how far along into labor I was, and she STILL had trouble finding my cervix. She had a fellow nurse come in to get her opinion, and that nurse was able to determine that I was 3.5cm dilated. Yaay! I wasn't imagining it! We were in LABOR!

Debbie suggested that I walk around the "Triage Loop" for a little while, so Rusty and I began the walk to try to get labor to come faster. We walked for about 5 minutes before I had to go to the bathroom. We headed back to Triage, went potty, and then headed back to the "Loop". My contractions were 1-2 minutes apart, so we told one of the nurses. She suggested that we go back to the bed in Triage and after a few minutes, they decided to admit me to the hospital and moved me to the delivery room. By the time I got into the delivery room, it was around 5:45am, and somewhere in there, Beth had arrived, Angelyn was called to come, and I was in a TON of pain - begging for an epidural with all of my soul.

Once I arrived in the delivery room, I went to the bathroom again (all while having some seriously intense (and SUPER FAST) contractions). I don't know how long I was in there, but afterwards, I climbed into the bed where Little Sarah would be born. I begged and pleaded for an epidural! I was in AGONY! The nurse explained to me that in order for me to have an epidural, I had to have an IV, get bloodwork done, and a few other procedures prior to the epidural, so I asked her to go ahead and start my IV and get my bloodwork. In the time that it took her to get the IV put into my hand, I had at least 3 contractions. They were SO fast and SO intense. She got the bloodwork ready to be sent to the labs, and then it started. I didn't see this until AFTER Sarah was born, but my bloodwork never even made it out of the room to be analyzed! It got tossed onto the nurses' desk at some point.

The nurse finally realized that I wasn't kidding about my contractions. I wasn't set up on any Mommy or Baby monitors yet, so she couldn't really "see" what was going on with my contractions...she could only hear my complaints, my crying, my pleading for medicine, etc. She decided to exam me to see how far dilated I was at that point.

I don't remember seeing many things during Sarah's labor and delivery because my eyes were closed, but I remember hearing lots of things (over my screams). The nurse checked to see how far dilated I was, and I heard her say, "Well, you're 7...wait...you're 8....you're 10, you're 10, you're 10!" And she ran out of the room.

Somewhere in there, Rusty told me that he needed to call Ang to tell her that it was time, and I told him that he needed to be right there where he was, so Beth stepped out of the room to call her. Ang was already on her way to the hospital, and when Beth was telling her that it was time, she barely made it back into the room before Sarah was born.

I had NO control over my body at this point, and Sarah was coming...and she was not kidding...AT ALL!

The next thing I remember seeing is Debbie running into the room trying to put on a glove. She yelled at me, "Rebekah, you have to stop pushing! I don't even have my gloves on yet!!" I told her that I had NO control, and I think she realized that as she got her first glove on and was holding Sarah's head in from coming out any more than it already had because Little Sarah was already halfway born! The nurse put on Debbie's other glove, and from what I understand, Sarah was born before Debbie could get her other hand back there to catch.

My water broke, and within seconds, Sarah was born. She came SO FAST that she was born onto the bed because the delivery bed wasn't even broken down, the stirrups were not set up, and the nurses were darting around the room. The midwife was there to pick her up off of the bed, but Rusty says that there was a moment that the panic stopped and everyone looked down onto the bed to see Little Sarah lying there. Rusty didn't even see her come out because she came that fast! Beth was standing there in amazement (and confusion -- her job was to hold my right leg, but we never even made it to that part)!

The nurse placed Sarah on my chest, and I looked down at her and said, "Hello Little!" They didn't have a chance to clean her up, so I got to hold her for a little over an hour while they got everything set up for her bath. I was able to nurse Sarah without any problems whatsoever. It was like she came into this world knowing just how to eat, which was a blessing all on its own.

From the time that I was placed in the delivery room (5:45am) to the time that Sarah was born (6:08am) was 23 minutes! Wow! I am fairly certain that I was in shock all day on Monday -- as were the rest of us -- because of how FAST Sarah came! Rusty's energy drink hadn't even kicked in, Beth's hair was still wet from her shower, and Angelyn got there, literally, minutes after Sarah was born!

God is SO great! I was very specific with my prayers for this labor and delivery.

I asked for labor and delivery to be fast.

I asked for Sarah and me to be healthy during and after delivery.

I asked that nursing be an easy and enjoyable process.

I asked to be able to walk around and not be stuck to the bed or medications.

Prayers ALWAYS get answered! Sometimes, the answer is "No." Sometimes, the answer is "Not right now." Sometimes the answer is "Yes." One way or the other, they are answered, and I firmly believe that. Thank God that this time, my answers were all "Yes!"

Sarah struggled with jaundice, as expected, but we finally came home from the hospital on Friday night (4.23). It was SO great to finally be home with the last "little" in tow!

I am so excited. I have been blessed with such a wonderful God that has given me such a wonderful family! If I have nothing else in this life, I have faith that God's plan for the Corley Clan is in motion and will work together for our good, and I can't wait to witness what wondrous things are in store for us! All 7 of us!