Gabriella's Birth Story

Gabriella is my eighth child. Four of my children joined our family through the miracle of adoption, while four are biological, making Gabriella my fourth pregnancy. My four pregnancies were all relatively easy. I had morning sickness, but only until 12 weeks; I never craved anything unhealthy, only fruits and vegetables; and I wasn't in a lot of pain, just very tired. But i'll take being tired over morning sickness, crazy cravings, and body pain any day! With my three previous pregnancies, I delivered sometime between 38 and 41 weeks, so there really was no way to be certain when i'd deliver this time around. I just had to live day by day and know that I could deliver that day, the next day, or two weeks from then.

March 6th began like any other day. I woke up exhausted from a terrible night's sleep, dressed and fed seven children, shuffled the five oldest to the dentist, stopped by the library, went back home and began school for the day, made lunch, dealt with what is for sure our biggest tantrum of the year (so far), took a nap, and then handed the kids off to Wren when he came home from work at 6pm. Dinner wasn't made and the house was a mess, but I was too tired to do anything. "They're all yours," I said before retreating to my sanctuary- my bedroom- for another long nap.

I woke up around 9pm. A three hour nap- wow! Wren was asleep next to me and, when I got out of bed, I discovered that all seven children were sound asleep, a healthy dinner had been made, and Wren had tidied up the house. No wonder he was asleep at such an early hour!

Suddenly I felt pressure in my stomach. A few hours earlier a sharp pain had run through my stomach but I dismissed it as a coincidence because it didn't return. But now I began wondering: was I in labor? I wasn't sure if it was a false alarm or the real thing, so I decided to not wake up Wren. He had been working so hard lately, caring for me and the children, working a demanding job, and keeping up with all of my usual responsibilities, so I didn't want to wake him up if it was only a false alarm. That had been happening so many times during the last month of my pregnancy, and Wren even began to call me "the girl who cried wolf." Time would definitely tell within the next couple of hours whether I was in labor or not.

In the meantime, the pain kept coming... and intensifying every so often. It was so bad that I couldn't fall back asleep, so until I could make the determination of whether I was in false labor or real labor, I entered nesting mode. It was only 9pm, after all. I had the whole night to nest, nest, nest! So from 9ish at night to 3ish in the morning I did what any other 9-month pregnant woman on the verge of labor and delivery would do: I organized the pantry, unfolded and folded the baby's clothing, did laundry, and even cooked the next night's supper. All while the pain kept coming and coming. In fact, my experience reminded me of the song "She'll Be Coming 'Round the Mountain" but instead for me it was "She'll be Nesting 'Round the House as she Labors!"

I still couldn't make the determination of whether I was in labor or not, though. I would have just dismissed my pain for false labor and gone back to bed if it weren't for the pain that kept intensifying every hour. So around 3am I decided to text my sister and see if she wanted to go running. If six hours of nonstop cleaning wouldn't do the trick, running a couple miles most definitely should, right? My sister said yes and from 4am to 5am we went running around the neighborhood.

Okay, I'll try to stop rambling and get on with the part to when I began laboring, alright? Where was I? Oh...

FINALLY, when I was in the middle of my run, my water broke! I knew I wasn't crazy, I really was in labor. So we went back to the house and I woke Wren up, "honey, my water broke. We need to head to the hospital." My husband, who mind you is the hardest person to wake up and get out of bed, repeated what he has done with my three previous deliveries: he enters crazy man mode. "What? What? WHAT?! Labor? We're having a baby? Okay, let's go!" and he runs to the car with the hospital bag and forgets the most important detail: his pregnant wife and unborn child. Luckily, he only made it to the car and then remembered me... not like Gianna where he actually forgot me!

We arrived to the hospital a short time later. It was now 6:15am and I could tell the baby was going to come very, very soon. (Side note: So funny how my labor compares to life. One minute things are fine and calm, and the next minute there is hecticness and a conflict.) Wren and I, along with a couple of nurses, rushed to my birthing room on the labor and delivery floor of our local hospital. I got all situated- filled out paperwork, changed into a birthing gown, got hooked up to an IV (ouch!), and got as comfortable in bed as I could. We met with my doctor, Dr. Rashad, and discovered I was 8 centimeters dilated.

No wonder it hurt so bad.

An ways, for the next hour I patiently (I call it patiently, Wren calls it impatiently) waited to get to 10 centimeters. The time finally came and at about 8am I began pushing. It hurt so bad! Payback for such a wonderful, smooth, easy pregnancy... that I am sure of.

I pushed for about 20 minutes.

Pushed. Painfully.

And pushed. Excruciatingly.

And pushed. Agonizingly.

Finally, her head appeared. A head full of dark, beautiful hair.

Next came her shoulders. Small and tiny, very petite.

Then, her body. Thin and slender, the perfect size.

And finally, out she came!

"It's a GIRL," Wren cried, "a beautiful baby girl!"

Right onto Mommy's chest she went for a couple minutes of family time with me and Wren. We held her. We cried with her. And we couldn't believe that this baby is ours. How lucky are we? Truly lucky. She is beautiful and is the perfect combination of Wren, myself, and her brothers and sisters. Her name is Gabriella Lynette. Gabriella is a name I have loved all my life, and now the name belongs to a perfect little love of mine. Her middle name, Lynette, is after Wren's childhood nanny, a woman he admires and adores. Gabriella came home the very next day to a house full of love, where she is loved and adored. We cannot imagine life without our little beauty and cannot wait to see what life has in store for our amazing daughter.

Mommy and Daddy love you, Gabriella!