The Birth Story of Little Miss Darby Lynne Murray

On the morning of Wednesday, July 16, 2008 we were off to the hospital to be induced! Eric and I were both so happy that my sister Emily, who had been in town since July 3rd, was still here to come with us. After we were set up in our room and settled in, the pitocin was started.

When we started, I was still just 1 centimeter dilated. The contractions picked up pretty quickly, but even still I was not progressing with dilation. By 2pm I had only made it to 2 centimeters and was experiencing the MOST intense and painful contractions. They were one on top of the other, barely time to take a breath in between. Dr. Gonzalez came in and broke my water to try to get dilation moving. Eric was desperately trying to get me to do the breathing techniques we had learned in our childbirth class. I was just in WAY too much pain to count breaths. My sister was rubbing my legs and trying to help me relax.

A little while later, our nurse Stacie (whom I LOVED by the way, she was so great!) checked me one more time. I was more then 2 Cm's but not quite a 3! I had been at it for 8 hrs at this point, in horrible pain. Stacie told us that when she checked me she could feel lots of hardened scar tissue that had been a result of the 2 d&c's I had after we lost both of our heaven babies. The scar tissue was preventing my cervix from opening any further. She explained that what would probably happen was that at some point it would eventually snap open from the pressure of the baby's head once she came down some more. I wanted a break, but obviously that's not a choice, so I opted for an epidural.

You aren't usually given an epidural until you are 4 Cm's, but Stacie agreed that an early epidural was definitely appropriate in this case and called in who I refer to as "the magic worker". Let me tell you though. It was NOT easy having an epidural placed in my back while in the middle of contractions! I sware, nurse Stacie was my sanity at that point helping through each step of the epidural process. Once it was in, well, all I have to say is it was magic!

I was still able to FEEL the pressure of the contractions, but they were in no way anywhere close to as painful! I was able to relax more and tried to take a nap. My sister and Eric did some crosswords and tried to nap themselves.

At 2am I was STILL just 3Cm's and was contracting like crazy. They had upped the pitocin but it wasn't making any changes to my cervix because of the scar tissue. I also had a high fever and they started to wonder if maybe the baby just wasn't coming down because my body just wasn't able to fit it! I was so scared, I didn't want a c-section at all, but Eric was so cute. He just kept saying "Babe, we are both c-section babies, and we have beautiful heads!" :-) They have me some antibiotics and some benadryl and told me to go to sleep for another few hours if I could.

The magical hour of around 4am they checked me again and I had popped open to 5Cm's! I can't even tell you how happy we all were to hear that news! The talk of a c-section was put on the back burner and it looked like things were finally moving in the right direction!

At 6am I had reached 10Cm's. We decided that after everything the baby and I had been through, it would be best to wait a few more hours for the baby to move down further on it's own before I started pushing. I could feel the contractions in my butt, so we knew she wasn't far from where we needed her to be!

At 8:15am I started pushing. I have to say, I knew Eric was going to be great during the delivery, but honestly, he was MORE then great. With every push he had the best encouraging words a laboring woman could hear! He was so sweet and I could hear his excitement in his voice!

I can't begin to tell you how special it was to have my sister there by my side too. Our sisterly bond is something I cherish and the birth wouldn't have been the same without having her there.

Dr. Gonzalez showed up just in time and with a few pushes, and after hearing her explain "This baby has a big head!" (not something I wanted to hear at that point!) Darby was born at 9:19am on July 17th!

Darby was born with a fever, probably due to my high fever, but her temperature came down pretty quick. She was healthy, alert and just perfect. Her eyes were WIDE open, looking around the room, following voices. It was a dream come true.

Even so, Eric would not leave my side. After I delivered the placenta I begin gushing blood. I have to say, it was a really scary frantic few moments! They gave me a shot to help me clot and it eventually slowed down and after a few stitches, it was all over! My first words were "We are adopting our 2nd child!" but of course, here I am a few days later, telling myself I could do it again, and it would be worth it. I hope the next time will be easier, I could really do without another 25 hour labor with all the drama.

Now. Here are a few facts about July 17th, and reasons why it really was simply the PERFECT day to have Darby.

First - July 17th is Eric's Aunt (and Darby's Great Aunt) Lynne's birthday. Hence the reason why she was named Darby Lynne. There was NO question about it once we realized we were going to have her on the 17th that she had easily resolved the great middle name debate. Plus, we LOVE Aunt Lynne! Eric spent lot's of time with her growing up, and always called her Aunt Nin. We know Darby is going to love being named after such a wonderful Great Aunt!

Second - July 17th proves we have come FULL circle in EXACTLY one year. A year ago to the day, we were at Los Alamitos Hospital, with Dr. Gonzalez, for my 2nd D&C after loosing our heaven baby #2. If we had only known then that in just one year we would be holding our beautiful baby girl in our arms and would finally be parents.

Well. There you have it, all the details! Darby Lynne Murray is finally here with us and we just could NOT be any happier. She is perfect. Her face is flawless and I just can't wait to get to know every little thing about her. She is a good baby, loves to eat and hasn't been too much trouble at night (knock on wood!).

My sister was in charge of pictures during delivery and she did a great job! I have to do some cropping though, things moved so fast she didn't have time to think about censoring! We were so lucky to have her in there for the support and help and we just love her so much! I will post some of the pictures she took as soon as I have a little time to crop them and do a bit of editing! I promise to get them up soon!