Ezri's birth story

Ezri [ez-ree] is just over a month and a half old and we have been blessed with a little babe that sleeps so here I am, finding some time in Oregon while both kids are napping, to write out her birth story.

California. One of our favourite vacation spots and the place we found out that we were pregnant with Ezri. She was our rainbow baby. After our loss in November 2016, I was hesitant to get my hopes up when it said "pregnant" on that Clear Blue stick on March 11, 2017 in our hotel bathroom in Palm Springs. But HOPE is a funny thing...it's impossible to push that desire for good things to come and I found myself overjoyed that Cairo would have a sibling. We celebrated pool side for the whole 2 weeks we were in The Golden State and those 2 weeks slowly turned into 9 months of excitement.

Here we go...

November 24
2:30am. I wake up with mild contractions. 3 days overdue and I didn't want to get too excited because these things take time so I urge myself to go back to sleep in-between contractions. 
4:45am. Contractions have gone from 10 min to 8 min so I hop in the shower and keep telling myself not to get too excited because it still may not be today but silently cheering in my head that it could be!
5:30am. I wake David up using these exact words "Ok David, this could be the day."
6:30am. Load the car up, take Cairo and meet my parents at the hospital so they could take Cairo to their house. It's a funny thing explaining to a 2 year old that this is the day that they will get a sibling. For some reason he wasn't as excited as we were.
7:00am. "Go time." We arrive at the hospital. 2cm dilated. great. "Could you walk around for an hour to see if you progress at all?" Would love to. There is really nothing better than thinking you are further along than you are. 
8:00am. 4cm dilated. "Ok we are going to need you to stop walking because we don't have enough nurses right now and we will probably need to transfer you to another hospital." Oh really? Would love to, would love to slow down labour #saysnopregnantwomanever
8:30am. Dr. Hansen (my doctor, aka life saver) comes in. Tells me to walk around my room; they can't transfer you if you are too far along (5 cm). I walk around that room like I'm a freaking race walker and it's working. I ask for the gas because this is when things get a bit dicey. 
side bar: they have called in for a transfer for me but the transfer call centre is backed up. 
9:00am. Dr. hansen checks me "5 cm" hallelujah. Can't transfer me because I am too far along but they tell me I can't get an epidural because there is not enough nurses. *in my mind: no problem, I've got this*
9:45am. They get me into a room and I am able to still walk there, we are at an 8 out of 10 for pain at this moment but things only ramp up from there. I try the bath with David holds the running water on my lower back and I'm basically in dream land...pain goes down to like a 7 out of 10 with the hot water - thank you Jesus.
10:30am. I get out of the shower and the pain is at an all time high: 11 out of 10 for sure. Why do we as women joyfully sign up for this?
Dr. Hansen comes in, checks me, I'm 7cm, breaks my water and then asks the nurse if she wants a coffee (I distinctly remember hearing this and she asked for a vanilla latte and I told the nurse "Oh that's what I drink too" in between contractions). While he is gone for roughly 10 minutes, THINGS START MOVING! I go from 7cm to 10cm in a matter of minutes and they page him to come back, meanwhile telling me to not push and "pant" through the contractions. Ya easier said than done. When Dr. Hansen walks back into the room with two coffees in hand the nurse is yelling "+ 2! + 2!"...I think that meant it was time. 
11:04am. After Dr. Hansen quickly put on gloves, I was allowed to push and 5 minutes later she was on my chest and David was cutting the umbilical cord. Praise Jesus she is here and breathing and healthy. 

We didn't have a name for our baby girl for a while (too many good ones to pick from) but she was 8 lbs 10 oz and 21" long. She came out with a full head of hair and 10 fingers and 10 toes (I remember counting them right away for some reason). We got to go home that night and sleep in our own bed and just snuggle our girl while Cairo stayed at my parents'. I felt like the whole thing was short and sweet and we have been smitten with her ever since!

Now at a month and a half she is just a delight and we're quite overjoyed that we now have a girl and a boy to love here on Earth. We think she has a bit lighter skin than Cairo but they both share the same jovial disposition. She loves smiling and sleeping and we couldn't ask for anything more.