Our family
Welcome to the world Harper
Our wonderful nurse, Tawnya, right before I delivered
With our neighbor, Beth
Sarah dropping me off at the hospital after my water broke (One of my last pictures of me pregnant)
The Alchalbi family
Harper on her way home
I can't believe Harper is finally here!!!!! What a fun journey this has been from finding out we were pregnant, to my body changing, to doctor appointments, to ultrasounds, to my water breaking, and the whole labor and delivery to finally being able to meet her!!!!
On July 27th, 2011 I had gone to lunch with my friend, Sarah, and we had come back to my house to look at Harper's nursery. After looking at it, we came back downstairs and we were sitting on the couch chatting. I had just gotten up to go use the restroom, and then I sat back down on the couch. As soon as I sat back down I felt warm water in my pants. I wasn't sure if my water had broke, or if I had just peed again. So I stood up and sure enough, more water came. (this was at 2:30pm)We ran to the restroom and Sarah got my phone so I called Brian to tell him. When he answered I told him my water broke, and he said "you're kidding right?" And I said "no, I would not kid around about something like this" So he said "do I need to come home?" (Brian was a little clueless to how serious it is when your water breaks.) And I said yes, and he was on his way home. After I called my doctor and he told me to come in so he could double check to see if my water broke. So Sarah drove e to my doctor's office and he checked, and yup, sure enough, it had broke. I was only dialated 2cm though. So off we went to the hospital and I checked in. Shortly after Brian and his mom met us at the hospital.
Around 5:00 we checked into our room and I was able to shower and get ready for my daughter's arrival. At 7:00 our new labor and delivery nurse, Tawnya, came in and she was AMAZING!!! She was so sweet and kind and made my labor and delivery experience an unforgettable, easy, process. Around 7:00pm ( I remember because Big Brother was on) my contractions were becoming very painful, so I requested my epidural. The doctor came in and gave it to me and honestly it hurt more to get my IV put in than the epidural. Once it had kicked in, I was in no pain at all, just enjoying the thought that we were soon about to meet our daughter. Around 2am,they said I was dialted at a ten, but instead of using pitocin to jump start the labor they said they were going to let her naturally labor down because I was waiting for my doctor who would be at the hospital at 7am.
At 2:30am my epidural wore off and it was AWFUL!!!!!! My pain was so bad I was shaking, nauseous, and crying and they called the doctor to come and give me more, which he did, it just took a good hour to kick in. I don't know HOW ANYBODY WOULD WANT TO GIVE BIRTH NATURALLY!!!!! That pain was awful! After it kicked in, Brian (who took a 5hr energy at midnight because he thought she was going to be here around 2am) and I took a nap until 6am. Around 6am, Tawnya, woke us up and she said she was going to start getting things together so I could deliver. So around 6:45 she had me do a couple practice pushes, then at 6:47 my doctor came in and got ready and three pushes later Harper was delivered at 7:01 am. Weighing 5 pounds 11 ounces and she was 19 inches long.
The feeling I thought I was going to have when I met her was 100 times better. I couldn't believe I was holding and listening to my daughter cry. It was surreal. I loved that Brian cut her umbilical cord, I feel like it made him part of the experience, other than helping me push.
Brian and I are in Heaven loving our precious healthy daughter. We are sooooooo blessed to have had a healthy pregnancy, labor, and delivery. We love her so much and we can't wait to watch her grow daily.
