This is my 3rd pregnancy ... and we are expecting a baby GIRL ... we are so excited and can't wait to meet her!!! Her name will be Julianna Marie!!! I am due March 15th ... but I don't think she will come on time, as my last daughter was 14 days over due!!!

Julianna's Birth Story

On Friday March 14th at around 1pm I started having mild menstrual like cramping... I went to the bathroom and noticed that I lost part of the mucus plug. I continued to have cramping, and decided at 2:30pm to go pick up Koty (my oldest child) from school just in case things started progressing quickly. I took a hot bath, and the cramping still continued, so I called my husband Jimmy home from work to help take care of the other kids. The cramping continued into what I thought was contractions... so we headed over to my mom's house around 6:30pm so that Grampa could watch the kids while we went to the hospital to have the baby. I started to worry about the baby around 10pm ... so Jimmy and I headed to the hospital to get checked.... I was only 1cm dilated and 75% effaced... and was NOT in labor :-( ... cramping continued off and on all night long....

Woke up on Saturday morning (March 15th) still cramping... my Mom decided to make me go grocery shopping with her... thinking that the brisk walking would get things going quicker... we got home around 11:00am. I called my doctor just to see if he had any suggestions of how to get the labor to start, and make the contractions stronger. He suggested taking a brisk walk around the block a few times, and having a hot bath... I did that... and at about 2:30pm I went to the bathroom and noticed that I was bleeding, and having very strong contractions. I called L & D and they suggested that I come in to get checked. We arrived at the hospital around 3pm. The nurse checked me and I was 3cm and 100% effaced... YAY labor had begun and we would be having our baby soon. About 1/2 an hour later I was 6cm... so I called my Mom to come to the hospital. Contractions were coming every 2 minutes.... long and strong and incredibly painful... I requested an epidural, so the nurse came in and put in my IV. My Mom arrived shortly after that at about 4:50pm. I was in incredible pain... so the nurse wanted to check me before I got the epidural... OMG I was 9cm... and there was no time for an epidural!!!! The nurses prepped the bed for me to deliver and gave me the gas mask to take the edge off the pain... It didn't work... It just made me almost pass out... LOL!!! My water broke on its own at this point... and the nurses noticed that there was meconium in the amniotic fluid, and had to call the respiratory staff to assist.... All of the sudden I had an incredible urge to push... My doctor wasn't there... only the nurses and with 2 good hard pushes... We welcomed our beautiful daughter Julianna Marie into the world at 5:19pm!!! She was wisked away to suction out all of the meconium... and I was informed that she was having trouble breathing from it, and had to be taken to the NICU. I saw my baby for a quick moment, gave her a kiss... and she was taken away :-(

My nurse Jen was absolutely amazing... once my doctor finally arrived... he put in 1 stitch, said congratulations and left. My nurse cleaned me up... and made sure that my uterus had stopped contracting. I got to have a nice hot bath around 8pm (Which is the best feeling ever after having a baby) after that... I quickly got dressed in my hospital gown and robe... and FINALLY got to go to NICU to see my beautiful baby girl :-) She was absolutely perfect!!!!