Welcome to the world....

Hannah Faith Machacek!! 

 Mommy and Daddy are SO glad that you are finally here!

You decided to make your debut on October 28, 2011 at 1:04 PM.  You weighed in at 7 pounds 11 ounces and were 20.5 inches long.  (Thank you for not being as big as Dr. Cook thought you were going to be!)

Hannah's (Long) Birth Story

On Wednesday the 26th, I had an appointment and a sonogram. During the sonogram, the technician kept saying, "Are you having a contraction?" and "That feels like a contraction!"...all I could feel was a tightening/hardening in my stomach.  I just figured it was Braxton-Hicks beacuse they never hurt.  The sonogram showed that Hannah weighed in around 9.5 pounds!  I was surprised by this because I didn't feel huge and Dr. Cook said the prior week that he felt like the baby was 'average size.'  (by average - I was thinking 7.5 pounds...but I found out after Hannah was born Dr. Cook meant 8.5!)  They hooked me up to a machine that monitored my contractions as well as Hannah's heart rate and the machine showed that I was definitely having contractions. 

Dr. Cook hadn't checked my cervix the whole pregnancy.  He said that he doesn't like to check (especially first time mothers) until they are past due simply because he doesn't like to give them false hope that labor is closer than it really is since a woman can be dialated and effaced for several weeks before they actually go into labor.  I was totally ok with that reasoning!  Finally at 40 weeks and 6 days, he checked me and said that I was dialated 2 centimeters and 80% effaced.  He then proceeded to tell me that he was on call over the weekend and would be very surprised if Monday rolled around and we hadn't had a baby yet.  And if we hadn't had a baby yet, he was going to induce on Monday the 31st. (yes, Halloween)  I was very against having a Halloween baby because, well, it's Halloween and what kind of party would you get every year for your birthday - a Halloween one.  That sounded fun - but only for a year or two!  So we left the doctor and went straight home to take a long walk to 'hurry along the process."  (For several weeks prior to delivery day Matt and I walked a few miles each evening.)

Thursday was an uneventful day as far as contractions.  I made one final 'pregnant' grocery shopping trip and just relaxed and tried to rest as much as I could knowing that by Monday at the latest we would have a baby!  Matt and I were watching the World Series game Thursday night and Pumpkin was going CRAZY inside my tummy kicking and moving.  I kept telling Matt that the baby was going to just kick through my stomach and come out!  It was amazing to just sit and watch my stomach stretch and move and know that the precious little baby inside of me that we had prayed, and waited for was the one doing it all! 

I woke up Friday morning at 4:05 AM with a cramping feeling in my lower abdomen and thought 'is this a contraction?' The pain lasted for about a minute and then went away.  I decided that I wasn't sure it was a contraction so I figured I would go to the bathroom and crawl back in bed.  (Hey, when your pregnant and awake at night, you always go to the bathroom before you crawl back in bed!)  I got comfortable and just about the time I was dozing off, the pain came back.  I looked at my phone and 10 minutes had passed.  I couldn't handle the pain while laying in bed, so I got up and stood beside the bed.  That seemed to help the pain.  Again, I headed for the bathroom to find that I had lost my mucus plug..at this point I realized that yes, the pain I was having was indeed contractions and that hopefully we were going to have a baby today!  The second contraction passed and I thought to myself 'Ok, you better rest in between contractions' so I crawled back in bed.  Ten minutes later, I was back out of bed!  Since this was indeed contractions, I started timing them.  I didn't wake Matt up yet because I figured it was going to be a very long process and one of us should be rested up so that we could make informed decisions.  I say this because our birth plan was simply to 'take things as they come' but to stay drug free and to 'be prepared for anything.' 

The fourth contraction came only a mere 5 minutes after the 3rd.  At this point I wanted to get excited that in several hours we would have a baby but tried to remain calm as I knew that it could take many more hours before we actually had the baby!  So, it's 5:30 AM now and contractions have continued to be 3-5 minutes apart lasting anywhere from 45 seconds to 1 minute and 15 seconds.  I decided to wake Matt up because my back was starting to hurt and I wanted him to rub it.  So I went over to his side of the bed and gently shook his shoulder.  He raised his head off the pillow and I asked him, "Are you ready to have a baby?" and he immediately responded, "Did your water break?"  I told him no, but I was having contractions and needed him to rub my back.  So he quickly got up and started to rub my back during contractions - which were starting to get stronger.  I decided to get in the shower and just stand under the hot water.  While in the shower, the contractions seemed to not be as strong so I was thinking that it was just false labor.  So I washed my hair and got out.  Only after getting out, the contractions started to get even stronger.  By this time Matt had already made a pot of coffee and was getting ready to make breakfast.  In the middle of blow drying my hair, I had a fairly strong contraction and told Matt that as soon as I was done I was going to 'pack my bag' and we were heading for the hospital.  I had most of the stuff I wanted to bring in the suitcase already, so I just had to throw in a few last minute things.

So at 6:45 we were in the pickup on our way to the hospital!!  This was when it really sank in that we just left the house for the last time as a family of two!  The next time I walked through our front door, we would be bringing baby home!  We made 'the call' to our parents to let them know we were headed to the hospital.  We got to the hospital shortly after 7:00 AM and by 7:20 AM we were in a room, in a gown, and the nurses were checking me.  I was dialated 3 centimeters and 100% effaced.  They got me all hooked up to the monitors and one of the nurses had mentioned something about staying in bed.  I absolutely could not sit or lay during a contraction - there was no way that I was going to labor in bed.  So I asked if I there was any way that I could walk around or at least stand...the only way I could was if I stayed right by the bed so that they could keep the monitors on me.  The only way I was 'comfortable' was leaning over the bed and having Matt put pressure on my lower back.  We continued to labor like this for a few hours.  Around 9:15 my Mom arrived.  They came in and checked me shortly after Mom got there and I was dialated 5 centimeters!  Woohoo - making pretty quick progress for a first timer or so I thought! 

We continued to labor leaning on the bed and sitting on a birthing ball.  I'm fairly certain that my water broke around 11 or so because I felt like I peed myself and there was fluid on the floor, even though I was sitting on an absorbent pad.  They checked me after the fluid was cleaned up and I was dialated 6 centimeters.  Several times during labor the nurses came in to check the monitors because while I was leaning over the monitor would 'lose' Hannah's heartbeat and they would have to move it.  The monitor for my contractions also wasn't really picking them up as well as if I would've been laying in bed so they made get in bed.  I'm not sure how women lay in bed and labor - it was way more painful!  Since I was in bed, they checked me again and never really told me what I was at - or I was in the middle of a contraction and never heard them.  Dr. Cook came in to break my water and nothing came out...this confirmed the fact to me that my water had broken on the ball earlier!  Since they were making me stay in bed, my 'focus' to continue drug free (coupled with the fact I thought I was going to be pushing out a nine and half pound baby) had me rethinking the 'no epidural' decision.  (I still thought I was only at a 6.)  So in all my pain and fear (of pushing that really big baby out) I wanted some drugs!  I had told Matt before we went into labor, on several occassions, to talk me out of getting drugs and encourage me that I could continue to do this drug free.  He tried, but I told him that I needed something to just 'take the edge off.'  So I succumbed to the pain and fear and asked for some IV drugs.  They checked me and told me they would have to call Dr. Cook and double-check that I could get something.  They came back and gave me half of the lowest dose of Stadol.  This helped me relax enough to allow my body to reach full dialation.

I remember several people telling me that when you feel like you need to poop, you are probably ready to push!  All of a sudden I had a contraction and felt some intense pressure.  Apparently I was louder during that contraction than any other because the nurse came in and asked if I was ready to push!  I told her I thought so and she checked me.  My cervix wasn't quite ready...so they made me wait to push.  Several contractions later, that feeling was a little stronger.  So they had me do a 'practice push' and called Dr. Cook.  I'm not sure what time I started pushing but to me the whole pushing thing didn't seem to take too long.  Matt and Mom said it was probably between 30 and 45 minutes.  It seemed like 15 to me!  I will never forget the moment that Hannah came out and Dr. Cook held her up and said "It's a GIRL!"  I was kind of surprised because all pregnancy long I had felt and had SO many people tell me that we were having a boy.  There was a small part of me that thought it was a girl and during months 6 and 7, I had a very strong feeling it was a girl. 

I was a little worried when she first came out because she wasn't 'screaming' but it wasn't long and she started crying - the most beautiful sound!

It was the most amazing feeling when they placed her on my stomach!  It is definitely a feeling that no one can prepare you for or ever describe to you.  I was in awe of the little person that just the night before was kicking me like crazy!  She was absolutely beautiful!! (and I'm crying as I write this remembering the feelings!)  I have never been so proud of myself as I was at that moment - that I managed to carry, keep safe, and bring into the world a beautiful baby girl!  We love her so very much!!