Welcome to the world, Harper Lorraine Bentley!
On Thursday morning, August 18, I had my weekly checkup with the OB, and they told me that I was 2 cm dilated and 90% thinning. She was pretty confident that I was going to give birth at some point this upcoming weekend. I was super excited to meet our little girl and immediately called Richard and your grandparents to tell them the news. Since you would be coming soon, I decided to get my nails done and take it easy the rest of the day.
It all started bright on early Friday morning, August 19. I found I couldn't sleep well and made my way to our loft and slept on the sofa; however, around 3:30- 4:00 a.m. I started to have painful cramps, but I didn't think they were contractions just yet. I rolled over and tried to go back to sleep until another shooting pain took my breath away. I grabbed my cell phone, opened my pregnancy app, and started timing my contractions. They were irregular and were anywhere from 6-9 minutes apart. Eventually they got to the point where I couldn't walk or talk. I called the on-call nurse and was told to stay at home until they were 4-5 minutes apart. I tried to keep calm, but the pain was only getting worse. Eventually I woke Richard at 7:00 a.m. and told him that I wasn't feeling well and that it wouldn't be a good idea to go to work today. By 8:00 a.m. my contractions were now in the 5 minute range when I called the doctors again. But yet again, I was told to wait until they were all 4 minutes apart. A little frustrated, I decided to take a shower and start getting ready. By 10:00 a.m. the car was packed and we were on our way to the hospital. Thankfully, it was Friday and later in the morning allowing for zero traffic on 400. Even though there wasn't any traffic, I felt like I was losing my mind. The pain had gotten so bad that it felt like I was going to be sick.
By 10:20 a.m. we were pulling into the hospital and checking in. Still in so much pain, I even spelled Richard's name wrong on one of the check-in forms, thankfully he took over from there. What felt like hours but was only a few minutes of waiting for a room, we were escorted to a large corner room where I changed and was hooked up to the IV and given a small pain killer since the anesthesiologist was backed up at the moment (no thanks to the full moon the night before and there was a rush of pregnant women coming into the hospital). Before I got the epidural, I was 6 cm. dilated and progressing well. Finally, the nicest women walked in, who was the anesthesiologist and relieved me from the worst pain I have ever felt in my life. I'm still not quite sure how women do the whole thing without medicine.
Since there was no rush at this point, my midwife told me to relax and that the baby would be here between 3:00-5:00 p.m. Finally, all the family made their way to the hospital and before I knew it, they were escorted back out and was told that we would begin pushing very quickly. Within 15 minutes, you were out and had my first look at you, my beautiful baby girl. You were placed on my chest, and a rush of emotions came over me. Looking into Richard's eyes, he said, "He was so unbelievably proud of me and how beautiful you were [Harper]!"
Harper Lorraine, you made your beautiful entrance into the world at 3:41 p.m. at Northside Women's Center in Atlanta on a Friday afternoon. You weighed 7 lbs. 6 oz. and were 19 3/4 inches long. Your cries were wonderful as I held you in my arms for the first time!
{Our one and only picture before you was born. Obviously taken after the epidural}
Day 2 in the hospital!
{Our first family picture as three}
Once all the families and your dad left at night, it was just you and me! When I had a spare second to write something down I quickly went to my cell phone to help me remember these small moments... here are a few things I wrote our first night together:
You're not much of a crier, but you do not like when the nurses come in at all hours of the night to take your temperature, but they always tell me how beautiful you are and how perfect your skin is, but I already knew that :) Thankfully, you latched right away and eat every 1- 2 hrs and fall asleep very quickly (it is actually a little hard to keep you awake). As the nights were very long, at least the summer Olympics have been on all hours, which helps with the long sleepless nights as you sleep skin to skin, which is my favorite moment so far. As you lay on my chest and I can hear your little breaths for air and coos make me tear up with absolute joy. As you look at me with those perfect big, blue eyes and give me a side smile that is usually accompanied with a big sneeze, makes me fall in love with you over and over again.
Day 2 in the hospital!
{This was taken minutes after your 24 hr test was completed. They had to draw blood from your right foot, which is why it was exposed...you poor thing}
{We were super excited to finally get you home, but your little newborn outfit was a little big on you}
Your dad came to pick us up Sunday morning around 10:30 a.m. Once the nurse came in and had us complete the discharge papers, we were on our way home around 1:00 p.m. Your final weight was 6 lbs. 14 oz., which is very normal for all babies to drop weight. We arrived to a cleaned home and sweet decorations (A big thanks to mom and sister).
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