Nicole's Birth Story

Wow!  I can't believe it's been almost 6 months since Nicole joined us in this world.  Hopefully I can remember most of the details of her birth, poor 6th baby....

Lice...

Stomach bug...

Just what you need before a baby, right?!

All 6 girls in the Bradley house got lice a few weeks before Nicole was due.  Seriously!!  I had nesting to do!  Good thing it came in the form of eradicating lice from our home so that I didn't have to worry about it while nursing a new born.  With the help of friends and family we got it taken care of just days before baby Nicole decided to arrive.

Of course all of this was happening right at Christmas time as well, so we really had nothing else on our minds.....

I had been having false labor for a few nights.  I'd even gone as far as calling the midwife, but luckily knew better than to make the 40 minute trek to the birth center just yet.  Things calmed down and still no baby.  My big girls were disappointed to be put to bed.

The morning of the 23rd, around 5am I woke up to Josh getting ready for work.  I got up to use the bathroom.  Without grossing everyone out, that trip to the bathroom gave me some indications that things were going to be starting soon.  I got back in bed and tried to go to sleep.  All the while planning out my day of how I was going to be able to drive myself to the birth center since Josh would be at work.  Contractions began at 5:30am.  I got up and asked Josh if he could put himself on  "delay" for going in to work just to see if this was really birth day.  By 6am I was sure of it!  I called the midwife and my mother and let them both know it was game time.  I decided not to delay very much because I was Strep B positive and knew I needed antibiotics.
After packing up our final things and enduring the long drive in, we made it to the Birth Center at 7:30am, just before shift change.  I was only at a 3 and my labor had slowed down a bit on the ride in so we decided to make ourselves comfortable.  I had invited Makayla and Caroline (my oldest two daughters) to the birth.  They were 9 and 8 years old respectively.  They hunkered down with a movie in the waiting room....for 30 minutes.  I called our friend who is a doula just to let her know.  I didn't know with the holidays if she would be able to come.  Luckily, she was free and said she could make it in after she got off work at 11.

It turns out that Makayla and Caroline were a wonderful distraction during labor. They were so loving and helpful to me,  I got my first round of antibiotics and paced the floor with the poll.  It was actually nice to have something to lean on as I was walking.  Once that first round was done I decided I wanted to get in the tub.  I knew I was going to birth in the tub because I was told it helped decrease the risk on passing Strep B to the baby.   I didn't receive my first round of antibiotics until 8:30-9am and you can't get the next round for another 4 hours.

I had told Josh ahead of time that I was really going to put him to work this time.  As our sixth, and potentially last child, I had to live this up for all that it was worth!  So I did.  I held his hand in the tub and had him remind me to relax and tell me I was doing a good job.  I know.  I'm a real slave driver.  He dominated his job by the way.

Around 10:20 we started taking guesses as to when the baby was going to arrive.  Everyone else seemed to be a lot more positive about it happening sooner rather than later.  I figured I still had plenty of time.  I wasn't screaming yet ;)

Then my water broke.  I figured it was something that the nurse and midwife might want to know.  Only we couldn't find them!  I had been so calm that the midwife figured she had plenty of time and had gone upstairs to make some coffee.

By the time she came to my room it was game time.  Only I had no idea. I couldn't have transitioned so quickly!  The pain went straight to the "I can't take it stage" which I'm pretty sure I said a few times.  The midwife did a quick check and told me to go for it.  Seriously??  Already!!  My mind wasn't in pushing zone yet so I gave myself a contraction to adjust.  After a little foot re-positioning on my part I was good to go.  The pain was still too intense for me, so I didn't really give it all I had, but that really didn't matter.  Nicole Peace Bradley was born at 10:58am whether I was pushing or not!  Makayla started crying tears of joy (whom I thought would be running to the lobby as soon as I was screaming) and Caroline was a little grossed out (whom I thought would LOVE the experience).

Once I got rinsed off and in bed, our sweet doula walked in the door. She had no idea the baby had been born and was a little surprised.  Caroline was the first to get peed on since we were loving on baby Nicole so much we forgot to put a diaper on her.  Makayla got spit up on all over.  Apparently when babies come out so fast, they don't have a good chance to clear things out on the way out.  Such a good baby sister already!

She weighed in right at 7lbs, which was wonderful since my last baby was almost 9 lbs and I had heard that they just keep getting bigger!

We are such a blessed family and we absolutely love our 6 sweet daughters!