The Davenport Duo...turned Trio!: Harper's Birth Story

Well, I last left you hanging on the edge of your seats wondering I even had a baby! That week was quite a long, but great one. Cody and I reveled in the last few days of 'just us' and then our parents came into town and we loved every second they were all there! Tuesday night, before everyone came into town, I made a 'last supper' for just the two of us...I wanted to make it special :)

Then our families came into town and we started to get excited...but before that, we had to have Mexican for lunch on the day of my induction. My parents, us and the Noble's had a great 'last lunch' before Harper came!

Well, she didn't come on her own, so we proceeded with the induction at midnight on Thursday, December 15th. Here's a picture of us leaving the house to head to the hospital...we were so excited, nervous and freaked out!

THe induction wasn't quite what we were expecting. Our doctor has said that if we come in at midnight, I could start with a natural gel to try and get the process going more naturally and still sleep that night....well, she was wrong! I'm not sure if most people sleep, but I surely didn't. Not to mention, I had horrible back labor so, about 30 minutes after they administered the gel, so my back was in intense pain up until I got an epidural the next day! But, I was stubborn (read: freaked out) of the epidural so the back labor was manageable until around noon. I think I had finally convinced myself that the pros were greater than the cons!

During the labor process, before I got the epidural...the rocking chair was about the only thing that relieved some of the back labor...and my apple juice box :) ! I wish I had a picture of this, but one of the incredible 'perks' of our hospital is the massage therapist they have on staff. She came in around 9am and gave me an incredible back massage. It helped so much, I wanted to kiss the lady! haha

Around noon, I finally got an epidural and Cody was ready to go!

After the epidural I was happy and pain-free....but sadly, bed-ridden until the next day. But, it was just what I needed to get a little bit of rest and try to get the ball rolling. A few hours later, I hadn't progressed much (I was at about 3 cm still) and so the doctor started me on Pitocin and broke my water. We were then back to the waiting game and already experiencing sleep-deprivation and HUNGER! The doctor came back at 7pm and checked me...I had only progressed 1 cm. She said she would be back at 9pm and would need me to have progressed at least 5 to 6 cm or we would have to start discussing a C-section.

At this point, I would have performed the C-section myself just to get this over with! So, the next 2 hours I just talked to God and came to terms with me having a c-section. It's not that I was completely against the idea, i just knew it would be a little more difficult of a recovery process. BUt, I had such a peace that the Lord was in control and He would be with me the entire way! My prayer was, "Lord, please either have me progress to a 7 or nothing at all". I didn't want to have to make another 'waiting game' decision. But, around 8:30pm the nurse came in and said the baby's heart rate was dipping every time I had a contraction, so she needed to get the doctor to check me. Dr. Bradford came in and it was the moment of truth.....'you're nearly fully dilated!", she exclaimed! I was shocked, I said "like, 10 cm fully dilated?'...she laughed and said, 'yup and ill be back in about 30 minutes and we'll start having you push!" I was in utter shock, Ephesians 3:20 "...to the God who will do exceedingly abundantly more than we ask or imagine'....God was faithful, once again. Well, long story short, I pushed for about 45 minutes and our little lady was here. Harper Gray Davenport was born on December 16, 2011 at 11:06pm weighing

6 lbs. and 13 oz, 21 inches long. Our hearts were overwhelmed with God's goodness, grace and love for us. We were now three.