Introducing Dorothy Grace Fisher

New year, new blog post! For one of my 2018 resolutions, I decided that I want to blog once a week.  I like getting my thoughts out there and sharing with all of you so hopefully you will enjoy reading as much as I do writing.  One of my goals with my blog is to find God more in my life and gain a richer, more personal understanding of my relationship with Him in my every day life. So this will be a very spiritual and religious blogging year - not that that's any different from what I normally post :)

2018 truly started with a bang! (warning birth story ahead) I woke up around 7am on New Year's Day with some contractions and immediately figured they were once again a false alarm that I wasn't going into labor.  Sigh.  I had been having contractions on other days and then nothing so figured this was the same, even though my due date was on the 3rd of January.  So I took a bath, walked around, stayed in bed, etc.  But the pain was becoming worse and I decided to start timing them. They were 10 minutes apart for an hour and then quickly changed to 5 minutes apart.  At that point, my mom was driving to our house from Ohio so I told Ben to call a friend and go drop Flint off.  (Thanks Melissa!!) In the time it took to drop Flint off, the contractions became SUPER painful and I was officially convinced that I was in labor.  We went into the hospital around 10:30am and I got admitted.  

Since I was induced with Flint, this whole labor thing was new to me and I was NOT a fan. I got an epidural as soon as they got me to my room and that relieved the pain for a bit.  Unfortunately, the epidural wore off in a couple of hours and the contractions were back.  This same thing happened with Flint- and I originally thought it was due to incompetence of the guy that put my epidural in, but now am thinking I have a resistance to epidurals? Who knows. Fortunately my anesthesiologist was super awesome and nice and put stronger medication in which helped.  For about an hour.  Sigh.  The medicine wore off a few more times and he finally gave me the strongest stuff they have (the stuff they use for c sections according to him) and that finally worked.  Such relief! Side note- shout out to all of you moms who choose to go natural. I don't know how you do it! But I salute you. At this point it was around 7:30 or 8pm and the doctor came in to break my water.  He warned me that I would probably go pretty fast once my water broke.  He broke it at 8:30 officially and said it would take about 2 hours.  Well about half an hour later, it was apparently time to push! And I was not mentally prepared. Her birth just felt so different from my birth with Flint that I thought I had more time.  But I didn't! With Flint, I was very calm and serene as I pushed and he came.  With this little lady.... not so much. Fortunately I only had to push for about 20 minutes and then she was here! I will say though- during that 20 minutes I may have screamed "GET HER OUT OF ME!!!" a few times.  Ben and the doctors laughed at me.  And looking back, I laugh too.  Mainly because it's so out of character.  haha. 

The moment she came out though, it was instant relief and everything felt right. Which also differed from my first birth.  With your first child, I feel like you are still unsure about it all and even like "wait is this thing mine now?" but with your second (at least for me) there was an instant feeling of overwhelming love and a severe attachment.  I wish I could explain that better but that's all I've got.  My recovery with this birth has been much much better too.  I was up and walking around immediately and haven't been as sore, which has been nice.  I'm not the best at posting pictures on here- but I figured with the birth of a baby- you'd want to see some :) 

So her name is Dorothy Grace Fisher. Yes, I do feel a little weird about naming her after myself.  Just know that Ben chose her middle name since I chose her first name and didn't give him much of a choice in the matter. :) But her name suits her and she is beautiful.  No, Dorothy is not a family name.  I have loved that name since I was a little girl (huge Wizard of Oz fan here) and named all of my dolls and stuffed animals "Dorothy Beautiful" growing up.  Hence the name Dorothy.  And yes, I do love the nicknames Dottie and Dot for those who have asked.  I don't know if they will stick, but I am definitely open to them.  I'm just going to see what happens organically. Also stats! 8 lbs 11 oz 21 inches long.  A whole pound heavier than Flint! And it's all in her cheeks I'm pretty sure :)

Everything just seemed to work out perfectly for the welcoming of our little Dorothy.  Ben had Dec 27-Jan 1 off for his holiday break.  And then Geisinger allows for 3 days of paternity leave.  So I begged and pleaded with the Lord that she would come while he was off so that he would basically get an extra week off with his paternity leave and already having this weekend off.  I was so convinced that she was going to come in December.  Or at least I really wanted her to because I wanted Ben to have those extra 3 days off.  As each day in December passed, I became more and more weepy and sad, thinking that things once again were not going to work out.  As New Year's Eve came, I told myself I had to accept that I couldn't control when she was going to come, and for all I knew, she would come a week late and be born on January 10!

As I reflect on her birth, and the fact that she was born on January 1, the last day that she needed to be born in order for Ben to get the time off that I felt I needed, I realize that sometimes everything really does work out the way I want it to.  Sometimes the Lord allows for tender mercies and gives you exactly what you want.  And I needed that reminder. I will admit that I am normally wrong when it comes to knowing what is best for me.  And that is totally ok.  But I truly felt the Lord's love as I realized that he sent me exactly what I wanted when I wanted it because that doesn't always happen.  And I'm ok with that.  If she had decided to come on January 10, we would have figured things out and it would have all been ok.  But boy was it nice that she didn't decide to wait that long! And I definitely felt his presence as she came into the world.  What a special baby he has sent me.  And all of the sorrow and sadness as described in my last post completely dissipated.  This baby really did come to heal my heart, and what a blessing and joy she has been in her short 5 days of life.  I know she will only continue to heal me and bring joy into my life. Birth is a beautiful, beautiful experience.  Even though it's painful, I consider myself lucky to get to be able to go through it. 

So that's how my year started.  The best way possible :) And having a January 1 baby is pretty fun too- and will be fun to celebrate in the years to come.