I should have known my labor would turn into a hilarious family story.
During class, I couldn’t focus much because I couldn’t get comfortable. My feet had swollen pretty badly and Winnie was kicking as hard as she could and doing somersaults in my belly. Once services were over, I decided to go with my parents to dinner at Red Robin.
At Red Robin, I ate a disgusting amount of food—at least half of an appetizer of nachos and a fried chicken sandwich. As we were paying and getting ready to leave, I decided to hit the restroom before heading out. While in the restroom at Red Robin at 9:30 pm, Winnie decided there was no time like the present and my water broke. I called my mom from the bathroom, laughing, and told her my water had broke. She started cracking up and came to help me, while my dad went into sheer panic! HAHA! Since Thomas was coming off the end of a 48 hr shift, I tried calling him at work as my parents drove to our house to grab the hospital bags. After trying him about ten times (he didn’t get very good service at the new fire station), I tried calling the station phone. Luckily, Thomas’s partner, Dan, answered the phone and I quickly let him know I was in labor and to find Thomas. He was shocked and ran to find Thomas, hanging up on me! Soon after Thomas called me and was clearly shocked because he asked me if he needed to leave the fire station...HAHA! He met me and my parents at our house and we left for St. Vincent!
While on the way to St. V, I was having contractions and all of a sudden knew I was going to be sick. Thankfully, Thomas handed me a grocery bag just in the nick of time. Let’s just say that Winnie still to this day doesn’t like when I eat nachos. HAHA! And then we had to litter the bag on the side of 465 because no way were we driving to St. V with that in the car.
Once we got to the hospital, they took me to triage, got me all checked in, and started to get me ready for labor. It was awesome because my triage nurse had also been a Midwest Fertility patient of Dr. Will's and had a little 6 month old son! Small world!
Next, I met my nurse, Stephanie, who was an angel sent from heaven! She was the kindest, funniest nurse and I was so thankful to have her. She was so encouraging the entire night, coaching me through each phase! Around 4 am, I decided to get my epidural and I was dilated to 4 cm. Once I got my epidural, I was able to get a little bit of sleep and Thomas slept next to me, holding my hand. I woke up at 6 am, and knew it was time to push. I immediately called Stephanie in and told her Winnie was coming NOW. She looked at me like I was a little crazy since only 2 hours before I was at 4 cm and this was my first baby, but she called the doctor in to check. The doctor confirmed what I already knew and said I was at 9.5 going on 10 and it was almost time to push. Once they were all ready for me to push, I pushed about 20 minutes. Winnie Mae Hostetler was born at 6:47 am , weighing 6 lbs 15 oz, at 36 wks and 4 days.
I was so thankful that after a rough time getting pregnant, doing all the appointments, procedures, and injections, I had such a dream pregnancy and labor. I couldn’t be more thankful that I was able to really enjoy it all and nothing went wrong.
There are no words to describe what it was like having Winnie cuddling me for the first time-- after praying so hard for her, holding her in my hand in a tiny little tube when she was just a day 5 embryo, and having her dance inside of me for months. It was completely surreal and she was so perfect and just a little bundle of love. It was a moment I did not take for granted.
I see new evidence everyday of how Winnie was meant to be. God crafted this little girl more perfectly than I could have ever dreamt up. How blessed are we that we get to be her parents?! And now, somehow, even though I never think it’s possible, she makes me love her more every day.
***Also, just so you all know: Sophie tells people Winnie came from Red Robin.
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