The Birth Story

Thank you to everyone for your thoughts, prayers, flowers, gifts, phone calls, e-mails, texts, food, visits, understanding, and love! The past year we have been so blessed with supportive family and friends and a healthy pregnancy. We can't begin to express how much all of these things mean to us. I also want to thank you for your patience with me during the last 5 days. I know you are all eagerly waiting pictures of Lucy and I was relieved to know that you understood me being "MIA" while we adjust to our new family!!!

(Before I forget each and every details of Lucy's birth story I want to get them in writing. This blog is a great place to do this. While many of the details are very intimate and private I've decided to share because only our family and dear friends read this blog. Thanks for your understanding.)

Well....here it is.....LUCY'S BIRTH STORY!!!

Thursday, February 4th and Friday, February 5th
Denny and I went to Carrabba's for dinner after a long day at work. After a great meal, we were walking to our car and we both spotted a little hill. We laughed and joked that I should run a few laps up and down the hill to get things "moving!" I took the dare from Denny and ran up and down the hill 10 times! We just laughed and jumped in the car to head home. A few hours later we were lounging on the couches, watching Grey's Anatomy, when I felt a gush of water. I didn't say anything to Denny at first but when this continued for 30 minutes I decided to wake him from his nap. He quickly jumped up and said, "Should we go?" haha! I told him I wanted to wait a while to see if contractions would start and confirm that my water really did break. About an hour later, around 10:00 p.m., I called Dr. Atwood to tell her about what was happening. She suggested that we head to the hospital to see if indeed my water did break and to test my contractions.

Nervously, Denny gathered ALL of our things into the car while I waited in our bed. (Wow, I didn't realize how much we had packed!) I was having mildly painful contractions about 10 minutes apart at this point. Once Denny had everything packed we both loaded into the car and headed to the hospital. I'll never forget pulling out of the driveway @ 11:30 p.m. thinking the next time we come home it could be with our baby. When we arrived at the hospital we had to park in the E.R. lot because the main entrance was closed. After a long, long, long walk through the hospital we were on the 4th floor checking in. At this point my contractions had slowed down(...maybe due to the stress?)

Minutes later we were in the "Testing Room" and I was hooked up to all sorts of monitors. The nurse was monitoring the baby's heartbeat, my pulse, and my contractions. Additionally, she needed checked my cervix and fluids. They called Dr. Atwood with the information so Dr. A could decide if I should be admitted. Prior to arriving at the hospital I had not been dilated at all and had been 70% effaced for 2 weeks at my appointments. When the nurse checked I was 90% effaced and 1 cm. dilated. The fluid test did not show any sign of amniotic fluid which meant my water had not broken.

The nurse spoke with Dr. Atwood and she recommended that I stay at the hospital for a few hours and "walk the halls." Great, I thought, just want I wanted to do! ha! So from about 12:30 a.m. to 3:30 a.m. Denny and I walked up and down the Labor and Deliver hallways. I am not sure you can picture this but it wasn't pretty....I was in a nasty gown with all of these cords attached to my belly, wires hanging around my neck, walking what felt like miles, in nasty blue hospital socks. During these hours the nurse would continue to check my cervix for changes but each time there was no change. At one point during the 20 mile "walk," I stopped back in the Testing Room to get my tennis shoes...my feet were killing me walking in just socks for hours!

At about 3:30 a.m. the nurse had me return to the Testing Room to be checked one last time and call Dr. Atwood with the finding. Again I was 90-100% effaced and 1 cm. dilated. Dr. Atwood suggested we return home, to labor in a more comfortable setting, because I was just in the early stage of labor. I remember feeling a bit disappointed that we'd be returning home without our baby, yet relieved to be done "walking!" We pulled in the driveway about 4:30 a.m. and snow was beginning to fall outside. We were expected 8-10 inches of snow to fall during the day Friday and Saturday. I wondered if Lucy would arrive amidst the snowstorm?!?

Throughout the rest of Thursday night and all day Friday I continued to have contractions. Friday night, while sleeping, they began to progress and were getting very, very painful. I remember laying in bed, trying to breath through each one, nervously wondering if this was the "real thing?" Denny awoke several times during the contractions Friday night and helped me breath through the pain.

Saturday, February 6th
Saturday morning we got up as usual and begin to chart the contractions. From about 8:30a.m.-12:00 p.m. the contractions were fairly painful and about 10 minutes apart. Then they progressed to become very painful and about 7 minutes apart from 12:00-2:00p.m. During this time, I tried to take a shower to ease the pain but this did little to help. At about 2:00 p.m. I was having really, really, really, really bad contractions that would take my breath away. Denny was so wonderful and calm during this time. I remember him holding me in our bedroom as I tried to breath my way through the 45-60 second contractions. They were now coming about every 5-6 minutes. This is when we decided to call Dr. Atwood again to see if she thought we should head to the hospital again. I remember laying on the bed, as Denny spoke with Dr. Zochowski (Dr.Atwood was not on call this weekend) anxiously thinking this IS the real thing. I am going to have this baby today!!! Dr. Z told Denny to head to the hospital and get evaluated again

At about 4:00 p.m. we were again on our way to the hospital, again. I was very relieved that the car was already packed because I was in extreme pain and needed Denny's support. As we drove the 10 mile trek to Mt. Carmel East I had to make it through at least 3 contractions in the car. This was the hardest part of the afternoon. Poor Denny was just amazing and was able to drive(through the snow) and help me through this intense pain. Denny pulled up to the main entrance and dropped me off while he parked the car. I sat right inside the lobby, barely able to breath through the pain, as I watched Denny run in from the parking lot. (Have I said yet what an amazing husband he is?!?) We quickly checked in and found ourselves in the same Testing Room that we were in Thursday night. The nurse quickly got me hooked up to all the monitors again and checked my cervix. I was 100% effaced and 4-5 cm. dilated! She quickly called Dr. Z with the findings and she told her to admit me and call the anesthesiologist.

Minutes later we were in the large Labor and Delivery room and I was being hooked up to even more monitors, IVs, etc. During this time Denny and the nurses helped me labor through the contractions as we waited for the anesthesiologist to arrive and give me my epidural. I vividly remember feeling anxious, nervous, excited, scared, and just thrilled that the day had finally arrive! Around 6:30 p.m. I was sitting up in bed, leaning over Denny's, as the anesthesiologist gave me my epidural. Surprisingly, the numbing shot was the most painful part of this procedure and about 20 minutes later I thought this man was GOD! I remember laying there watching the exact same contractions on the monitor, that minutes later I thought might kill me, feeling NO pain. Over the next hours I labored in a dimly lit room, listening to Michael Buble and Jack Johnson on our iPod dock, with Denny by my side. While I was beginning to feel more anxious and nervous for the pushing to begin this helped alot.

The nurse checked me again and I was now about 6 cm. dilated. This was slower than Dr.Z had hoped but she suggested we let "nature do it's thing" and check me again in awhile. At about 9:30 p.m. the nurse checked me and I'll never forget her face. With a look of shock, she said, "You are complete! Do you feel like you need to push? I need to call Dr.Zochowski." She commented how quickly I had gone from 6 to 10 cm. and that she was glad we let nature take it's own course. From 9:30-10:30p.m. the nurse got the room ready for delivery while we waited for the doctor to arrive. Around 10:30 p.m. the nurse had me start to push. 11:00 p.m. Dr. Z arrived and joined the nurse in helping me push through the contractions. At some point I began to only push every other contraction because Lucy's heart rate would drop a bit during the contractions. And at 11:29 p.m. Miss Lucy Josephine Ehrmin greeted the world! Denny by my side we saw our baby girl for the first time. She was simply beautiful. I will never forget the flood of emotion that I was taken over with as the doctor laid her on my chest and my husband cut the umbilocal cord. She was the sweetest, most petite little baby girl! She did not greet us with screams but she was kicking and wiggling all around. Denny and I, with eyes full of tears, looked into each others eye and without saying a word knew exactly what the other person was thinking…."We are the most blessed people in the entire world and we love our new baby girl more than we ever imagined one could!"

Lucy weighed 6 pounds and 2 ounces and was 19 inches long.

Over the course of the night we were checked into the Mother and Infant suite and we spent the entire night holding our baby. Neither of us slept a wink! How could you with such a perfect baby in your arms?




Denny bought me the dearest gift. He had a necklace specially made by Heather B. Moore in Cleveland, Ohio. It was quite an emotional moment opening this special gift hours after our baby arrived!


The next morning our families arrived to greet Lucy Josephine Ehrmin! Lucy is so lucky to have such loving aunts, uncles, Mimi, Papa, Grandma, Grandpa, and cousins!

The Ehrmin Family visits!






The O'Bryant and Burrow families visit!





Our new FAMILY! We couldn't be any happier!