Amelia Grace Miller-birth story

Our tiny little girl was born on Monday, July 23rd, but her birth story starts a few days before. On Wed July 18th I went in for my weekly doctor visit. Until this appt everything had been just fine. However, on wed. my blood pressure was really high, and I had protein in my urine. They were concerned, and wanted me to come back on Thurs. to have it taken again. I was sent home on bed rest, and thought it was so weird that my BP was so high. I figured that with bed rest it would go down, but no luck. Shawn and I went to my doctors appt on Thurs and like i said my BP was still high. They wanted me to be monitored better and do a 24 hr urine test to check things out, so we were sent to the hospital. At the time my sister in law Steph and Lewis were staying with us from Alaska. I so glad they were here, and able to watch Gavin while I was in the hospital. It was such a relief to know he was in good hands.  I was in the hospital through Friday night, and then put on strict bed rest through the weekend. My midwife was out of town so we were waiting for her to get back Monday morning, to make a decision what to do. While I was in the hospital other doctors informed me that most likely I would be having Amelia by Monday or Tuesday of the following week. I spent the weekend getting a few things ready and just laying around. My mom flew in from Texas and Hailey drove up from Utah, so we were ready to go. 

Monday morning came, I saw my midwife, and she told us we were having a baby that day. I was checked at the doctors office, and was dilated to a 5 and 80 % effaced without even being in labor. I was going to be induced, but my midwife felt like things would go really fast. They started the pitocin around 2 pm. My plan was to go completely natural, but I wasn't sure how everything would go with my bp, or the babies heart beat.

 From 2pm-5pm I just tried to get my contractions going. I felt them a little bit, but knew they would need to get much stronger. At 5pm my midwife came in and asked if I had any contractions. Although they weren't strong yet we decided to turn off the pitocin and break my water. I knew once my water broke things would get intense. By 5:45pm my contractions were very intense and close together. My bp and Amelia's heart beat was doing fine, so I was able to walk around, or stand which helped my labor along. By 6:25pm I was feeling alot of pressure so I asked to be checked. I was at a 6 1/2, which was pretty frustrating. The pain was really intense, but I was doing my best to manage the pain. Although it had only been 30 minutes, I asked the nurse to check me again at 6:55pm. I'm so glad I did because I was at a ten, and ready to push. My midwife came in, I pushed through two contractions, and Amelia Grace was born at 7:06 pm weighing 5 lbs 7oz 18 1/2 inches long. Shawn got to help deliver her which was very cool.

The first thing we noticed was that the umbilical cord was really short. Next thing that happen was that the umbilical cord detached from my placenta. Delivering the placenta was really hard. I had to push really hard, and it was very intense. Once it was out my midwife noticed how deformed my placenta was. The cord had attached in the wrong place, and extra veins were made to get nutrients to the baby. We were all in shock, because everything seemed to be fine at each doctors appt, and ultra sound. My midwife called Amelia a "miracle baby", and we later found out why. She told us that usually when you see a cord and placenta like mine, the doctor has just delivered a still born baby. She also said that because my BP was so high and we decided to induced, it probably saved Amelia's life. When I heard these words, I just started crying. Here I was complaining about my BP, bed rest, and being induced, and it was all a huge blessing. The Lord was not only watching over me, but this special little girl coming into our family. We felt immense gratitude for the safe arrival of Amelia, and I was once again reminded how much the Lord loves each and every one of us. Our hearts have been full ever since. Here are some pictures from our hospital stay

Miller sisters and family