Molly's Birth Story

We arrived at the hospital at 9:00am on Wednesday, February 2nd ready to induce. The day before, the doctor scheduled the induction because he was afraid that the baby was going to be a big baby. We were all so ready to meet her! My mom came down for the big event and I am so glad she did. She took care of the big sisters-to-be. She cleaned my house, and she made for good moral support...as always.

So, bags in hand, Larry and I got to the hospital and I got into the bed and was hooked up to the pitocin drip by 10:00am. That started a long day. I guess maybe I was ready for a quick delivery since this was the third time I had done this. Man was I wrong.... By noon, I was already getting antsy and so ready for her to be here. At 1:30 the doctor came in and broke my water. Well, he thought he broke my water. At 5:30 and many contractions later, the doctor came back in and broke my water. This time my water broke and boy was there lots of water. Shortly after, my contractions progressed and it was epidural time. I had been in and out, awake and asleep. But I knew that epidural time meant closer to delivery time.

It had already been a long day and then my blood pressure bottomed out. They hooked me up on oxygen and monitored it closely. I didn't realize at the time, how low it had gotten. It was shortly after 8:00 when the nurses told me it was time to push. We were watching American Idol.

When I had a contraction and pushed, Molly's heart rate would go down. I pushed as hard as I could to get her out of there. I could tell that she was going through the birth canal. It is a definite feeling that is not questionable. She had never dropped before I got to the hospital and still didn't even after all day on the drip. Even after the doctor broke my water at 5:30, she was still high and hadn't dropped. I thought she would never make her way out. So I was so glad that I could feel her making her way through the birth canal.


After pushing and pushing, she finally came out. Except the doctor didn't give her to me. He didn't show her to me. He immediately cut the cord and gave her to the nursery team. They worked and worked on her. She wasn't crying. She wasn't making a sound. They sucked her nose and mouth, they thumped her on the foot, they flipped and flopped her over and over again. I could see her. I could see them working hard to get her to breathe. I was so scared. I felt so helpless. Then finally....everything kicked in and she started to cry. I didn't know at the time, but the cord was wrapped around her neck and the further down the birth canal she came, the tighter the cord got around her neck.

When we finally did get to see her, we noticed that it looked like she was missing a finger. Heart broken at first that she wasn't physically "perfect", I realized quickly that we were so blessed that she is here.

Molly's second and third fingers are fused together on her right hand. Syndactyly is what it is called. It seems that between 5 and 8 weeks of development her little digits developed and when they did, those two fingers grew together. We will see an orthopedic surgeon for a consultation and to learn more about this and see what options we have for her little hand. But if that is the only thing we have to deal with, I feel lucky. I thank GOD that she is healthy and that she is here.

She is absolutely perfect to me, to her daddy, and to her two big sisters!