Counting My Blessings

It's 1:18 a.m. I should be asleep. Instead, I'm starting a blog. Actually, I started a blog years ago then abandoned, but tonight I'm starting fresh.

Finding a blog title was difficult. I wanted something witty or a play on words but decided on "Counting My Blessings" because I figure this may be the last thing I do before going to bed most nights, so I'll be "counting my blessings" by blogging instead of counting sheep. :) Yeah, yeah. That was stupid. Give me a break. Coming up with something to write isn't easy when you're not used to having to do it.

I'm going to write about one thing tonight, and it's really what inspired my blog title "Counting My Blessings." I have seven children. Of course, they're all blessings, but tonight I'm blogging about one in particular. She's my seventh child, and her name is Phoebe. She's 3 months old and so perfect. Her birth was relatively quick. I was in labor 2.5 hours from start to finish, which is typical for me. I had trouble with the epidural for a while. It was a little scary, but it eventually worked out. When it came time to push, things really became scary. Her head delivered very quickly, but her shoulders got stuck. My doctor was yelling for help, and several nurses came running into the room. It's called shoulder dystocia. It's when the head delivers, but the shoulders get stuck. It was incredibly painful and very scary, but my doctor saved the day and got her out.

Okay, I see how this can sound like it's not really that big of a deal, right? Well, read on. I had no idea just how serious shoulder dystocia is. I knew it wasn't a good thing but really knew little about it. I had never experienced it before and didn't know anyone else who had. One night while watching "One Born Every Minute" there was a woman who experienced this exact thing. That's when I realized just how serious shoulder dystocia is. Babies die from this. Her baby was born and looked lifeless. I cried my eyes out when I saw her and realized what could've happened to my Phoebe. A labor-and-delivery nurse on one of my message boards just told me the other day that shoulder dystocia is the absolute worst thing that could happen in the delivery room outside of fetal death. She said when it happens she literally gets sick to her stomach. Not every case of shoulder dystocia ends as happily as mine did. My baby girl was born healthy at 9 pounds 5 ounces with no injuries. We're blessed. We're blessed for a lot of reasons, but this is the one that's on my mind all the time now. I still cry when I think about what could've happened, but I then thank God (again) for blessing us with a good outcome and a beautiful baby.