Birth of Baby Tayah

Tayah Louise Gunnell was born at 6:36pm on February 1, 2017. She was my tiniest baby at 7lbs 8oz and 20". And in true, third baby form, she didn't get a birth post until nearly a year later. 

But hey, I've been pretty crazy busy with three kids four and under. 

I want to re-cap some of this past year with three kids, but first I want to record the day of Tayah's birth using memories I wrote down on Instagram and in my journals.

As with the two kids before, I opted to be induced with Tayah. At the time, we did not know her sex. We had chosen to keep the sex a surprise, mostly because we already had a boy and girl and clothing for each. Like Declan, I was induced at 39 weeks. Declan was my largest at 8lbs 6oz at 39 weeks so I thought it would be best to be prepared for another large baby. Lo and behold, she was little and sweet.

I went in to the hospital and started on pitocin around 8am. The nurse put my I/V in and we began to wait. Dalin took the kids to his sister Cassie's house for the day. I tried to watch TV, tried to rest, and tried to calm my nerves which I had not expected to be so high with my third baby. I guess the fear stemmed from my lack of faith that everything would be alright as it was with my first two. I felt like something was much more likely to go wrong this time since I'd had two healthy births beforehand. I texted friends and family with updates to keep myself distracted.

I got an epidural in the afternoon before Dr. Pace (the same doctor who delivered my first two) came to break my water. I was surprised to find that the epidural was virtually pain-free this time around. I could not believe it. I kept waiting for the sting and heat to come but it never did. And then the anesthesiologist announced he was done. I was elated.

Dr. Pace came and broke my water. Things finally started to progress in the next couple of hours. Like with Tenley, I could feel the pressure of the contractions when they started to come though not nearly as bad as they'd been with hers. But I jumped from being dilated at a 7 to a 10 in a matter of minutes. Thankfully I had texted my photographer friend Emily, and my friend Sarah in time. It was about 6 o'clock when I began pushing. Sarah came in just in time and helped with moral support.

As with the other two births, Dalin did not last long by my side. He tried, but due to his increasing pallor, was encouraged by the hospital staff to lay down. He gets really anxious seeing me in that position. I pushed as hard as I could with every contraction. Around 6:30pm, I was feeling incredibly discouraged. Why was this so hard??? I'd already had two babies. And Declan had crowned in about fifteen minutes of pushing. Dr. Pace sensed my frustration and informed me that this length of time was normal.

Suddenly, the baby crowned. With one more push, she slipped out. "What is it??" I gasped. "It's a girl!" chimed the nurses as Dr. Pace flipped her over to check. Then she was placed on my chest and I was sobbing. I couldn't believe it. We'd been right all along. The four of us had all predicted she was a girl. And I was so joyous to meet my little Tayah.

I LOVE birth days. And the surprise made it even more special. If our next baby is a boy and we have a fifth, we'll do a surprise again for sure for another tie breaker.

I am so thankful for the ability to bare children in this life and mother these perfect beings.