Tabitha Riona Boehm is here!!

On 2 January 2010 at 8:47 pm, Tabitha Riona Boehm was born. She is such a blessing to Ben and I. Here is her birth story.

New Years Day was pretty relaxing for Ben and I. We were still trying to get ready for Tabitha to come. We watched some baby care DVDs, had some New Year's chili (which allows for my family's tradition of cabbage on New Year's day and Ben's of black eyed peas), watched the Rose parade, and just relaxed. Because I had been diagnosed with gestational hypertension (basically high blood pressure caused by the pregnancy) the doctors told us that I was going to have to be induced at 39 weeks, which was 5 Jan 10. We were going to go in at 8pm on the 5th and start pitocin early on the 6th to kick start active labor. We weren't too thrilled with that idea, but would do what was necessary to make sure our baby was safe and healthy.

Ok, so back to New Years Day. In the evening I started having pains in my upper abdomen. It was a constant dull pain that made me very uncomfortable. The pain wasn't like contractions as in the pain never stopped. I had been warned about pain in my upper right abdomen area as being a sign of concern for my hypertension. About 10pm or so Ben convinced me to call up labor and delivery so we could decide what to do from there. After talking to them a few minutes they said to come in, so we did. Ben and I didn't know if we'd be back at the house, so we both took showers and then headed on our way to the hospital. The roads were in bad shape. It had been snowing and none of the roads had been plowed. It was still New Years Day. It took a little longer than usual to get to the hospital based on the road conditions, but when we arrived there, we were the only couple at labor and delivery. I changed into a hospital gown and they hooked me up to a fetal monitor and a monitor that would track any contractions I had. My contractions at that point were about 3 minutes apart, which we found crazy since they had been masked by the other pain I had. We had previously been told to come to the hospital when the contractions were between 3 and 5 minutes apart, so I guess it was meant to be that we were there. I had to give a urine and blood sample, and of course my blood pressure was taken a few times again. They then diagnosed me with pre-eclampsia (I think it was at that time) and told me that I had to be put on magnesium sulfate for labor and for 24 hours after that. We were also told that they were going to have to get me dilated more before giving me pitocin, so from like 2 am to maybe 11 am or so (not really sure) that process when on. Things are blurry for me from there on, but this is what I remember. Through IV I was hooked up to saline solution, the magnesium sulfate, pitocin, and the strep B antibiotic. I also got an epidural.

Eventually, 21 hours later, at 8:47 pm, Tabitha Riona was born. I barely caught a glimpse of her before she was taken away to get cleaned up. She weighed in at 5 lbs 7.6 oz which was on the small side. That lead to her blood sugar being taken a few times. Thankfully every time it was good. She was also 18.9 inches long. She is the most beautiful baby ever and I'm very thankful for her. I'm also thankful to have Ben as my husband. He did a great job supporting me through it all and has continued to be amazing helping with her.

Because of her weight, and potential for jaundice, we had to stay in the hospital an extra night. We also had to supplement her feedings with formula to help get her weight up. It was extremely frustrating, but thankfully everything worked out.Here she is in her going home outfit. A little big for her right now, but still very cute.Here we are about to go home. One of our pastor's and the intern at the church were nice enough to drive us home and shovel our driveway. We are very blessed to have people here to willing to help us out. Especially since we were so tired.