. . . "You have never seen her run . . . she dances"

On July 23rd at 1:17 am, our lil darlin Kaydance, danced into our world.

At 6:00 pm, on July 21, I told my husband that I had been having mild contractions that were 5 minutes or so a part all day. I also mentioned that it was not enough to really get excited about, but that if they got stronger, we would need to call Alex, our doula. I went to bed a 10:00, knowing by that time that we were in for it and there was not going to be any sleeping for me. By midnight, we had called Alex and she got to my house at 12:30 am, now the 22nd of July.

Here is where the real fun began . . . The goal was to labor at home until I was at 6cm., go to the hospital, spending transition with them and deliver lil' Kaydance into this world. This however, is NOT how it went . . . not at all. By 6:00 in the morning, Alex had been at my house for 6 hours and I had been laboring at a pretty decent pace and intensity for 9 hours. My water broke and I thought, ok, here we go, maybe things will finally progress beyond the 3 cm. I had been stuck at for the past 6 hours. I was checked at 9, knowing it was a one shot deal and that Alex would not be able to check me again. I was STILL at 3cm. but Michel had called our Doc, who advised us to go down, not because our water broke, but because rooms were being filled and we should probably claim one before we end up laboring in the hall.

After a stressful, anxiety-filled and PAINFUL ride to Fresno, we got to the hospital and into room 619.

Lets back track for a second and cover some crucial ground. The ONLY reason we had a room was because of our friend Tina. She is a nurse there and had called ahead to reserve a room for us. Otherwise, I would of ended up in the P.I.T. laboring with 5 other women. That would NOT of been ideal at all.

Ok, back to entering room 619 . . . I was checked, found out I was at a 4, finally and got hooked up to our monitors, introduced to Monique who was OUTSTANDING and began the LLLOOONNGGG haul that was my labor in the hospital.

At this time, it was 1:00 in the afternoon, I was having decent "on of pain scale of 0 being nothing at all and 10 being 'I might be dying right now,'" 5 type contractions and a horrible laboring companion had entered my room. My legs began to cramp so bad, they soon become the absolute WORST part of my entire laboring process. For the next 11 hours, I went through contractions, laboring positions, checks, a HORRIBLE nurse change . . . we wont even get into that, but I was definitely handicapped by my legs.

My doctor had entered the picture around 8:00 that night, when I was at an 8 and moving closer to a 9. He checked me at 8:30 and told me I was almost there. This was FANTASTIC news, because at this point, my legs had absolutely NOTHING left.

Now let me brag a bit about my husband. This entire time, Michel had been with me every step of the way. Every contraction, he went through it with me. Alex and Michel were an amazing team. They held me in positions that were so painful for me, because of my legs, for ridiculous amounts of time. Michel became my "Temple-Jesus," and coached me every step of the way. There is NO way at all, I would of made it without him. Alex, our doula, was such an amazing asset to us. She advocated for me at times that I could not, she encouraged me to keep going, when I could not, and she got me to get into positions that I never would of been able to get into, to help me get to that next point of my labor. Both Michel and Alex should win the lottery for what they did for myself and my daughter. They are truly ROCKSTARS!

At 9:00, we began pushing . . . at 12:00, I found myself seeing July 22nd passing us by and knowing that at this point, I had nothing left in me and the horrible realization that I may not be able to deliever my daughter the way I wanted to, set in. Dr. G. comes in, takes one look at what my nurse had done . . . she had "stretched" me during each pushing stage I had gone through. I was now so swollen, my tissue had become almost non-elastistic. Something needed for the pushing stage of laboring. He also looked at me and i told him, I was pretty sure I was done and this was it for me. He does not preform c-sections. He believes in being as natural as possible, which I had done up until this point. I had eaten my own food, drank my own water, labored at home for as long as possible, gone through 28 hours of labor without drugs of any kind . .. but at this point, a c-section had become a strong contender and both Dr. G. and I were letting this sink in a bit. He looked at Michel, myself and Alex and said, " there is one other option . . . we could use the vacuum." He also went on to say that it would require me mustering up EVERYTHING that I had in me, and focus that into the next 30 minutes of pushing. At this point I also knew that tearing was inevitable.

For the next 30 minutes, we pushed harder than we ever had before, my mother walked the rom praying and interceding, Dr. G. maneuvered the vacuum expertly and Michel and Alex coached me into delivering our beautiful Kaydance. When she came out, I was so shocked that we had actually done it, that it took me a second to realize who was on my chest. Other than a cone-shaped head that rivaled many a baby, our little red-head was absolutely gorgeous.

Kaydance Musacchio was born at 1:17 am on July 23rd. She was 8lbs., 3oz., 22 in. long and absolutely perfect in every way. I would do all 31 hours without a doubt, hands down if that is what it took for us to meet our daughter. She has been nothing but perfect for the first few days of her life and I am so in LOVE with everything that is our lil' Kaydance. We thank the Lord every night for what He has given us and are truly . . . blessed . . .