Our Birth Story

Okay, so it is time to get the entire birth story deal down in writing. It is something that is already getting a little fuzzy, and I want to make sure to have it written so I will always be able to come back and remember exactly what happened on such an important day. I know a lot of blog readers are not fans of the birth story posts, so I will not be offended if you quit reading now and come back for the next normal post. There are no big shocks in the story, you all know about our sweet Henry, so these are just the details. I am a sucker for birth stories and ALWAYS read them. If you are like me, then enjoy!

So where to begin...I told you that we were going to be induced on Thursday, but I went in to the doctor on Tuesday and he said we were not waiting any longer. He let me go home to get my bag and told me to be back by 3:30. I called Nick and he was at a shower that his work was having for him. He was so funny when I told him. It was like, up until now we both saw this as something that would be happening down the road. All of a sudden it was TIME. He finished up at the shower and came home to get me. I finished up a few important things (like post on here that it was TIME) and finished packing our bags. It was all sorta overwhelming and extremely exciting at the same time.

We got to the hospital around 3:30. They got us right into a room and got me on the Cervidil. The rest of the night we just chilled. My mom met us at the hospital with some nursing night gowns and robes for me. My mom is awesome. My dad came a little later and brought us Toni Roma's for dinner. Our last meal as a couple of two! I was pretty positive I wasn't going to be able to sleep, so they gave me something to help that happen. It worked like a charm and I was out like a light. Poor Nick was not given any medications and had to sleep on the terrible pull our chair, so I am pretty positive he got no sleep at all.

At 5am on the morning of the 13th they came in and started my pitocin. I honestly don't remember it much. I just went right back to sleep. When the doctor came in at 8am to check on me he said I was having contractions about every seven minutes and I was still 2cm dilated. At this point he looked at my blood pressure and it was good. He said we had options, that we could get the ball rolling and break my water, or we could let things slow down a little since there was no rush due to the BP being normal. I asked if I would be able to go home and like, come back next week. He said no...now that I think about it that may have been a ridiculous question. Still, why WAIT if I can't LEAVE. Just give me my BABY!! SO, I say to get the ball rolling. He broke my water and we were on our way! For the record, I think the breaking of the water was the worst part for Nick. The noise really seemed to bother him. I don't even remember a noise.

Our family started rolling in around nine I think. They can correct me if I am wrong here. I sent out a mass text that my water was broken, and that got them rolling in! We decided as soon as I was pregnant (maybe before) that we wanted our family there with us. I was worried about the pain, and let them know that I might send them all away later, but deep down I wanted them with us as much as possible. We have such amazing families and they are so supportive. I just couldn't imagine them not all being there!

Once my water was broken the contractions got much closer together. We had both sides of our families there with us and honestly, it was really great. My contractions were uncomfortable, but not unbearable. Being surrounded (and distracted) by our family helped make time pass really quickly. By noon things were getting a little more uncomfortable. The actual contractions didn't hurt that bad, but they were becoming constant. They were about two minutes apart, peak to peak, but the wave of coming down from one and rolling into the next made them feel like they were right on top of each other. The actual pain was very close to my endo cramping, so it was not unbearable, but was not fun either. They checked me around this time and I was 4cm. Still a long way to go. I decided around 12:30 to get the epidural.


I think they came around one and put it in. I was afraid of the process of getting the epidural, but it was seriously not a big deal. Then...magic happened. There was NO PAIN. I was perfect. I was NORMAL. Thank god for modern medicine. I know once our families came back in I was talking about something and Nick was watching the monitor (he was so amazing the entire day. He took such great care of me and I will never forget what a team effort the day was for the two of us) Anyway, he was watching the monitor and said, "Can you feel that?" and I said, "Feel what??" and he said, "Yeah...the epidural works!"

I think around two our families all stepped out of the room to let us rest. I think I fell asleep. Like I said, epidural=magic. When they checked me again around 4pm I was at 6cm. Our family was back with us by this point and we were all enjoying ourselves. At some point I know I flipped off my cousin for talking about food (I was STARVING!) and I think I sorta shocked my in-laws. Makes me laugh just thinking about it... anyway, we thought we still had several hours at this point because they told us it took an hour per centimeter (mind you, we were on hour 8 from when my water broke and we had moved all of 4cm, so I was expecting it to take a LOT longer). I will still having no pain, so I was good with whatever.

Around 5pm I had a weird feeling, like something changed, so I called the nurse. She checked me again and I was up to 8cm! I was seriously pumped. Only two to go!! The family came back in and I started to feel a lot of pressure. Like A LOT of pressure. I told the nurse I was feeling pressure and was picking up on my contractions again, so she called the anaesthesiologist. He came back and gave me a little more meds. At this point it was 5:30 and the nurse checked me again so she could update the doctor. I was 10cm!! I KNOW!

The nurse still thought it might take an hour or so to push the baby out, but she called for the doctor and got me set up to start pushing. I pushed one time and she was like, "Okay...hold on, lets wait for the doctor!" He came in and told us the baby was RIGHT THERE! He had me push one time and Nick says, "I can see the head!", he has me push a second time and Nick says, "Oh man...the baby looks like ME!" and then we had a last small push and Nick says, "IT'S A BOY!!!!" It was so awesome. Just overwhelming with emotions. I could feel the contractions to know when to push, but I had no pain, so I just got to enjoy the moment. It was basically the best case scenario as far as child birth goes. It was all...just amazing. Nick and I were so overwhelmed with seeing him for the first time. The doctor said he was smaller than we expected (5lb 15 oz) and he said that was because of my blood pressure issues. He told us it was definitely time for him to be born, and that we had made the right decision. That was really reassuring to hear.

Because of his size they needed to take him to the nursery to check his blood sugar, but first they let me and Nick hold him and let me try to nurse him. It was all just perfect. They then let our family come in to all see him for just a minute before they took him away. When our family came in the room, the emotions were just overwhelming. I am pretty sure everyone cried. I can't explain it, but there was so much love and excitement about him finally being here. I was so happy we had them all there to share it with us.

So, once they took him to the nursery they moved me out of the labor hall and into mother baby. Then we got the awesome surprise of the DOUBLE BED in our room! How cool is that? Anyway, we had to wait for several hours to get our sweet boy back because his blood sugar was off, but we got him around 11pm and he pretty much stayed with us. Nick and I just studied him. This amazing little boy that we actually made. We were forever changed by him.