Yesterday my baby turned 1! I am so excited for him. He is such a joy to have in our family. He lights up the room. He is so funny and cuddly. I thought I would share his birth story with you. When I was pregnant I loved reading birth stories. I still love reading them.
Let’s rewind a bit. When Claire was just over 18 months I knew it was time to try for our last baby. I had my IUD removed in May. By July 10th I still hadn’t had a cycle and I was worried. I was older (who are we kidding, I am still older). What if we had problems bringing another baby to our family? My mom had an appointment for genetic testing with my same OB so I asked what I should do since it had been 8 weeks and still no cycle. He immediately gave me a prescription for progesterone to get me on track. I filled the prescription but didn’t start taking it. Scott and I were going on my DREAM trip on July 22nd and I knew I didn’t want to start my cycle on that trip. I was going to wait until I was home. However, by Wednesday my body had different ideas and I had my cycle. That meant that I would be ovulating while we were in Paris. I was so excited at the thought of getting pregnant on THIS vacation.
Lo and behold, I got pregnant in France! Our baby was due in April. I was thrilled. The perfect time to have a babe. We found out we were having a boy and I knew he needed a French name. So we picked Oliver.
I have been induced with all of my babies. I have REALLY fast labors and deliveries. Oliver was scheduled to come on April 11th. However I was willing him to come any day in April before then. But, he didn’t. I did all the things. I walked, I hiked, I ate so much pineapple, and anything else you can think of minus drinking anything that would just make me have to stay close to the toilet. The night before my induction I got a call from the hospital saying to be there at 6:30am. So that was that. We had a time to be there. I should also mention that one of my sweet friends, Mary has a sister-in-law who is a nurse in Labor & Delivery. She was with me when I had Claire, so I told Mary to have Sarah waiting for me. And she was! I love Sarah.
When we arrived at L&D we had to call in and be buzzed in. I think I said “I am here for my torture” and they let me in. We got to our room, I got changed. Sarah checked and I was 4 cm dilated. Then came all the pre-induction stuff, blood draw, putting the IV in, asking me a million questions. Around 7:30am Sarah came in with the bag of pitocin and got that started. Pitocin always works for me immediately. Within 4 minutes I was contracting. They were uncomfortable, but I was talking through them and just fine. At 8:30am my doctor came in to break my water. I knew that as soon as that happened I was going to be feeling pressure, I knew it had to happen.
Giving birth is such an incredible thing. It is also painful, terrifying and really hard. Knowing what is coming is the worst. Once my water was broken I knew it wouldn’t be long before I was holding Oliver in my arms. Perhaps this is where I take a moment and tell you, I did not have any pain management drugs. No epidural, no IV meds. No, I am not crazy. I just have really fast labors and deliveries. I can handle it. It hurts. It isn’t the best feeling, but I can do anything for a short amount of time.
When the doctor checked me as he broke my water he said I was still at a 4. Which is fine. Water is broken, everyone leaves. I am sitting in bed starting to feel a lot of pressure. My contractions became so much more intense. I stopped talking. I had to focus on my body as the waves overcame me. I went in to myself. I couldn’t play on my phone, I couldn’t talk to Scott. The contractions were right on top of each other. I was getting maybe a minute break in between.
At around 8:57am Sarah came back in as I was having a contraction. I didn’t realize until that moment that I was starting to vocalize during my contractions. That low, deep growl sound. She knew that I was getting close to being ready to push. I wanted to use the restroom. So Sarah helped me out of bed and I was able to take care of that. When I came back out Sarah asked if I wanted to try the birth ball. I said sure. In my previous deliveries I hadn’t used one. It felt amazing to open my pelvis had have the pressure on my back. After about 5 minutes on the ball I told Sarah I needed to push, that the pressure was too much. She helped me back in bed and called for the doctor to come.
While we were waiting for the doctor to come I hit that sweet transition spot where the contractions slow down just a little bit. It was so welcome. By 9:20am my doctor was in the room and everything was set up for me to push. When my doctor checked me I still had a little bit to dilate. My contractions were slowed down enough and I was able to catch my breath between that I relaxed and reminded my doctor that he promised me that even with a big headed baby he would make sure that I didn’t have an awful tear.
That last little lip went away and it was time to start pushing. I remember Sarah telling me “Let’s get him here by 10!” I can’t tell you what time I started pushing. I know it was after 9:50am. I remember thinking, “I can’t do this. I don’t want to do this.” Scott says that I said it out loud too.
Oliver’s sweet little cry sounded as soon as his head was delivered. I remember feeling so much fluid coming out of my body and the doctor saying “I don’t know where all of this is coming from. I mean, I know where it is coming from, I am a doctor.” And then being told to stop pushing. Oliver had some WIDE shoulders. The doctor had to get him unstuck and so much fluid was coming out around him. Sarah told me to look down at my baby and I could see him. A moment later Oliver was on my stomach and I could see his sweet little face. Then he peed, on his dad.
This was taken when Oliver was about 4 minutes old.
It was the best feeling to finally have him in my arms. Oliver was born at 10:03am on April 11th. We didn’t meet the 10am guess by Sarah, but we were darn close.
We left the hospital just after lunch the next day. I don’t love being in the hospital. I like my house, my bathroom, my bed and my routine.
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