Baby boy’s birth story

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This is going to be a LONG one, so be prepared!

I had some AMAZING people present, including 2 photographers!  The lovely, amazing and uber talented Kim Orlandini and my baby sister Chelsea!  Kim is known for her birth stories, and for photographing in film instead of digital.  I can’t wait to see what she’s done for me, but it will take a while (the best things are worth waiting for, right?).  Chelsea has just started her photography business and as she’s not a big fan of the birth process (check out her story on her blog) she isn’t sure if she wants to get into the birth story business.  So she asked if she could be there for my birth and take pictures to see if she could handle it!  Kim, whom I already had scheduled, said she was okay with my sister tagging along!  Here are her pictures along with my story (she’s still deciding if she really wants to get into it or not).

back-story: at 36 weeks the baby was still breach and the Dr was worried that has I got closer and he got bigger that we might have troubles with delivering vaginally. Lego Boy was breach at 39 weeks and we successfully and easily turned him so I wasn’t too concerned with this baby being breach.

At 37 weeks he was head down, but he wasn’t engaged (hadn’t descended into my hips at all), but head down was progress right?

At 38 weeks he was breach AGAIN! GAH! We decided that he was getting to big for us to continue to let him float around with no encouragement. The reason we were worried is that babies have a hard time turning around the larger they get (and I tend to have largish ones), and breach delivery’s tend to end in c-sections, which I didn’t want. So we decided to induce at 39 weeks!

I was told Monday that I was 5th on the list and that they would call me between 5 am and 9 am to give me a time to come in. I noticed that instead of the normal side to side bulge (letting me know he was still sideways) I had an up and down bulge! Could it be that he turned? Would it be that easy and I could induce and go quickly? I was able to sleep some of the evening, but honestly with the excitement and then with the horrific heartburn (which I think was worse because of the baby being up and down and pushing on my stomach) I didn’t sleep well.

So finally at 6 am I called to ask them if there was something I could take for the heartburn that wouldn’t interfere with the induction that day. The told me they were JUST about to call me in! So My Husband and I gathered our stuff, said goodbye to the kids and headed off! It took the normal few hours to get situated, answer all the questions, fill out all the paperwork etc… But the bad news was that instead of being head down like I’d hoped it was even worse than before, now the baby was butt down and head UP!

Between 9:30 and 10:00 the Dr was finally called in! First the Dr decided to do an external version, basically that’s when they push and pull VERY hard on the outside of my stomach trying to “coax” the baby to turn around. With Lego Boy he was almost down, so it didn’t take long to get him head down and he fell right in to my hips and was easy to get started. This time was different. 180 degrees is a long way around and while it only took about 2-3 mins, it HURT!

Then when we finally go him head down instead of dropping into my hips he stayed floating up high up! Meaning he could easily turn back to a position he liked better. We were worried, but decided to start up labor anyway. Then came the WORST part… Since the baby was still so high up getting a measurement means the Dr has to reach higher up- painful. To get things started he had to keep pushing higher, while stripping my membranes trying to get to the water sac. THEN, with his hand STILL up there (and the nurse on top of me trying to hold the baby head down while pushing the baby as far “down” as she could to try to help the Dr) broke my water. The worst and most painful 15 mins of any labor I’ve ever had!

We were hoping that the water breaking would leak out enough fluid that the baby wouldn’t have room to move around. At first it wasn’t a very good leak, but after a while we got things going pretty good, a few good laughs, and I started losing more. The nurse guesses I lost at LEAST 2 gallons, probably more! No wonder he was able to float around changing positions, I had a swimming pool in there! So at 10:30 my water was broken and the pitocin was started!

About 2 mins after the most painful 15 mins of my life I got the best surprise ever! My Mother walked in the door! WHAT! She wasn’t supposed to come until next week, she already had a substitute for seminary (early morning teacher) for the next week and we knew she couldn’t be gone that long so she was going to have to miss the birth. So already having gone through so much so soon I totally started crying when I saw her! A wonderful surprise.

Another hour later and Chelsea arrived! So we girls spent the morning talking and having a great time while My Husband decided to try and ignore us and pulled out his laptop and try to get some projects done! Since I was still only at 2 cm when we got things started I put off having the epidural. I don’t mind the pain and I wanted to be able to feel the baby’s movements clearly to make sure he didn’t pull a fast move and flip again! After a few hours I was at 4 cm and this time Baby Boy had dropped enough that checking me was a much easier and less painful task so we decided we didn’t have to worry about him flipping anymore and asked for the epidural!

Down the hall there were all of a sudden 2 emergency c-sections so we were told it would take awhile before the anesthesiology could come, no biggie. Chelsea ran out to get lunch for her, My Husband and Mom! Then all of a sudden in a flurry of fast paced excitement a strange man came in! He said he was the anesthesiologist and was going to quickly do my epidural BEFORE the c-sections! He talked even faster than my mother (you know that’s fast) and moved even faster than that!

He quickly explained he was moving fast because the getting ready part wasn’t anything important to move slowly for but when he did the actual epidural he’d be careful. He was trying to explain and put me at ease. It was kind of funny actually! Instead of sitting up and leaning over like my last 4 epidurals they had me lay on my side, it was odd! Well he did move fast an in less than 2 mins everything was done and my epidural was in! Easy Peasy!

It worked great and was probably my favorite epidural ever, they didn’t give me too much medicine so my feet and legs tingled the whole time I was in labor like me feet were just falling asleep or just waking up… A weird sensation, BUT it also meant I could still feel just enough that I wasn’t completely without feeling and I was so glad, it was nice in it’s own way.

This labor was turning out very different than I expected. I spent hours (even weeks with Computer Boy) at 4 cm, but then in one contraction I all of a sudden have watched my stomach move in a crazy way and have gone to 10 cm- ready to push. So we were all sure it wouldn’t take too long! But at the next check I was 6cm and after that I was at 8! Numbers I hadn’t really heard before (I heard 6cm with The Destroying Angel, but she was posterior, and I wasn’t at 6 for long)! This was already my 2nd longest labor (The Reader was 14 hours)! Baby Boy was determined to be unique!

The nursing staff was great, instead of checking me and bothering me every hour the left me alone unless I called them! It was great! After I had hit 6 cm and was finally effaced we called Kandie and The Reader as well as my friend Kim (an amazing photographer) to come join us. We were just SURE it wouldn’t me much longer…. And yet it did.

It was fun to have everyone there. We had a great time talking, Kim shared advice and answered questions for Chelsea. The Reader asked a ton of questions and entertained us with her funny stories! It was a great few hours and a wonderful afternoon while we patiently waited for Baby Boy to be ready to join us!  Honestly some of us (me) were more patient than others (Chelsea )

Then I started feeling sick, really sick. I’d never felt nauseous during labor before. I thought it would pass, but it just got worse. Someone grabbed me barf bag and I totally threw up! Another labor first! Once I felt better the nurse came in and I was FINALLY at 10 cm! Yippee! The baby nurses were called, things were set up, and the Dr came!

Time to get to the really fun part! The lights, the equipment, making up the bed, bringing in the mirror, getting everyone in their place. The photographers deciding where they wanted to be, getting the video camera ready to go and my favorite, putting the mirror in place! We were all ready to go!

The Dr and nurses tried to get my mom or My Husband to help hold my legs, but I told him I could to it myself. I needed my husband to FILM, not hold my legs!  And everyone else was either taking pictures or wanted to enjoy the moment, not hold my legs.  I haven’t had anyone hold my legs since I had my first!  The nurses didn’t believe me and tried to call another nurse in, but I insisted I could do it! So they decided to let me try! We got into position and the dr asked me to push…

It was my favorite deliver so far. He had me stop at the perfect point! Instead of pushing hard and quick the whole time he had me stop before the head was completely out and let it slowly come out on it’s own. It was AMAZING! I loved watching it! Beautiful and fascinating and just miraculous!

Then one more push and we had a shoulder, then an arm and whoosh… There he was! Absolute miracle, and so beautiful! What a blessing, watching my son come into this world. They gave him right to me and just let us cuddle while they worked around us!

I was watching so closely that I didn’t get a chance to see how The Reader did during the birth. Mom said she had a mixed expression of fascination and fear during the birth, but quickly changed to amazed when it was over. Afterwards she followed Baby Boy everywhere he was taken and just looked at him.

When I asked her what she thought she said it was really cool and a miracle! She said she was so glad she was there and that someday when she had her own baby it would be even cooler! She was the third person (after My Husband and I) to hold him and was just overjoyed to be there with her baby brother!

After awhile they took him to wipe him down a bit, get is stats and wrap him up. The Reader asked about the placenta so the Dr showed it to her and told her (and me, I love that stuff) all about it! The whole staff was so great about answering her many questions and so patient with her being there.

8 lbs 15 oz and 20 inches long??? I don’t think so , this baby is all arms and legs with a long body. For that weight he really has NO rolls on him, his body looks like Computer Boy’s when he was a baby and Baby Boy has OVER 1 lbs on him! I’ve never believed hospital length measurement, but this one is for SURE off. He has a dr’s appt tomorrow so we’ll see if he’s magically grown a few inches! We’re also working on fattening him up as much as we can!

Then they gave him back to me and we got to try out nursing for the first time. It took a few tries but we got it! Then all wrapped up he got passed around for everyone to hold! It was fun to have both grandmothers, big sister and Aunt to share the day with us. After everyone got a turn holding him they all went home (long day) and we were moved to a recovery room!

I have to say the hospital staff was amazing the whole stay. They checked on me JUST enough without overdoing it! Chelsea took all the pictures you see here and I can’t WAIT to get the ones from Kim!

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