Birth Story: So I had my baby...

...and he will be one month old in two days!  My blog has been severely neglected and for that I apologize, but as you can imagine I've been a little busy (and sleep deprived) these days.

He was born on April 6 at 1:53 p.m.  He weighed 6lbs 10oz and was 20 1/4 inches long.  He is perfect in every way and we adore him!  Here is a quick birth story for you.

My blood pressure had been creeping up at my last two appointments.  At my 38 week appointment my blood pressure was 130/86...not horrible, but higher than it had been and considering my history of pre-eclampsia with Kaydence, so my midwife was taking note.  That appointment was on Tuesday, April 3 and she said to come in the next Monday (after Easter), and since I would be 39 weeks at that point, she said wouldn't hesitate to induce me if my blood pressure continued on this path.  She said to take it easy the rest of the week and to call her if I had any headaches, swelling, or vision changes.

I really wanted to avoid being induced if I could, so I was praying that I would just go into labor on my own.  I thought Easter weekend would be nice since then all our family could come down and not have to take off work, etc.  Well, Thursday (April 5) night I got a headache.  I was of course up all night worrying about it and figured I would call my midwife in the morning to discuss.  I got no sleep that night and around 4:00 a.m. I ate 3 bowls of cereal and went back to bed to try and sleep.  I fell asleep around 4:30 and slept for about an hour.  Around 5:30 a.m. I remember waking up and just laying there in bed thinking, worrying, and praying.  I prayed that my water would just break on its own so that I wouldn't have to be induced.  Ten minutes later at 5:40 a.m. it did just that!  It was truly an answer to prayer.  A couple nights prior, I told Teirney that we should put some towels under our sheets just in case my water breaks in bed.  He laughed at me at the time, but I'm so glad we did that!

Teirney knew I had a rough night since I was in and out of bed all night long, so at 5:40 a.m. when my water broke in bed I said "um, honey, my water just broke."  I'm not sure he believed me at first.  He said, "are you serious?"  I laughed and said "um, yes."  I got up and called my midwife.  I was told to call when my water broke because of my high blood pressure.  I wasn't going to be able to labor at home because they wanted to keep a close eye on me.  I wasn't having any contractions, but all night long I had felt like I needed to have a bowel movement (sorry if that is tmi), so after my water broke, I *really* felt like I needed to have a bowel movement.  It may sound silly, but I had wanted to ask my midwife if I should because I didn't know if the pushing would be bad. lol  But I ended up going before I could even ask her and all was fine (haha).  I still wasn't having any contractions though.

When my midwife called me back I told her my water broke, etc. and she then told me the sad news that she wouldn't be able to deliver my baby that day because her and her husband were going out of town for Easter.  I was so sad and I know she was too!  Fortunately, there was another midwife who I had a few appointments with who was going to be there, but it just wasn't the same as having Cheri there with me.  She told me I could shower and get ready and then come up to the hospital...she said I didn't need to rush, but that I should come up as soon as I was ready.  So we ran around trying to pack up last minute stuff and I hopped in the shower.  Still no contractions.

Oh I should mention, the awesome part of all this was that Teirney's parents had come into town on Thursday and were planning to stay for Easter weekend, so it was perfect because they were already there and were ready and willing to take care of Kaydence.  Things couldn't have been timed more perfectly (well, except that I had wished my midwife would be there).  

We got to the hospital around 7:45/8:00 and they put me in triage (just so they could make sure my water really broke...hehe).  I still wasn't having any contractions (well, at least none that I could really feel).  My blood pressure was 130/97, so they had me lay on my left side (which is how I labored with Kaydence too) and when they retook it it was 126/86.  So that pretty much determined that I would be laboring on my left side again for this baby.  My blood pressure kept fluctuating because at 8:30 a.m. it was back up to 132/82.  At 8:45 a.m. I was 3.5 cm, but still no contractions.

I was beginning to worry that this was going to be an extremely long day and that they might have to start me on pitocin because I wasn't contracting at all.  They moved me to a room around 9:00 a.m. and I finally started having contractions around 9:30 a.m.  The following is what Teirney recorded for me.

11:03 a.m. - 4.5 cm (steady contractions -- not too painful)
12:35 p.m. - 6 cm (contractions more intense -- can't talk through them -- epidural)
1:00 p.m. - 7 cm (contractions 2-3 minutes a part)
1:23 p.m. - 8 cm
1:43 p.m. - almost 10 cm
1:53 p.m. - 2 pushes and our little boy came bounding into the world

When his head was out everyone said he was turning his head and looking all around trying to figure it all out.  So cute!  My sister and mom came just in time to see him being born.  He scored an 8/9 apgar.

I feel so blessed to have relatively quick labors.  With Kaydence, from the time my water broke until the time she was born it was about 8 hours and it was the same for this little guy, so I'm hoping that is what I can expect for the next one too.

We're still trying to get into some sort of routine.  My parents stayed with us for the first two weeks and then Teirney took paternity leave last week (after my parents left).  So this was the first week of just me, Kaydence, and Quincey during the day.  It went pretty well for the most part, but Kaydence is going through a bit of an adjustment (obviously).  I think it will take some time for her to get used to the new "normal."  She is such a big helper and adores her brother though.

My sister was there taking photos for me.  She had borrowed my DSLR a month prior with the hopes to learn how to use it before the birth.  And learned she did!  I thought she did an amazing job! And then considering she had only picked up a DSLR for the first time a month prior, she impressed me.  She shot the whole birth in manual...I was pretty proud.  I was hoping to have the birth photos all edited before posting my birth story, which was why it took me so long to write this, but it just hasn't happened.  So I'll post a couple teasers and then I'll post the rest another time.

I'll post an official introduction in my next post...I realize I didn't share his name yet. :-)

Thank you, Josie, for doing such a wonderful job on these!  Photos by Josie Young, edited by me.