Mitch- Your Birth Story

When I was pregnant, I was obsessed with reading other’s birth stories. Now, I feel like it is only fair that I write one of my own.
 

To Mitch- 

It is ironic that you were born the week of the April General Conference. A year earlier- your father and I had received the inspiration that we needed to start trying to have a child much earlier than we had originally planned. We followed Heavenly Father’s counsel and had faith that it would work out. Now we have you!

Your due date was March 24, 2016. I thought you would come early, but you apparently had other ideas. You decided to come late.  Every morning that week, I would wake up and check to see if my water had broke. Every morning, I was disappointed. I went into work on the 25^th and it was one of the most miserable days because I didn’t expect to be there. You silly goose! You kept us guessing from the very beginning.

Your dad and I went into my doctor’s appointment on the 25^th. I still had not made any progress from the week before and was still only 1.5cm. We set a day for you to be induced. This made me so sad. I wanted you to come naturally. I wanted to experience what birth really felt like. I wanted to wake up your dad in the middle of the night and let him know that it was time to go to the hospital. Every morning after that doctor’s appointment, I would wake up your father crying because I was still pregnant.

On Sunday, we tried everything we could to get you to come. One of the things that people suggested was walking on a curb (one foot on, one foot off).  We walked all the way down the street doing this. Then, we walked up the hill right next to our house. Then, we went on a bumpy ride to visit your Uncle Gregory.

While visiting your uncle and aunt, I started not feeling the best. We came home and got ready for bed. I started having back pains. It was weird because they would come and go. I started timing them around 9pm. They started about 5 minutes apart, but were only lasting for about 20-30 seconds. They finally followed the 5-1-1 rule. (Contractions being 5 minutes apart, lasting 1 minute for 1 hour). We decided to go to the hospital. This was about midnight. We went in and our nurse (Brigette) gave us the wonderful news that I was still only 1.5 cm dilated. She told us that we would check again in an hour to see if I had made any progress. An hour passed…and guess what! I was still only 1.5 cm. The machine that was hooked onto my belly was telling us that I was having contractions (so I knew I wasn’t completely crazy), but they weren’t making any progress in getting you here. We were sent home sometime around 3 a.m.

As we left, Bridgette told us that she thought we would be back soon. She also said she tried to strip my membranes to help things progress. Then we went home very disappointed.

You can tell when Mom and Dad swaddled
you because it looked like this
for the first week :)

I was worried about your dad actually getting sleep because I thought he would go to school the next morning at 8. I told him to sleep in the bedroom and I would sleep on the couch. Sleep for me wasn’t actually sleeping. It was watching Gilmore Girls, taking laps around our house, laying in the fetal position, crying, and calling/texting your Granny.

Around 6, the pain was getting worse and worse. I went in to the bedroom to talk to your dad. He just held me through a couple contractions. One got so bad that I did not want to be laying down I wanted to stand up. As soon as I stood up- GUSH. I told your dad that I my water broke. I went into the bathroom and sure enough, it appeared that my water broke. While in the bathroom, I started throwing up too. I thought it might just be nerves that this thing was actually happening.

We got ready to go to the hospital again. We got there around 7:30. This time, we got to leave the car with the free valet service and we took the trek up to Labor and Delivery once again.

We got all checked in again. They did a pH test to see if my water really had broke. That test came back negative. Our new nurse told me that I must have just peed myself. I told her that the liquid was definitely not pee. They decided to run the fern test to see if we had just gotten a false negative. That test too came back negative and I got another comment about me just not being able to control my bladder. I refused to believe them.

Around that point, I was throwing up again. The nurse told me that this was a good sign because that meant I was probably in labor.

The nurse checked my dilation and I had progressed to 3 cm. I sighed in relief that at least SOMETHING was happening.  They called my doctor, who said that they should just keep me and put me on medicine to keep the contractions progressing. Heather (my doctor) would come in to break my water later.

I was still in a lot of pain in my back. My whole pregnancy, I wanted to try to go natural as long as possible. In that moment, I knew I couldn’t handle it after already being awake for 24 hours. The back pain was miserable and no amount of relaxation or breathing would relieve it. I was exhausted and labor had just begun! So I requested an epidural. I could have handled the pain longer, but I did not want to get stuck at the end of the line when I couldn’t handle the pain. The anesthesiologist was AMAZING. I think I even told him I loved him. It was amazing how I could still feel my contractions, but they didn’t hurt. I could still feel and move my toes. I was one happy camper.

Heather finally came in to break my water. She couldn’t find it! I told the nurse that I knew I hadn’t peed myself! The theory is that I had been leaking for a while and that last little gush was the end of my water, which is why all the tests came back negative.

Heather then asked the nurse to bring in the lovely peanut ball. You can ask your dad- that was my favorite part of labor…NOT. I had to put this giant exercise ball shaped like a peanut between my legs. Between that and the epidural, it made it impossible to move at all. If I wanted to roll over when my hips started hurting, I had to call for the nurse.

You have such a wonderful
daddy!

Your dad was doing an excellent job at keeping me entertained with Netflix or the TV (depending on which way I was able to face with the peanut ball between my legs) and getting ice chips. I was able to sleep a little bit, but it was more of just drifting off versus actual sleep.

I text Granny when I made progress…
8:13- 3 cm
12:49- 6.5 cm
2:12- 7.5 cm

Let me tell you…that nurse LOVED me so much. I was calling in about every 30 minutes to get checked my dilation, my temperature, and help flipping over. She was also 37 weeks pregnant, so I am sure that I made her job so much fun that day!

3:07- 8 cm

At this point we had a new development…

You got an IV too right after you
were born to get antibiotics as
a precaution from Mommy having a fever.

Throughout the whole time at the hospital I would go through shaking fits. We asked about it. The nurse kept telling us that it was normal with labor and with an epidural. I was shaking as if I was cold, but I didn’t really feel cold. Your dad finally asked again “Is it normal to be shaking this much?” The nurse told us again that is was, but decided to check my temperature. Sure enough, I had a fever of about 101. They started me on antibiotics to try to get the fever down.

4:19- 9.5cm

The nurse told me that they try to get you to 10 cm, then wait an hour for the baby to descend a little more, but they still could not get my fever under control. Instead of going down, my fever was going up (even with antibiotics). The nurse went and got ice packs to put around me to try to get my fever to go down.

At 6, the nurses change shifts. Around 5:45, our first nurse, Brigette, came in so excited. She said “I knew you guys would be back! As soon as I came in, I checked for your names on the board to see if you were back!” She became our nurse again at the shift change. This made your dad and I really excited because we loved her. The fact that she checked for our names and requested to be our nurse again made me feel special.

6:14- 10 cm FINALLY

Heather decided that we were going to start pushing right away because I had that fever for so long. She didn’t know what it was doing to the baby and did not want to risk infection.

She told us that they would have to call in the NICU team to come check him out as soon as he was born to be on the safe side. This was the scariest thing for me. I was so scared that something would be wrong.

So then I started pushing. It was especially hard to push because I had been sick. They wanted me to hold my breath for 10 seconds while I was pushing 3 times per a contraction. The third time was always the hardest because I would have trouble breathing or I would start coughing. Heather got worried that I wouldn’t be giving enough oxygen to you, so I had a thing for oxygen between contractions.

Let me tell you how much I loved Heather, Bridgette, and your dad. They were my cheering team the whole time. They wanted you to come as fast as you could. I was trying my best, but I was so exhausted. I made a goal in my mind that you would come by 7:30. That was about an hour after I started pushing.

Look at all
that hair!

Throughout pushing, I got comments about how wrinkly your head was and how much hair you had. This made it seem more real. There was a real baby coming!

My little cheering team would laugh at me, as I would talk to myself before and during pushing. The last push before you came I said “LET’S DO THIS!” and then you came at 7:18p.m.

Your dad told me later that Heather said something about the cord being around your neck. I didn’t hear that, but in a smooth motion she turned you around super fast. I thought she was going to drop you! (Your dad told me later that this was the scariest moment for him).

Then Heather cut the cord and you were gone to the other side of the room to be cleaned off and checked out by the NICU team.

Getting cleaned off and
checked by the NICU team 

Apparently it was YOU who couldn’t control your bladder and decided to poop before coming into this world.  This meant some extra cleaning. (And your dad said it looked really gross)

Meanwhile, I am just breathing the oxygen because it helped me feel better and your dad was talking to Heather about how the placenta worked. She asked if I wanted to see it, but I politely refused. I kept asking if you were okay and if you had a fever, but you were perfectly fine.

They weighed you. You were 8 lbs 10 oz and 20 inches long. I was so excited that you weren’t the 10lb baby I had expected.

All the information about you after
 you were born.

Heather stitched me up. She had to cut me a little because I wasn’t tearing naturally and you weren’t coming fast enough. Then I tore a little more after that.

Heather told me I could finally drink liquid again. I took a good drink of water and then proceeded to throw up again. Apparently I drank it too fast. Heather went to check you out.

One of my favorite
pictures! Your daddy was
so excited to meet you!

Excuse the tired looking mom :)

I still had only gotten a glimpse of you when it looked like you were going to be dropped. Finally, I got to hold you. You were perfect. Your eyes were so big and I just stared into them. I couldn’t believe you were here and you were mine. I was so tired, but so excited!

We got taken up to the Mother and Baby wing of the hospital. I watched you get your first bath, but after that I was too tired to watch you get examined. I went back to our room and slept for a little bit until they brought you back to us. Your dad and I held you and still could not believe that you were our little baby.

We were very tired, but very happy that you finally came into the world. Mitch- you are going to be one loved baby!

At first you didn't like
the carseat

Then you got used to it
and fell asleep :)

Picture with Mommy before
leaving the hospital