William's Birth Story

Since William's first birthday is coming up next month, I thought it was about time I finally finished writing out his birth story!

(DISCLAIMER: This post gets real, y'all. If you haven't given birth I might suggest you skip this one.... I did warn you!)

Late Pregnancy

At 40 weeks, 6 days pregnant, on Feb. 3, 2016, I physically felt ready to have this baby. I was sick of the sciatic pain, the having to pee approximately 28,327,649,021 times throughout the day, the back pain, the foot swellage that prevented me from wearing anything but flip flops, and the heartburn (good grief! the heartburn). Emotionally, on the other hand, I was terrified of labor & delivery, of being completely responsible for a tiny human, and of parenthood in general. Compounded with the hormones and the deep desire to meet this little soul I had been waiting to raise for years, I was a big jumble of emotions.

The Beginning

But at about 8pm, in the middle of dinner with friends, I felt oddly resigned as I nervously mentioned, "So Michael, I've been having contractions about every 15 minutes for the past hour...." 

I guess at that point I figured this little guy was coming whether I was ready or not, so I might as well just let him come. Our friends promptly said it was okay for us to kick them out! We didn't immediately, since the contractions weren't painful at that point, but I began to realize that this was really happening.

At Home

As soon as our friends left (with wishes of, "good luck!" and "we hope it's tonight!"), Michael and I began getting ready for bed. We added the final touches to our hospital bags, brushed our teeth, and proceeded to get at most an hour, off and on, of sleep. After being interrupted by a few (more and more painful) contractions, I gave in to the reality that I was going to be awake for a while. Michael, being the stud he is, wanted to support me through that early stage of labor. So we stayed awake together, watching Avatar: The Last Airbender (indeed, the kids' show 😜) to try and distract us. 

At about midnight the pain started getting pretty bad, but the contractions really took their time getting closer together. Three hours later they had consistently been 5 minutes apart for an hour, and Michael made the call to the hospital. When the nurse asked to talk with me (to make sure I was, in fact, in labor), of course it was in between contractions. I knew I was ready to come in, so I may have exaggerated my inability to talk. Just a little bit. 😉 It must have worked though, since she said to go ahead and come in!

The Drive

Half an hour later (since it took me forever to put my shoes on and walk to the car), we were driving. I think the anticipation and adrenaline weirded my system out, because I only experienced a couple contractions on the way. 

When we arrived at the hospital parking lot, I remembered the advice my mom had given me to ask for a priesthood blessing from Michael. We pulled in to a secluded corner of the lot and Michael administered the sweetest blessing. Heavenly Father told me that I was made for this, and that even though things wouldn't work out exactly the way I wanted/expected them to, they would work out, and the baby would be healthy. Even though at the time I didn't know what the heck they meant, those words were exactly what I needed to get through the next couple days.

Triage

We walked up to the desk and checked in, and a nurse immediately took us into the triage room. After I changed into the highly fashionable hospital gown, she checked me and said I was 4cm dilated. A bit disappointed since I had been 3cm for the last month, I was still relieved when she then said they would admit me. Michael and I were also extremely glad when she said she would send for the anesthesiologist right away.

Epidural

We checked in and the nurses got me started on an IV. They then proceeded to give Michael and I a bunch of forms to sign (after I had the needle in my wrist, of course!). It took a good hour for the anesthesiologist to show up, since he was helping several other ladies who had come in at the same time before me. So I was really grateful when he arrived! At that point, the hope for pain relief far outweighed any anxiety I felt about that gigantic needle, but watching the needle go into me was a bit more than Michael could take... he had to sit down on the floor from feeling faint! 😨 It wasn't bad at all for me though - just a little pinch and it was over. And then, hallelujah! I couldn't even feel my contractions.

Labor

At some point within the first hour of having the epidural, the nurses determined that I wasn't progressing fast enough and they started me on Pitocin. I hadn't been too keen on taking it before this point, since I had heard horror stories about the painful contractions brought on by the drug, but I figured since I had the epidural anyway I just wanted to make progress. After being on Pitocin for a few hours, I dilated to a 6 - without my water breaking. At that point my doctor came in and broke it for me, which was a weird sensation, and I'm glad it happened where the nurses could immediately take care of the mess for me! 😅

Speaking of nurses, mine were awesome. Liza was my favorite, as she was there for most of the day and for the actual delivery. She even checked up on us the next day, after William had been admitted into the NICU. At any rate, Michael and I really appreciated their attentiveness. Even when I got sick midway through the day and they had to clean up my puke! 😅 (Not to mention helping me clean myself up after it was all over!!!)

The Birth

At about 2:45 in the afternoon, I started to feel the need to push that my nurse had earlier described to me. She checked me and said that I was a little past 9cm dilated and that I could start pushing. The pushing, which was intense and the hardest work I've ever done, lasted for a solid two hours. Michael and my nurse were an awesome team and were so encouraging.

I developed a fever after about an hour and a half, and from the baby's monitors he had one too. I overheard my nurse telling someone this over the phone, at which point I freaked out and started crying hysterically. The nurse came over and calmed me down, told me to keep doing what I was doing, and called for a fan. As there was only a tiny fan available, Michael held it right up to my face - which helped me feel much better. After a little while longer with no progress (the baby had crowned but the pushing wasn't helping), I pushed hard, tore, and on the next push the baby's head was born. (Michael said afterward that that was the worst part to watch! On the other hand, I only felt relief from the immense pressure I was under.) One push later and our baby boy was born at 5:14 pm February 4th.

A little dazed, but so so happy.

The nurses told me to open my eyes - as I had closed them briefly for the last push - and I remember them plopping the baby right onto my chest. He was a little wet but not nearly as dirty as I had been expecting. We spent the next little while snuggling and getting the baby to breastfeed, and Michael cut the umbilical cord (which was a lot thicker than he expected!).

When the nurses took the baby from me to weigh him and wipe him off, they all gasped when they read his weight - 10 pounds, 9 ounces! No wonder labor was so long and tiring! 😲

Our little big boy. Those chubby cheeks!!!

NICU

His expression! 😆

Michael went with the baby to the NICU shortly after our initial hour-ish together, so the nurses could start him on antibiotics for his fever. They brought him back down with a little antibiotics arm band, and they also kept a close watch on his blood sugar levels before and after he ate.




His fever subsided shortly, but since he was such a large baby, his body wasn't handling being away from constant placental nourishment very well, and was admitted into the NICU for IV fluids. This was emotionally the hardest part for me, being away from my newborn son while still recovering myself. But William, whose name Michael and I settled on after a couple hours, was doing well. He was responding well to the IV they set him up with, and though the NICU doctor saw a couple other issues - an irregular heartbeat and an infection - both turned out to be nothing serious. That was the reason we had to stay a couple extra days in the NICU, though, which was harder on me than on the baby!

We finally were able to check me out of the maternity center, and after getting the go-ahead from William's doctor and nurses the day after, we went home. It was totally surreal that they allowed us to actually take our little big guy home!

Physically, my recovery was nothing compared to labor and delivery. Thankfully my mom came the week after William was born, and she was an immense help. Michael took 5 weeks paid paternity leave right at the start, too, so that was also great. William's blessing took place on March 6th, for which Michael's parents came out, and a couple days later Michael returned to work.

We are so grateful to have this little miracle boy in our lives! It is so hard to believe he's almost a year old. He is observant, curious, funny, loving, talkative, and happy. We absolutely adore him.