I wanted to post this before I forget it or it gets lost on a dead computer or something like that. At 4 months old it seems like we have had him around forever but re-reading this and editing some things made me smile remembering this crazy weekend! (warning, its a long post)
Sawyer’s Birth Story
Since my husband and
son have same name I will just refer to husband as hubby to avoid
confusion.
Friday 2/24/12
37 weeks 3days
pregnant (although I swear I thought I was about 38 ½ weeks but maybe my due
date assumption was wrong and the midwives were correct, who really knows due
dates are estimates anyways right?)
I had a midwife visit
at 11am. Everything was fine. Heartbeat was a little lower than normal: 130
instead of 140. But this is still normal range. I noticed he had been very
quiet all day and the midwife said well if it seems out of the ordinary call
later today, we can always have you stop by L&D (Labor & Delivery) and
get monitored to make sure things look good. She did not check my cervix or do
any internal exam, just listened to the heartbeat. I also never pee in a cup or
do any other testing at the midwife clinic.
So between me being
extra careful and paying attention to my stomach all day at work and a little
stressed out I DID think he was very quiet. He barely moved all day which is
very unusual. I left work at 4pm telling my boss I was going across the street
to Salem Hospital to get monitored. Of course all the ladies at work wanted me
to text or call later and let them know everything was okay.
I went to triage at
L&D and was hooked up to monitors for 40 minutes. Baby was fine and I only
had one or two contractions during this time that were not painful. This had
been happening for weeks now anyways. I saw the on call midwife from my clinic;
Elizabeth, and she said I was fine and sent me home. She did not check my
cervix or do any internal exam. I got home around 5:30 pm and proceeded to
clean and organize and prep the house for little Mitchell's 6th birthday party
which was going to be at 11am Saturday, the next morning. I probably was over
doing it being it was Friday night and I had worked all week, etc, but this has
been my pregnancy the entire time: go go go always something to be done!
7-7:15pm The whole
family was in the kitchen blowing up balloons and making goodie bags when I
felt warm liquid run into my underwear. It wasn't a lot like when my
water fully popped with Mitchell. I looked up at my husband and was like
"uh what was that?"
I ran to the bathroom
and some more leaked out. It was like a slow pee but clear and I knew I was not peeing. So thinking maybe it was
just extra discharge(normal pregnancy symptom) I changed my panties and put on
a pantyliner to carry on the decorating in the kitchen. But more kept leaking
and I filled a pantyliner and another pair of underwear. At one point even more
leaked out like a big flow of urine over the toilet but again it was clear. So
we knew it was my water and I called my midwife. She called back pretty quickly
and said well come back to the hospital and we will check you out. I was not
having any painful contractions. I kept waiting for them to happen because with
Mitchell once my water popped I had immediate painful contractions. But every
birth is different!
By this time husband
is freaking out and starting calling people like his parents and I was texting
and calling a few close friends and my mom. My dad and step mom were still in
Hawaii for one more day. I was not supposed to have the baby until March so
they could be here. I had some things set aside for a hospital bag so I started
packing the rest and the kids were of course running around the house being
super crazy and it was just plain chaos. Mitchell was upset I was going to
have the baby and what was going to happen to his birthday party the next
morning? Madi was all packed and ready to come with to the hospital (this was
our plan all along) but of course had all the wrong things packed and was
wearing some ridiculous outfit with slippers. At one point I remember yelling
at hubby to get off the phone and pack his bag because I could hear him running
on about name choices and etc etc. (sorry to whoever he was talking to at the
time lol). The poor dog was so confused. Archie has been kinda left in the back
burner with all the prep for baby and the poor weather, etc. We made sure he
went potty and left him in the house since it was rainy and windy outside.
We FINALLY made it
out of the house and dropped Mitchell off at a friends house down the street to
stay the night (thank you Matt and Candice!). By this time it was probably
9:30. Madi came with us to Salem.
Since it was after
9pm we had to go through the ER entrance at Salem Hospital. This was super busy
since it was Friday night. I found it humorous that the people kept asking why
I was there. Apparently my baggy sweatshirt didn't make it
I was obviously pregnant. So we had to move through the assembly line of three
different people at three different windows getting forms, ID bracelets, more
forms. So much for the pre-registration I did on the computer weeks ago. Then a
transport person had to wheelchair me through 3 buildings and multiple floors
to get to the Birth Center. I wanted to walk since I still was not having
contractions but they don't let you do that. I can only imagine how horrible
this process would be to someone in labor with serious contractions.
Madi was super
talkative and bouncing around and I kept looking at hubby thinking "was
this really a good idea to bring her?" It was already after 10pm and I
knew it would be a long night for her and me.
Once we got to
L&D I was again put in the same triage room as that afternoon and changed
into a gown. Felt strange since I was there only hours earlier. I had soaked a
washcloth with fluid that was leaking in between my legs. They hooked me up to
monitors and we waited for the midwife to come in. It was still Elizabeth on
call like I had seen earlier. Out of the 5 midwives at the clinic she was
probably choice #3 for who I was hoping would be on call when I went into
labor. She did a microscope scan of my fluid and a vaginal/cervix check and
thought I was NOT in labor and told me she didn't think my water had
broke. At this point the pad thing they lay on the bed under your butt was wet
also so I was confused as to what could be coming out of me. I could
also tell the nurse and the midwife had some friction between
their behavior together. It was a little awkward in the room. I loved
this triage nurse though, she was great. Madi pulled out a tooth while in triage too (always has to be
the center of attention of course and had to steal the show while I am in labor
LOL). The nurse helped her with water to rinse and a towel to stop the
bleeding. We put the tooth in a box for safe keeping.
So there was one last
test they could do to test the fluid, a lab test that would take 30 minutes or
so. Or I could go home. If the test came back positive I would be admitted
since my water did rupture. So… yes of course please do the lab test, we are
already here and its after 10pm. At this point hubby is fading fast. He was
just all around drained from a long week of being pretty sick (another concern
we had since he was still coughing and not feeling 100%-should he even be
around a baby if I deliver). Ten is normally bed time for us “old” people haha.
11:15pm
Test came back
positive and I wanted to laugh at the midwife and say Told You SO! But I was
nice and we went over what happens next. My birth plan was to go as natural as
possible, use the Jacuzzi tubs to labor in and try to avoid epidural. (I did
have epidurals with the other kids though). At this point since I am being
admitted and I was not having regular contractions the midwife said we could (1)have
you walk around for an hour or so and see what happens or (2) start pitocin
right away and basically induce you. Elizabeth likes to start pitocin right away so she was
pushing for that option. Well at that point I was tired and ready for
bed and I knew I did not feel like walking around the hospital for an hour. I
also knew I hate pitocin and it freaks me out and if I get that I know right
off the bat I will end up wanting an epidural at some point when the
contractions really get going. So my birth plan flew out the window. I was
admitted, got moved to a room and an IV started. I just hoped that my body
would react well to pitocin knowing its baby #3 and once contractions started
everything would go quick and it wouldn't end up in a C-section which
I know happens a lot with inductions. Madi was still bouncing off the walls and
hubby went to get bags from the car and find himself coffee. I got Madi to
settle down and told her she needed to go to sleep otherwise Dad will take her
back to Albany and leave her with Matt and Candice too. So she did eventually fall
asleep and hubby later joined her on the smallest of bed/couch things ever. It
was pretty funny seeing them cuddled up on it together.
So here is a timeline
of what happened next:
Midnight: IV started
1am: Pitocin Started,
I was about 2 CM dilated and only 80% effaced.
1am-3am: Nurse comes
in every half hour or so to turn it up gradually and check on me. Not much
sleeping at this point for me since they are in and out so much.
Contractions are
regularly 3 minutes apart and getting stronger, I am starting to have to
breathe through them and really concentrate.
3am: Nurse gives me
heads up that anesthesiologist is on the floor-okay lets get that
epidural then! I also was starving so I was allowed chicken broth, jello,
and popsicles.
Madi has to wake up
to move to other side of the room so the guy can do the epidural in a sterile environment. He did great
and didn't even bother me getting the epidural. It was a great one
too because I could feel my legs and move them but contractions were more like
pressure not pain.
Around 4-4:30 hubby
was awake and wired with anxiety and stressing over the birthday party and the
state of the house we left. (In case baby didn't come in time Matt
and Candice were going to be at our house to make sure the party still happened
because we wouldn't be there, great friends!) So hubby went back
to Albany to clean and prep the house. Yes he is crazy but this is my
husband. Madi was still sleeping. I was progressing slowly and still only 3
CM dilated so were assuming it was going to be a long labor. Albany
to Salem is about 30 minutes driving, maybe 20 with no traffic.
There was a dip in
the contractions after the epidural which is normal and now they were more like
4 minutes apart so the nurse played with the settings and soon they were back
to consistently 2-3 minutes apart.
5:50AM midwife checked
me still only 3-4cm dilated. My thoughts were “seriously? That’s it” I figured
3 hours of pitocin would do more.
5:53AM Texted hubby
that it was looking like it would be a long labor and I wasn’t progressing very
fast.
However…
Soon I realized the epi
was not holding off the pain anymore. I couldn't really feel the
contractions on my stomach but every time I had one I felt like my cervix was
being ripped open. It hurt and I really had to breathe and focus. I was in the
"zone".
6:30AM Called hubby and
told him to get here fairly soon, things were progressing faster. He asked if
had time to shower and I said yes no worries.
6:56AM Called my mom to
giver her an update and ended up getting off the phone because
I couldn't talk through contractions anymore. They were
really killing me and I kept thinking why did I get an epidural if its not
going to work! I was pushing the “more” button on the IV and no pain was going
away. Madi was awake now and was behaving well and minding her business off to
the side of the room.
I called the nurse to
have the midwife in to check me because I felt that pooping sensation and lots
of pressure and I was pretty sure it must be close to being time to push.
Midwife came in and
was shocked that baby was there and
ready. She didn’t say 10cm dialted but I was at a plus 2 station and 100%
thinned out. The nurse asked where my husband was and I called him to yell at
him to get here ASAP. I had gone from about 4cm to being ready to push in about an hour. No wonder I felt
like my cervix was ripping open.
Phone call: 7:30am. Hubby
was on I-5 driving past Enchanted Forest. That’s pretty close, about 10-15
minutes from the hospital but he still needed to park and get to the room, etc.
Thank goodness it was Saturday and not a work day with the commuters!
I knew the midwife
was letting me “labor down” a bit hoping I wouldn’t push to wait for hubby to
get there. By the time he walked in the delivery table was ready and the
midwife was in her delivery attire and 2 nurses were standing aside. Madi was
alert and excited but being good and staying aside not to bother me. I was
still in the zone and focusing on getting through painful contractions.
Husband finally came
in and we all praised him for being there and I immediately started pushing
with contractions.
No one counted to ten
or did anything to suggest what I should be doing. It was super quiet in the room. It was just me focusing on my
body and my need to push. They didn’t hold my legs or anything, it was all me
and I was silent. I pushed through 3 contractions and he was out!
Just as I started to
feel that “ring of fire” and started to actually make a painful cries/grunt his
head came through. It was 7:53AM. (only 23 minutes after I called hubby and
yelled at him to hurry or he would miss it!)
The rest of him
squirted right out and I could tell he was smaller than the other 2 kids by
pushing him out. They put him on my chest right away and I knew he was so
small. It’s the first thing that was running through my head, he was so tiny I
hope he’s okay. He proceeded to cry/whimper on my chest for about 10-15 minutes
while we rubbed all the white vernix off him(there was a lot since he was a
little early). He had a good cry so I knew he was going to be fine.
Madi cut the
umbilical cord.
I was so oblivious to
what the nurses were doing. Hubby later said they just stood back and let us
have our time. The midwife was waiting for the placenta to be delivered and I
just got to have Sawyer on my chest for almost an hour before we finally handed
him over to get weighed and poked and prodded by the nurses.
Madi and hubby stood
watch while they did all that.
He was 5lbs 11oz and
18inches.
Madi
was 7lb12oz and 20in and Mitchell was 7lb6oz and 20in.
My regular midwife
had said all along she thought he would be smaller than the other kids just
from my pregnancy but with the combination of him being 2.5 weeks early he was
so tiny to me.
Madi took her shirt
off and had skin to skin time with him just like I did. It was special having
her sit in the bed next to me and share the first moments.
Hubby’s parents
arrived not much later so they were the first to see him. We were still in the
delivery room on the third floor. Hubby and Madi left around 10am to go back
home to throw Mitchell’s 6th birthday party. They moved me to
mother/baby unit on floor 4 for the rest of my hospital stay.
I did not tear, no
stitches, in all honesty I felt great really fast and it was probably too easy
of a delivery. I knew I wanted to go home Sunday and the Dr seemed really
concerned about the baby and they thought maybe I should stay until Monday.
Sawyer was doing great though so we were able to come home Sunday afternoon,
about 30 hours after he was born.
I am still so amazed
at how wonderful it is to grow a life inside your tummy in only 9 months and
out comes this amazing little human. Its truly the most beautiful thing in the
world I am so thankful that the Lord has blessed me with three healthy children.
