Birth Story

Today was my due date. I'm so incredibly happy to be holding my 8 day old son in my arms rather than waiting for this day and possibly longer to arrive. I've had scheduled inductions for my last 3 kids because my body doesn't go into labor on it's own and my babies get too big for me to handle if I wait... So on Friday, April 22nd we went in to labor and delivery at 7:30 am for an elective induction.

We arrived at the hospital a little late and by the time I was changed into a gown and settled in my bed, it was close to 8:30. I was checked then and only dialated to almost a 3, 80% effaced, and baby was still pretty high. My doctor stopped by and said once the pitocin was started and my contractions were going, she'd be back to break my water to we could really get things moving. The nurse had a hard time getting my IV inserted, so the anesthesiologist was called in to do it. We decided he'd come back and get my epidural going before my water was broken. So... IV in at 9, pitocin started shortly after, Epidural in at 10 and water broken at 10:30. Then, finally some time to relax and let my body do it's thing. About 12 I was checked again and was only at a 4. Kinda bummed, but was thinking from my previous inductions, this would be an all day laboring event. I was wrong....

I slept for a little bit and Spencer got some much needed lunch. My epidural was working great and I could see my contractions getting pretty big on the monitor. Around 2:30 pm, I started feeling some pain in my side and realized I could feel my contractions coming and going. I changed positions, but with every contraction I was feeling more intense pain and it was spreading to my entire belly and my uh, girl parts. My epidural was failing and I was in a lot of pain. The nurse decided it was time to check my progress and to everyone's surprise I was at a 9. Crap, no time to fix the epidural and most important no time to really wrap my head around THIS WAS IT! I felt like I was swimming in pain. I couldn't talk during the contractions and was oblivious to everything happening around me. Spencer later told me it was a mad scramble to get everything set up and my doctor was paged for delivery. Next thing I realized, my legs were being pulled back and I was told to start pushing with the next contraction. The pain was so intense I could hardly stand it. And I was confused because I could feel it so much it my lower back and butt (TMI). I pushed and I admit, screamed for 10 minutes before I finally told myself the only way out of this pain was to get this baby out of my body. So the next contraction I gave it everything I had... I now know what it means to push through the pain. Baby's head was out and with one more push his body came too. I laid back in complete grateful relief. Ryder was born face up which explained the backside pressure and the difficulty getting him out. Spencer cut the cord and my son was placed on my chest. Wow. How do you explain falling in love with someone so tiny in an instant. I loved him before he was born, but seeing him just melted my heart. He was SO beautiful. He never cried, just looked around taking everything in. We got to spend a long time just staring at him and loving him.

After I got to my room they gave him his first bath and I spent a long time having skin to skin contact time with him... I love that. I felt so good and he was doing well so we were discharged the next day. This first week home with him has been great. His siblings love him and we feel so blessed to have him in our lives. I can't imagine life without my sweet baby Ryder.