Monday, March 12, 2012

TJH's Birth Story

I wanted to write down the amazing story of my sweet boy coming into this world. Not everyone will be interested in this, but I blog for many reasons and one of them is to document my son's life and I must tell the story of his very first day! :)

Friday, February 3rd started out like any other Friday. I went to work and had a great day! Felt wonderful all day. Then the Mr. and I headed to my 39 week appt. We got to see our doc(there are 5 in our practice) and she checked me and told us that I was 3cm dilated and asked if I wanted my membranes swiped. Well, the Mr. and I weren't completely sure we knew what that meant...and she was already checking me and went ahead and did it. After she did it she informed us that contractions could start within 1-3 hours. After she left the room, the Mr. and I looked at each other with WIDE eyes! The Mr. said...well, it looks like we are having a baby this weekend! :) We went on with our evening plans. We went to dinner and then walked around TJMaxx. I showered and then was in bed by 9:30pm.

At 12:30 AM on February 4th I woke up to use the restroom...and when I got up I felt as though I was having contractions, but I wasn't sure. I wait a few minutes and then I started logging them on an app on my iPhone. I woke the Mr. up at 1AM and told him. His first response was for me to go back to sleep and wait until the morning! ha! My contractions were 4-8 minutes apart. I got my yoga ball and used that to help with contractions. I walked around a lot and drank a lot of water. Then at 2AM we called the doctor(Dr. M...not my doc, but one of the 5 in the same practice). She told me I could go ahead and come in since at that point my contractions were 4-5 minutes apart. As soon as I hung up the Mr. and I started to move in slow motion. It was so funny, we were making the bed, vacuuming, tidying up and just taking our time. ha! We didn't arrive at the hospital until 3:15 and the hospital is 5 minutes from our house.

(Our last picture taken before we had our sweet boy...this was us just arriving at the hospital at 3:15AM)

We were put in a triage room at 3:30AM. Jenny my night nurse hooked me up to monitors and checked me and I was only 4cm...I got upset for a few minutes because I didn't want to come to the hospital too early (little did I know there was no reason to get upset). She said she was going to call Dr. M and see what she said. At 4:30 Jenny came back in and said I was there for good since I was 39 weeks and 3 days. So we got to move into our room that we would delivery and stay in. At 5AM we were all settled into our room and the Mr. was able to rest on the futon in our room. At this point my contractions were not fun but in between I was fine. They were still about 3-4 minutes apart. I was able to rest in between them.

At 6AM I felt and heard something at the same time. I wasn't 100% sure what it was but I thought it might have been my water breaking. I woke the Mr. up and told him what happened...he called the nurse for me. Jenny came in and check and yes, it was my water! She checked me again and said I was 6cm. We asked her if we should call family to come and she told us...well, it could be anywhere from 2-12 hours. The Mr. went ahead and told the family to come. After my water broke my contractions were very close together and I had the Mr. come stand with me. He would watch the monitor and tell me when they were about to go away and encourage me. He fed me a lot of ice chips and kept my wash cloth super wet and cold. I remember that my eyes were closed after my water broke until I gave birth...I feel as though it helped me focus. The Mr. really helped me keep up with my breathing. Between 6AM and 7AM my contractions were about 1-3 minutes apart. They were painful but the time in between was fine.

At 7AM my nurse Jenny came in to introduce me to my daytime nurse and check on me. Tabby was my daytime nurse and I remember her smile was so warm and comforting. Jenny checked me one last time before she left. I was between 8 and 9cm!! They both looked at me and told me I might start to feel the urge to push. They also turned me onto my side. They said that Tucker was already down but being on my side would help him come down even farther. They told me if I felt as though I needed to push to call them. They both walked out and right at that moment I felt like I needed to push. I told the Mr. to call them back in. I was amazed at how my body just transitioned into that phase to quickly and it was like I knew exactly what to do and no one was telling me.

Jenny and Tabby came back in quickly. Notice I haven't mentioned any doc yet...she was called at 4:30AM and wasn't there yet. (And remember she isn't my actual doc, but one of the docs in my practice.) Jenny, Tabby and the Mr. all coached me through the first three pushes. I could sense some urgency in the room because the doc wasn't there yet. I wasn't scared at all of my nurses having to delivery my baby but I did remember wondering why the doc wasn't there yet. After three pushes they said his head was right there. They turned me back onto my back and started to put my legs in the stirrups. Just as I was about to start push number four the doc comes in so casual...I remember opening my eyes to see her slowly putting on her scrubs. And I remember thinking...lady I'm about to have a baby!!! She started talking about how her daughter was playing with her iPad. Hello! I pushed and his head came out and then one more time and his shoulders came out. I remember the Mr. telling me to open my eyes...the most amazing moment ever was seeing my sweet baby boy. I looked at him and then looked back up at the Mr. The tears in my husband eyes were just the sweetest thing ever. They lifted him up and into my arms and that was the BEST moment of my entire life.




Tucker laid on me (skin to skin) for about ten minutes and the Mr. and I just spoke to him and loved all over him. Then they had the Mr. cut his cord. Then nurse Andrea and the Mr. took Tucker over to have his vitiam K shot, footprints and the stuff for his eyes. I couldn't take my eyes off of them while the doc finished up with me. :)




They brought Tucker back over to me and we were able to do more skin to skin and start nursing. Nurse Tabby helped us get latched for the first time and he latched right away. What a blessing! We got to spend time nursing and snuggling for awhile. I loved that time. I was so glad they didn't take him away.




Then about two hours after he was born he went into the nursery with the Mr. They started his full exam. I was able to get up and get all changed. And then one of my very favorite moments was being able to give him his first bath. Having an unmediated delivery allowed for this...and I am so grateful for these sweet moments. I was so thankful that I wasn't bound to a hospital bed and was able to have this time with my sweet son and husband. And our family was able to watch from the window too. :)





After we got back to our room the family that was there came in and then the rest of the day was spent nursing, visiting with family and friends and loving on our sweet son.

It was the best day of my life. I've heard people say that, but seriously it was amazing. It's unreal how much I feel in love with my sweet boy the moment I met him and the moments after his wonderful birth.
February 4, 2012 will be a day I remember forever.
I love you Tucker John.


1 comment:

  1. Second post in a row to make me cry! Love your birth story, you, and Tucker!

    ReplyDelete