What better way to start a family blog then to start from the beginning? Bryce's birthday! Because I'll share my birth experience, this blog entry will be pretty lengthy and probably the longest one I'll ever post. If you are interested read on, if not stay tuned for shorter and sweeter entries.
Here we go! My whole pregnancy I worried Bryce would come on our Anniversary which is June 2nd. I really wanted that to remain its own special day and for Bryce to be able to have his special day. The night before our 3 year Anniversary I had contractions all night that were about 10 minutes apart. I went to my regular check up the next morning and the contractions had sorta disappeared. My doctor let me know I was dilated to a 2 and that he predicted Bryce would be here within 2 days. He was exactly right and David canceled our dinner reservations he made for anniversary. We celebrated in a whole new way!
Crazy enough, I said I'd work until I couldn't. I felt pretty good my entire pregnancy and felt no reason to stop working and sit at home anticipating. My doctor advised I go to work a half day and go home. I stayed at work way too long but I just had such a hard time leaving loose ends and passing them off but deep down I knew I wasn't coming back the next day. The contractions returned and dealing with that at work was next to impossible but I pretended. I left to go home and started timing my contractions. I got in the tub immediately which helped so much. Soon, my contractions were 5 minutes apart. I called the hospital and they made me wait another hour, no changes, called back and again they made me wait another hour. It was killing me. David got home from work and they let me know if I wanted to I could come in. We stopped to get David dinner and headed to the hospital. I couldn't imagine David on an empty stomach through labor. It was worth having a contraction in the Wendy's drive thru for sure!
When I arrived, I was dilated to a 3. The pain was very uncomfortable. They said they usually keep people when they are a 4 but I could stay an hour and they would reconsider. The nurse was just sure I was having false labor. She put that idea in my head and I told David that if this is false, how will I ever make it in the big leagues! Then I let him know that I hoped it was false because then I could go home and wouldn't have to go through labor... go ahead and laugh. They kept extending my stay hour by hour until I'd been there 4 hours. My doctor wouldn't let the nurses release me even though they wanted to. I was checked and had made enough progress to become a "keeper." Let the show begin! I called my mom and she headed over. She was on pins and needles waiting and waiting for me to say she could come. I just didn't want her to make that long drive if it was false labor.
David was a rock, he was an amazing birth coach. I knew he would be but what I didn't know was how much I'd rely on him to get me through it. Reminding me to relax, counting my contractions, telling me when I was peaking and when the I was on the downhill. Having my mom there kept me relaxed and she was the support for David and I. I made it to a 6 and got stuck there for hours. The pain was horrible, I started crying through each one. I decided to get an epidural and thank goodness I did. I also cried through the epi. Combo of fear and the numbing shots. They say it is comparable to a bee sting- ya right! More like an evil swarm of bees that all sting at once. After the epi, I stayed at a 6 for a couple more hours. Even my doctor, who we really love, left to go and get a hair cut!
All of a sudden things started moving, and moving quickly! When you have an epi, you only feel pressure. I started getting a huge amount of pressure. It was so strange. I told the nurses and they checked me- 9 cm. I couldn't believe it! At this point, David was out of the room with Joe getting a sandwich since things were still slow prior. I started freaking out a bit thinking David would miss it but he came running. They called our doc to have him head in. The pressure built even more and felt even stranger. They checked me again minutes later- 10 cm! OMG, here we go. The nurse had me push, then push again. The head started to come out. She told me to stop pushing. I went through 2 or 3 contractions where I couldn't push. That felt next to impossible to resist the urge. My doctor came running in while getting his scrubs on. I only had to push for a half an hour and out popped Bryce. I was amazed at how short that lasted. I always thought that it would be the hardest part but I was wrong. It was amazing though.
The nurses threw Bryce up on me and my first thought was, "this boy is heavy" and then they took him away. While I continued with the non-glorious part of labor I tried to watch the happenings with Bryce. My mom was the picture taker and David was thier helping with Bryce. Because he came so quickly, he had fluid in his lungs that he needed to clear. The fix for that was to have him lay skin to skin on me for a 25 minutes to hear my heart beat and calm him while he cleared it. I loved that long warm moment with him. After that, David held him for the first time. What a sweet site.
I look back and reflect on my pregnancy and birth now and feel like I won the prego lottery. I had a very healthy pregnancy and a non-complicated labor. Out came a healthy baby, I couldn't be more thankful for our blessing from above.
