You can’t have a pregnancy/baby blog without a birth story, so here’s mine. I had a couple pretty eventful things happen during my pregnancy, so I’ve included that story as well. If you’re as impatient as I am, feel free to scroll on down to the actual birth story (or even better- the pictures).
The pregnancy:
My pregnancy started out fairly normal aside from having horrible morning sickness that had me throwing up almost every single day from 6 week to 16. Even when I wasn’t throwing up I still felt like shit. I started to seriously think I might never feel normal again and I cried to my mom and M many many times. It seemed like the only things I could eat without hurling were plain donuts, mac ‘n cheese, Ramen noodles, strawberry oatmeal, and Sprite. SO fun.
When I was 13 weeks we went for our nuchal translucency screening and saw that everything looked good. Bear was bouncing around like crazy and it was so amazing to see him looking like an actual little person in there. We were thrilled. A couple days after the screening I woke up with some slight cramping but thought nothing of it. I went to the bathroom and was alarmed to see some dried blood in my underwear. I immediately called the doctor who eased my fears and told me that there was nothing to worry about as long as there was no bright red blood. I felt better. The following morning I woke up at 4 am to more cramping. I went to the bathroom and saw bright red blood. I immediately freaked, called the doctor, and we headed to the ER. I barely talked. I was convinced I was miscarrying. The ER doctor checked me and said that my cervix was still closed, but that there was definitely blood coming out, so I could very well be miscarrying. They sent me upstairs for an ultrasound where the tech was immediately able to find Bear’s heartbeat, loud and clear. Still convinced I was miscarrying (thanks to what the ER doctor had told me) I couldn’t stop crying. I was sent home and told to follow up with my regular doctor the next day. All I did in those hours was lie in bed and cry and think of my baby. I didn’t want to talk to anyone- not even M. I was sad and angry and I felt like no one in the world understood what I was going through.
When I went for my appointment the next day the nurse called me back, saw how upset I was, and told me that she had bleeding on and off throughout her entire pregnancy and delivered a healthy, full-term baby. She said that lots of women bleed during pregnancy and sometimes they just don’t know why. It made me feel a bit better but I was still terrified. The nurse was able to find Bear’s heartbeat pretty quickly and my doctor came in to see me shortly after. She checked me and said that my cervix was still tightly closed but that there was quite a bit of blood coming from it. She told me they were going to do a vaginal ultrasound to see what was going on (I had only had an abdominal one at the ER).
The ultrasound showed that I had a subchorionic hemorrhage (SCH) in my cervix that was causing the bleeding. While it wasn’t the best news, I was relieved that they had found the source and that I was not miscarrying. For those that don’t know, a subchorionic hemorrhage (also called a subchorionic hematoma) is basically a clot of blood. It can be dangerous if any part of it is attached to the placenta because it can cause placental abruption when passed, which then leads to a miscarriage. Luckily my SCH didn’t appear to be attached to the placenta and was fairly small in size. The doctor said I would most likely pass the clot or it would be reabsorbed, but there was really nothing I could do. For the next three weeks I dealt with heavy bleeding and some pretty bad cramping. Sometime around week 16 the bleeding and cramping stopped, making me feel a thousand times better. It was around this time that my morning sickness also subsided. For once I felt like I was able to relax and enjoy myself.
The ultrasound showed that I had a subchorionic hemorrhage (SCH) in my cervix that was causing the bleeding. While it wasn’t the best news, I was relieved that they had found the source and that I was not miscarrying. For those that don’t know, a subchorionic hemorrhage (also called a subchorionic hematoma) is basically a clot of blood. It can be dangerous if any part of it is attached to the placenta because it can cause placental abruption when passed, which then leads to a miscarriage. Luckily my SCH didn’t appear to be attached to the placenta and was fairly small in size. The doctor said I would most likely pass the clot or it would be reabsorbed, but there was really nothing I could do. For the next three weeks I dealt with heavy bleeding and some pretty bad cramping. Sometime around week 16 the bleeding and cramping stopped, making me feel a thousand times better. It was around this time that my morning sickness also subsided. For once I felt like I was able to relax and enjoy myself.
The remainder of my pregnancy was pretty uneventful. Things went a little something like this:
We found out we were having a boy. I got bigger. We moved to the suburbs. I got bigger. I walked the same little path around the prairie by our apartment every day. I got bigger. M was amazing. I got bigger. I continued taking classes full-time. I got bigger. I was ecstatic. I got bigger.
Overall, I felt great. I think after all I had been through during the first and second trimester I was able to really appreciate being pregnant and the baby growing inside me. Even after I got huge I didn’t mind it. Sure my back hurt a little and I was waking up four times a night to pee, but I figured that came with the territory.
I did get a little freaked out at our 36 week ultrasound when we found out that Bear had a pretty big noggin on his shoulders and was predicted to weigh 9.5lbs at birth. I started to convince myself that I was going to have to have a C-section. M, my mom, and my OB constantly tried to reassure me but I think I cried about it almost every day (thanks, hormones). I was planning on finishing out my last semester of school after Bear was born and I knew a C-section recovery would make it even more difficult than it was already going to be. Over the next few weeks, however, I got used to the idea of having a big baby and was even proud of it. By the time I went into labor my mentality was all “I can do it!”
The birth:
All week I had been crampy on and off but nothing consistent. On the morning of Friday, October 7th I started having contractions that were anywhere from 10 minutes to an hour apart. I went for my daily morning walk and caught up on some schoolwork. That evening after M got home we went for another walk. It was unseasonably warm for October so we figured we might as well take advantage. We walked my same little route only this time I told him we were going to climb the HUGE hill that was about halfway through the walk. After we got home my contractions were consistently 10 minutes apart and lasting anywhere from 30 seconds to a minute and were very uncomfortable but not too painful. We ate some deep dish pizza (my fav) for dinner and I had M go to bed because I knew he needed rest if we were going to the hospital within the next day. I of course wasn’t able to sleep because I was too uncomfortable.
By 3:30am the contractions were pretty painful and about 5-7 minutes apart lasting for over a minute. I called my doctor and she told me to try to wait until they were 5 minutes or less to come in to the hospital. Dammit. I tried resting for the next couple hours and woke M up at around 7am to time my contractions. We ended up heading to the hospital around 8:30.
When we got there the doctor checked me and I was only 4 cm, which surprised me since at my appointment on Monday I had already been 3 cm and I had been contracting all night. They admitted me pretty quickly and got us all set up. Since I was planning on getting an epidural they told us to try walking the halls because I would be unable to move once the epidural was administered. I made it about half a lap, got insanely nauseous, and threw up. Eff that. I decided to lie down instead.
By the time I made it to 5 cm I was in so much pain I couldn’t see straight. Every contraction had me completely paralyzed and gripping to the side of the bed for dear life. The anesthesiologist came in and reminded me that there was no prize for waiting so I decided to get my epidural. (I am seriously convinced that women who give birth med-free are not actually human.) Getting the epidural itself didn’t hurt badly at all, it was just difficult trying to sit still through contractions and vomiting. Once the epidural kicked in I was in Heaven. I believe I even told the anesthesiologist that I loved her. They gave me some Zofran for my nausea and I was finally able to rest. At that point my water also happened to break on its own.
By the time I made it to 5 cm I was in so much pain I couldn’t see straight. Every contraction had me completely paralyzed and gripping to the side of the bed for dear life. The anesthesiologist came in and reminded me that there was no prize for waiting so I decided to get my epidural. (I am seriously convinced that women who give birth med-free are not actually human.) Getting the epidural itself didn’t hurt badly at all, it was just difficult trying to sit still through contractions and vomiting. Once the epidural kicked in I was in Heaven. I believe I even told the anesthesiologist that I loved her. They gave me some Zofran for my nausea and I was finally able to rest. At that point my water also happened to break on its own.
Shortly after I sent M home to get a different pair of shoes for me and feed the cat (oops). I was kind of out of it due to lack of sleep and finally being able to relax so I started to doze off a bit. After a while the nurse told me that they were going to roll me from my left to right side since I had been in the same position for some time. Immediately after they got me on my right side Bear’s heart rate dropped drastically and the room filled with people. They put oxygen on me and kept moving me around until his heart rate finally went back up. The doctor checked me again and found that I was at 10cm! She said that they still wanted to wait a while to let baby recover but that if his heart rate kept dropping they would most likely do an emergency C-section. I was freaking out because M wasn’t there for any of this so they called him and told him he needed to come back to the hospital immediately (poor guy drove about 100mph to get there). Luckily by the time he got back everything looked good with the baby and they were just waiting a while so that I could labor down as much as possible before starting to push.
I was hoping to get a little bit of sleep at that point since I was exhausted from being up all night. Unfortunately that never happened because I have ridiculously low blood pressure, which apparently gets even lower when I fall asleep. Every time I dozed off the machine would beep angrily because my blood pressure would dip into unsafe territory. There was nothing they could do about it except watch me because the machines are calibrated for people with, you know, normal blood pressure. M still jokes that he wants to take my blood pressure in my sleep because he thinks I technically die every night.
Finally it came time for me to push. The nurse informed me that I would be doing most of my pushing with just her there and that I would most likely push for a couple hours since it was my first baby. Pffft, no way. Due to his predicted size and erratic heart rate, I knew that if he got stuck or wasn’t coming out that I would end up with an emergency C-section. I was determined to not let that happen.
Due to the epidural I felt no pain with my contractions, just a lot of pressure in my bottom. They told me to “target” that area and push with the contractions. They coached me through pushing with long hard pushes followed by short, pulsing pushes. The doctors, nurse, and M were all amazing- telling me how great I was doing and encouraging me to keep pushing. I don’t think I responded or made a single noise the entire time because I was trying so hard to focus, but having them all be so supportive made a huge difference. Once Bear’s head was out they realized the cord was wrapped around his neck, so they had to cut it off before I was able to deliver his shoulders. After only 12 minutes of pushing he was out! His tiny cry was the best sound I’ve ever heard. They immediately placed him on my chest and it was the greatest moment of my life. I know everyone always says that but I can honestly say that nothing will ever top that feeling. I wish I could go back and live it over and over again. Both M and I were instantly in love and bawling uncontrollably. Bear was born October 8th (his original due date) at 4:03pm, weighing 8lbs 4oz and 20 inches long. He is perfect.
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| Pre-epidural Hell |
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| His first look at Mommy |
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| The two of us:) |
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| Our first picture as a family |
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| Getting his temp |
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| Footprints |
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| First bath |
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| Daddy's first time holding him |
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| Love them both more than words can describe |
