My Precious Boy – My Final Birth Story
It’s been two weeks since the birth of our third baby. I always have given myself a two week deadline to get the birth story written up, simply because there are so many details that can be lost the longer you wait. So with that said, it is time for the third and final birth story of my beautiful boy, Sylas James.
A little background to the big day…
With my first two babies, my water broke early. I had Ember four and a half weeks early, and Ashen two weeks early. Basically, it was expected that my water would break again with this one. I definitely had anxiety about having this baby early again. But then I made it to 37 weeks and the next thing I knew, I was sitting in my 39 week appointment with my OB having the discussion about when my doctor would like to schedule an induction. I NEVER thought I would be having that discussion, and having an induction was not on my list of things I wanted to happen. It was also a little irritating that I worried about having an early baby, and then I needed to worry about having a late baby. I had an ultrasound to check the amount of amniotic fluid and baby was measuring at 7lbs 6oz. I was 2cm dilated and 60% effaced, and if I didn’t have the baby by my 40 week appointment, I would need to schedule my induction between the 41-42 week mark, preferably closer to the 41 week gestation.
So, I went home, looked up every possible thing I could do to send myself into labor. I called my other mom friends who had also tried to stimulate labor. I was willing to try it all. I had been drinking raspberry tea since 36 weeks, started using my breast pump for nipple stimulation (hated it!), did the miles circuit (multiple times), bounced on my yoga ball, had sex, and I even went and got a prenatal massage that specialized in pressure points that were supposed to start labor. I had the massage done the Monday before my Wednesday (40 weeks) appointment. Tuesday night I did the miles circuit again. Monday morning at 9:30am, I saw the nurse practitioner for my appointment. I had her give me a cervical check, and I was still 2cm dilated and 60% effaced. I was stunned! I had done all of those things and made no progress?! I was so disappointed that I was going to have to schedule my induction. I left that appointment being told that someone would call me to schedule it. So I headed back to work.
Around noon to 12:30pm, I was in my office, and I started to notice some intermittent contractions. I started to time them and they were about five minutes apart. When they weren’t, I was able to stand up, bend over, and get them started again. At 12:45pm, I texted my husband and said “I’m nervous to tell you this now lol, but I’m having some hardcore contractions.” The reason I was nervous to tell him is I had a false alarm a week prior and asked him to call into work because I thought I was going into labor, but the contractions petered out and it never happened. Needless to say, I tried to be more careful about what I thought was actually the real deal, haha. I kept the contractions going every five minutes until 1pm rolled around and I knew I couldn’t handle them anymore and needed to go home. So I texted my husband to let him know that I couldn’t stay at work any longer. I also called my dad as I walked out to my car to let him know that it was a possibility that I was going into labor, since it was a day that my parents were watching my kids. I told him that I was going to use the next hour to see how things went and I would let him know.
I drove home, still having contractions. As soon as I got in the door I laid over my yoga ball and started breathing through my contractions. My husband walked in and asked for an update. I told him that the contractions were about five minutes apart, and they were intensifying but that I was going to use the next hour to see if they continued that way. At one point, he said he didn’t think this was the real deal, haha. I was like “do you think I’m faking this?” He said of course not, but that it just didn’t feel like today was the day. I told him that these contractions were definitely different than the false alarm and that I thought this was going to happen. The contractions were to the point that I couldn’t talk or walk through them. So he started looking up things I could do to make sure that I continued to progress. Changing positions and walking was one of them, so we held hands and walked through the house, pausing for my contractions which were four to six minutes apart. I would walk and then lay over my yoga ball and I continued to do that for a few hours. At 4pm, I decided I wanted to try the shower and I lost my mucus plug. This was reassuring to me that I was indeed, actually in labor. I really enjoyed the shower but it was short lived because at 4:20pm, my contractions were 3 minutes apart and I knew it was time to go to the hospital.
As far as the timing of things, it worked out so nicely because 1) our kids were not home so I was able to labor with my husband and not have any distractions 2) when I dropped my kids of the previous morning, I left their car seats just in case I went into labor. So I was able to labor in the backseat on all fours, as Justin drove me to the hospital. Contractions were still around 3 minutes apart. I called the OBGYN practice I was seeing and left a voicemail for the doctor on call letting them know I was coming in.
When we made it to the hospital they wheeled me in a wheel chair up to triage. The nurses in triage didn’t exactly welcome me with open arms since all of their triage rooms were full and they were having a busy night. I was probably there for less than a minute when the doctor on call walked in and asked me if I was “Brittany.” I managed a “yes” in response. She took one look at me and told the nurse to admit me and that I “wasn’t leaving.” Apparently my moaning through the contractions was enough to get me straight into a room 😊. The doctor checked me (5pm) and I was 4-5cm dilated and 90% effaced. I was already further along than when I got the epidural with my first two pregnancies. She made it clear that if I wanted an epidural that it was probably a good time since this was my third baby and things were progressing much faster. At that point, I still felt like I was handling the contractions well, so I wanted to put off making that decision.
I labored for about an hour and decided on the epidural. By the time the anesthesiologist arrived, I was in a lot of pain. It was also the worst epidural I had received out of all of my pregnancies, as it took 40 minutes to place and then didn’t take full effect. Having to go through those contractions and sit perfectly still for 40 minutes was unreal. A big thank you goes out to the nurse who basically let me rip her arm off during my contractions. She was a real trooper. It was around 7:00pm when the epidural was finished and the doctor checked me, 6-7cm dilated and 100% effaced. I had made it to active labor. Once the epidural was placed, I noticed the nurses talking to each other. They had me roll from one side to the other and then they had me get up on all fours and gave me oxygen. I was finally told that the heart rate of the baby had dropped significantly, all the way down to 77 beats per minute, and that often with moving positions it fixes the issue. The baby responded to the up on all fours position and the heart rate went back up to a healthy range.
Once things stabled, I was able to lie back down. The epidural had done a good job at getting rid of the painful contractions in my abdomen, but not the pressure or feeling in my female parts. I literally could feel the contractions by the intense pressure I could feel. It was 100% different than what I had experienced in my first two pregnancies. I never had the experience of needing to push, or feeling like I had to poop, or the ring of fire. But boy did I have all of the those experiences this time. At 7:59pm, I was 8cm dilated and the baby’s heartrate was up to 124, and they broke my water.
My doctor mentioned that she had two other patients that were also 8cm dilated! What a busy night! At 8:48pm I was checked again and I was 9.5cm and 100% effaced, almost ready to push. About 10 minutes later, I literally felt my butt try to push the baby out and I told the nurse that it was time. They called in the doctor and I began to push at 9:11pm. The feeling was unbelievable. I felt the ring of fire, but the feeling was nothing in comparison to the amount of pressure I felt. It was like I couldn’t escape it! They had set up the mirror for me so that I could watch the whole thing. First the head, which I thought would give me some relief, but it wasn’t until the shoulders were out that the pressure began to lighten. Once the head came out I saw the doctor quickly unwrap the cord from my baby’s neck. She never said anything about it and she was so swift in removing it that it almost went unnoticed. When the majority of the body came out, she asked me if I wanted to lift the baby up and onto my chest. Of course I said yes! At 9:32pm, the baby was born and when I placed the baby on my chest, I immediately went searching for the gender and it was a boy! I was all sorts of emotion and I was so excited to meet our baby! As soon as he came out he started rooting and latched immediately. He was so sweet and all he wanted to do was cuddle.
After each of my deliveries, my victory drink was a coke, since I gave up caffeine and sodas with all of my pregnancies. This time was the same. It was the best coke ever 😊. I also ordered a grilled cheese and French fries for my dinner, which I didn’t receive until 1am, but it was still the best food ever. If anything remains consistent with my deliveries, it’s how starved for food I am afterwards.
We did it. We completed our little family with another beautiful baby boy. We were so excited to bring him home to meet his siblings, but we were a little nervous that Ember would be disappointed that she didn’t have a sister. When we got to our house, we let her pour a packet of blue koolaid mix into a glass of water and she screamed “it’s a boy!” She immediately went over to the car seat and started loving on her new baby brother immediately. There was no mention of any disappointment and it was the best meet ever. Ashen wanted to meet the baby too, but it was quick as his priority was to be with his mommy and daddy.
Overall, it was a wonderful birthing experience. While I hated my epidural experience, I was thankful it gave me a different experience that my first two pregnancies. Now if I add all three of them together, I’d know what it was like to have a natural birth, haha. Meeting all of my babies for the first time, those memories are definitely up there with my favorites. I’m one lucky mama.
A special thank you to my husband for being my rock, to my sister for watching our kids while we stayed at the hospital, to my dad for taking my daughter to dance class, and to my mom for coming to the hospital and taking these beautiful pictures and documenting this special day. It takes a village, and I love mine.
