Baby Connor's Birth Story

I'm going to type it all out while it's nice and fresh in my mind and while Grandma Betsy is holding little baby Connor.

As I posted before, I was on bed rest for Pre-Eclampsia for about a week. It was hard, I was really having a rough time staying down with so much to do to prepare! So Monday we came in for my appointment with the midwife and she sent me down to labor and delivery again; after our 8th ultrasound in which we got a cute picture of Connor giving us a thumbs up :-). I was monitored for a couple of hours to see my blood pressure and the baby's stress levels. Baby was fine all along, he was a real champ in spite of my high levels. When they weren't dropping I was hoping they'd tell me I just needed to have him...but I didn't think I'd get so lucky. But the nurse came in and said "Guess what?" I said, "What, I'm going home AGAIN?" and she said "yeah...but you get to come back at midnight for an induction!!!". I felt like I had the goofiest perma-smile...I felt like someone had just told me Christmas was early this year! This was about 4:00, after being at the hospital already for 3 1/2 hours. So I had orders to go home, eat dinner, take a sleeping pill and sleep from 5:30 til 11:30 and then shower and come back in to be induced. I TRIED to sleep, but again it was like Christmas eve! I only slept 2 1/2 hours then just laid there on and off. We left the house a little after midnight and checked in around 12:15 a.m. They had everything all ready to go but it took til about 2 a.m. to get me all hooked up, poked, blood drawn and get my first "pill". It was a little crumb of medicine that I had to put between my lip and gums to dissolve. It caused contractions to start heavier...and I'd already been sorta having my first real contractions after Laurie checked me that afternoon. I slept from 2-2:55 and woke up because the monitors on the baby were SO lolud that when baby moved it startled me. Not smart of the nurse!!! So I laid there with contractions every 3-4 minutes, and I thought THAT was painful. I had no idea....

When I was checked earlier by Laurie I was at a 1..so not far at all. After the first round of pill I was still a 1+. But I was starting to efface a bit. Second round of pill brought more contractions and still not much progress. I was 50 % effaced after that but still a 1+. I HATED being checked. The worst thing at that point I'd experienced. SO..after my third round (these pills were all 3 hours apart so around 7 I got the last one) and the contractions were starting to make me uncomfortable. I got in the tub and was enjoying the soaking when my midwife came in with the nurse, my friend Annie who has been best friends with my cousin since before I was born. She's hilarious and so wonderful as a nurse. I was already shameless at being seen naked by people..ha ha. Laurie decided she wanted to break my water and strip my membranes. THAT WAS THE WORST PART OF THE WHOLE DAY!!!! I cried and was begging for it to end. The breaking of the water wasn't the bad part, that was really quite cool...felt really crazy. After that my contractions starting hitting me HARD. The stripping membranes did it's job and put me at a 2+, and my contractions started coming SO fast. I was gripping the side of the bed so hard and doing my best not to scream. Ben was being so good and rubbing my back and not touching me when I needed him not to ha ha. Laurie told me to walk the halls for a little while which I couldn't bear the thought of. Annie said it would actually help the pain a bit so I did it. We didn't make it far between each contraction but managed to walk for 35 minutes. It helped but by the time I was done I was begging for an epidural. I didn't think I had a shot in heck at getting one. I was checked again and dilated at a 3, and somehow Laurie got talked into letting me have my epidural. I almost cried I was so happy. I never knew pain like that existed and I had been having pain for 7 hours by the time I got it. I was given the epidural right after my mom showed up, around 10: 30 a.m. I was having the hardest time with my very last contraction and was SO glad it was the last I'd feel. It took effect really fast and I was in heaven. I don't know how people have babies naturally. YIKES. I relaxed and just waited after that. My dad showed up a little bit after that and he and my mom left and came back and he brought Connor a present..baseball bat and ball mit, and Sponge Bob fishing pole, and a Hot Wheels car. Ha ha!!! Grandpa Scott was SO excited!!! He had a nice birthday card for Connor in there as well. So cute.. they also brought me a beautiful bouquet of flowers!

I was checked regularly, and finally around 3:00 I jumped from a 3 to a 6. I felt like it'd be happening soon. I went from 6 to a nine 1/2 in the next hour and then was fully ready around 4:30 and I started feeling the urge to push. I had been SO nervous leading up to the pushing because when my mom had me I got stuck and I did NOT want that to happen to me! I was shaking and scared. But when the time came to push I just went for it. They told me I was a really good pusher and was doing it perfectly. My mom had told me ahead of time how to do it right, since nobody really told her how, hence the long labor and pushing with me. I felt really proud and capable, and I just KNEW I had the power to do this. I was ready to bring the baby into the world! I pushed for about an hour and a half, and for me it felt like 20 minutes. Laurie came in at the end and really stretched me out and coached me well. I had such great nurses but it was nice to have my actual caregiver there finally! She had to turn the baby because he was posterior. His heart rate was jumping all over the place so I had oxygen on between pushes and had to lay on my side to keep him steady. He was getting so tired in the end Laurie was preparing me for the idea of C section. By some miracle it seemed 5 minutes later she was telling me I had one more push! I'll never forget that feeling...so surreal. I was really about to meet my baby?! Oh I forgot to say I'd been clicking my epidural button like crazy cuz I'd started to feel my contractions again...and I didn't want ANY of that going on! Luckily right at the end it kicked back in and I was ready to get him out. I felt all the pressure of baby's head and asked if that's what I was feeling. Ben said yeah, and I was really close. I was so ready!!! Ben said watching his head pop out was the weirdest thing. He thought his head would be really small but all of a sudden the WHOLE head just popped out! It felt SO good to me to have that pressure gone..and then I pushed the rest of him out and tore just a little bit because his arm came out weird. We went skin to skin and when they laid him on my stomach I just bawled. I couldn't believe this was my baby!! I could really only see the top of his head and was just AMAZED. I really made this baby? He came out of ME? He was so small and perfect!!! Ben was crying and that made me cry more...He was SUCH an awesome support. He held my leg the whole hour and a half and was starting to shake from the effort. He was very invested in the whole process, and I loved him so much for that. He was awesome. The baby was perfectly pink and healthy, but not screaming real loud, he was tired. But when they took him off of me to weigh him and such he let them know he had a good set of lungs! He weighed in at 7 lbs 4 oz and was 19 inches long. He was born at 6:15 p.m. I had a nice perfectly sized baby!!! No 10 pounders for me!! Although Laurie did say I would have been fine delivering a bigger baby, I guess I have a good birth canal ha ha.

Recovery has been a little crazy...I have still only slept a total of maybe 5 hours in the past 2 days. I'm staying another night at the hospital to help bring my pain level down and they are monitoring my blood pressure to make sure I'm ok to go home. I also need some more sleep tonight so hopefully Connor behaves in the nursery. He is SUCH a good baby and has already nursed a few times. He latched on right away after he was born and we got him to nurse from both sides! Today he has eaten a couple of times and is doing so well. I love bonding with him and being able to snuggle him and smell him. Ben is holding him now and I sorta miss him. I love Connor more than ANYTHING! I still can't believe he's mine and I get to keep him forever! What a blessing and a beautiful thing. All the pain was worth it in the end...and I'm so excited to start my life as a new mommy! I feel like I have overcome a lot of fears and tears the past 2 days, and now that I've had a baby..I can do anything! :-) Here are some pictures for now, we'll get more up later!