Theron's Birth Story

I know this blog was/is mostly design and decor related but since my newest job of momma has begun I can't help but post about the birth of our son. Throughout my entire life {yes, I'm not being over dramatic} I have feared childbirth. It's the one thing that I was just so, so unbelievably scared to go through. When I was a little girl I always told my mom I would never get married because I believed that when you walked down the aisle, you suddenly got pregnant. That was obviously before I got the birds and the bees talk. : )

Blame it on TV or other people's horror labor stories that had me in a tizzy. I was scared about the contractions, the epidural, and most of all the unknown. How would I ever push a child out of my you know what?!? Who cares that every woman before me had done it, I was convinced I couldn't. I found that when I was trying to get pregnant or during my pregnancy that reading other people's labor stories could either ease my fears or amp them up. I really hope that my story can calm fellow scaredy cats like myself!

So here goes nothing...

My entire pregnancy was rather easy. I was a worry-wart throughout the entire 9 months but that should come as no surprise to those who know me. I was nauseous in the beginning, energized in the middle, and uncomfortable in the end. My feet were swollen and my hands were incredibly tingly {most compare it to carpal tunnel syndrome}. I had minor issues but nothing that made me hate pregnancy. I enjoyed feeling baby Theron kick and wiggle all around and tried not to stress when I didn't feel his flutters. I experience a little bit of acid reflux at the end and had some trouble sleeping. Again, nothing that was debilitating or worth complaining about.

At the end of my pregnancy I wondered every morning if today would be the day. It never turned out that way until I was overdue and 40 weeks + 4 days pregnant. I was already scheduled for an induction on the upcoming Tuesday but little Theron would have other plans for me that Saturday, April 7th, 2012.

That afternoon we had met my BFF who was in town for Easter from Texas. We had a nice lunch at Red Robin and then did some shopping at the Goodwill, Target, and Lowes. When we got home I was tired so we laid down to relax a little and take a nap. David watched some hockey and I read birthing stories on my iPhone via thebump.com. Around 3:30 p.m. I decided to take a nap and put my phone down and rolled over to my side. That's when "it" happened. I felt a warm sensation down below. I looked at David and said, "Um, I think my water just broke--that, or I peed on myself."

I ran to the bathroom and double checked and it seemed like all signs pointed to a rupture. David and I were so funny because we had no idea what to do. He was googling stuff on the iPad and I called my doctor's exchange. The doctor advised me to come on in and so we got ourselves together, David called our friends and family, and we headed to the hospital. Dave was so cute...I could hear him downstairs on the phone proclaiming to our family that "We're 99% sure Joi's water broke and we're headed to the hospital!"

At this point I was in no pain whatsoever. I kept expecting contractions to come at any time but they never did. We drove to the hospital, which was about an hour away, and they got me right in since I had preregistered.

I had *the* nicest nurse, thank God, and she checked me to make sure my water broke. We got the thumbs up that I definitely was in labor and from that point they said the party had started.

Around 5 p.m. til 7 p.m. is a little blurry in my memory. I was 2 cm dilated and 70% effaced at check-in and didn't progress much on my own. Somewhere during this time I got my hand IV which did not hurt. That was one of the things I was the most worried about and shouldn't have been. My nurse was great and got it on the first try. Somewhere during this time they started me on some fluids and eventually would start pitocin as well. I had heard pitocin would make the labor process more difficult but I didn't feel any of my contractions until about 1:30 a.m. in the morning when the pitcocin levels were at a 14 out of 20.

During the evening many of my family members and friends had shown up to support David and me and await the arrival of baby boy. They kept me in good spirits and really helped to pass the time. Since I was in no pain, I welcomed the conversation and company. I had numerous braxton hicks contractions but none that hurt.

My nurse Kristen had told me that my fill-in doctor {my real OB was on vacation--bummer} said I could have my epidural at any time that I wanted it. I knew I had planned on getting it and just wondered how long I would hold out.

At about 1:30 a.m. my nurse told David and me that my family should probably go home and get some rest. She estimated that I would not have the baby until late morning that day. It was about this time that I started feeling my contractions. My contractions were light at first and then progressively got worse. David was able to sleep a little and I rested but never fell asleep. As my contractions got worse, I woke David up to help me breathe through them. I always wondered what they would feel like and basically they felt like everyone describes them--really strong cramps. At around 5:15 a.m. I requested the epidural and I received it at 6 a.m. The nurse, David, and anesthesiologist were fabulous. The initial shot stung just a tiny bit and then the actual catheter didn't hurt at all. About 2o minutes after the epidural I was feeling fabulous. They checked me and I was 4 cm dilated at this point.

With the epidural I was able to sleep on and off throughout the morning. The nurse would come in and check my blood pressure and occasionally fix the heart monitor but I wasn't in any pain. At 9 a.m. I was dilated to a "good 5", by 11:30 a.m. I was dilated to an 8, and by 12:45 p.m. I was dilated to a 9. At the end I was starting to feel some pressure and was getting uncomfortable. I was worried that my epidural wasn't strong enough so I pushed the extra dose button twice before I was give the go-ahead to push. My family laughed at me because I didn't even know about that option until it was almost time to push.

By 3 p.m. my sweet nurse Kristen had come in for her shift and had me as a patient again {yay!} and got me prepped to push. My mom, mother-in-law, and David were all in the room with me. I was getting extremely nervous at this time and my body started to shake. I couldn't stop and I was just so scared for what was about to happen. I wasn't in any real hard pain but I was just so nervous!

My nurse gave me a few quick pointers on how to push and we got started. She said it took most first time moms 1-3 hours to push the baby out. For me, I got the job done in 1.5 hours and it was a lot of work. I felt a lot of pressure down below and pushed with all of my might. The nurse and doctor said that some people didn't feel anything with an epidural so it was good that I could feel the pressure and that it would help me push.

David, the nurse, and eventually the doctor kept telling me how great of a job I was doing and it helped but I kept wondering, "When is this little guy going to make an appearance?"

During my pushing I had to use some handles to help pull my body forward and lift my thighs back. Towards the end I was getting extremely hot and could feel the pressure quite intensely. It felt like I needed him out right away and that helped me to push stronger. I started to get slightly queasy but I never threw up. As his birth grew near I was reassured when another nurse came in and the doctor started lining up his new tools. I knew this had to be a good sign!

At 4:34 p.m. the little guy was born and I felt an overwhelming sense of joy, pride, relief, and love. I did it. I birthed a beautiful baby boy and he was perfect in my eyes. I've only seen David cry about three times in the entire time we've been together and with the birth of Theron, it marked his fourth time. He was so proud and happy and I will never forget that emotion. I couldn't stop looking at Theron and David and thinking about how we made such a miracle. God is good.

During my labor I started to tear so the doctor performed an episiotomy and I could feel it just a little. My awesome nurse told me to push the extra dosage of my epidural and that helped with the pain. After he stitched me all up my family was called in and the oohing and ahhing took over.

My recovery was pretty intense and I guess I never really thought about that part of the process. I was too worried about the whole labor part that I completely neglected worrying about the recovery. Guess it worked out in my favor because it's not like I needed anything else to stress over! I will say my whole body was sore from pushing for about a week, my lower region was very tender for about the first week after, and that there's a lot of blood. Basically everything this post mentions is the perfect explanation. It's so real and true to life. Eventually I was able to get around pretty easily and was back to normal pretty quickly. As of two weeks postpartum I have lost about 25 pounds of about 30 that I gained. I'm pretty pleased with that number.

For our experience as parents in the first two weeks I feel like I could write a novel on what we've learned and how parenthood is an emotional rollercoaster. We're hanging in there, through our sleep deprived haze, and are enjoying this little dude more and more than we ever thought possible.

xoxo