Our Birth Story

I decided back before we were even pregnant that when the time did come, I wanted to have a natural childbirth. I'll write more about my reasons behind this decision later, but I wanted to throw that out there right up front because it's important to our birth story. I compiled a birth plan about a month ago. It was a full page in length, typed. I figured that if I made my birth plan look super official, then my body would have to follow it, right? Haha, of course not. I'm not that stupid, I know that things don't always go to plan. However, I like to have a solid plan in place ahead of time because it makes me feel more prepared and less stressed. And when you are going for a natural childbirth, you need to be mentally prepared. Two of my big wishes for my birth plan were that I did not want to be induced and I did not want to use an epidural. Basically, I wanted to avoid all types of medication unless they became medically necessary. Remember, I was an IVF patient so pain and discomfort is nothing new to me.

As we all know, I went well over my due date (9 days) because I wanted to try and avoid induction as long as possible. Peyton and I were both doing great and there were no signs of distress, so the doctors were going to allow me to go all the way until week 42 as long as nothing changed. On Thursday (June 12th - 41 weeks and 1 day), we returned to the doctor for another check-up. At this point, my blood pressure was becoming increasingly high, but there were no other reasons to induce me at that time. I was already dilated 4 centimeters by then and the doctor tried to do an aggressive stripping of my membranes to try and put me into labor. He was concerned about my blood pressure, so we agreed to schedule an induction for the following morning (June 13th). Since I was already dilated to 4cm and he knew my wishes for a natural childbirth, he agreed to simply break my water at first (instead of using the drug Pitocin) when I arrived at the hospital the next morning. It was our hope that just breaking my water would progress things fast enough to where I could still have the delivery I wanted. Our agreement was that if I did not make significant progress within 6 hours of my water being broken, then we would resort to the Pitocin. We went home from the doctor knowing that no matter what, she would be here the next day.

The full moon occurred that night at 12:12am. I don't know if it was the full moon, Friday the 13th, my doctor doing an excellent job stripping my membranes, or Peyton just deciding that time was up; but come 11:15 that night, I was in labor. Since I had a scheduled induction, I wasn't allowed to eat after midnight so I wanted to stay up until midnight to get one last snack in. However, around 11:15pm I started feeling real labor contractions. They weren't nearly as painful as everyone said they were going to be. When I noticed that my contractions were becoming more frequent and they weren't stopping when I changed positions, I knew that they were no longer Braxton Hicks. I began timing my contractions and they were 4 minutes apart. I was overjoyed when I finally realized what was going on because I really wanted to avoid that induction. After tracking them for over an hour, they were now 3 minutes apart so I called the doctor. We packed up and headed to the hospital. I arrived at the hospital around 1:45am and at 2am when I was checked for dilation, I was 5 centimeters. I gave the nurses my birth plan, had my birth ball all set up and I was ready to start laboring. I had the plan, I took the classes, I had been practicing the techniques, and I was prepared for a mobile and natural labor process.

Of course, as soon as the nurses checked my blood pressure, that birth plan came to a screeching halt. My BP had jumped to 173/110 and I was immediately put on bed confinement. Well, there went all my laboring ideas. In order to get my blood pressure down, I had to get an IV of magnesium sulfate to keep it under control. This meant that I was not allowed to get out of bed (because it would cause my blood pressure to drastically drop and me pass out) so I had to have a catheter. Yuck. This also meant that I was going to have to stay an extra night in hospital because I would have to keep this IV for 24 hours after the birth as well. I was not very happy about this turn of events, but luckily the magnesium would not affect the baby or my labor in any way and it would not interfere with my ability to still have a natural birth. They had to give me a bolus (which means a large immediate dose in order to get rapid results) of the magnesium sulfate at first in order to get my blood pressure under control as quickly as possible. The side effect of the bolus was that it made me feel like my entire body was on fire. I was literally burning up, so they put cool, wet rags all over me to make me feel cooler. So on top of having contractions every 2 minutes, I was so hot which made it all that much more uncomfortable. Luckily, the bolus was short term and as soon as it was finished and they switched me to the regular dosage of magnesium sulfate, that burning sensation went away and I felt so much better.

I continued to make great progress throughout the night, relying on my steady breathing and Jared's coaching to get me through each and every contraction. By 6:30am, I was dilated 7 centimeters so the doctor came in a broke my water for me. After that, the contractions started to get much more intense, but I was determined to stay strong. The face of a woman in pain, but refusing to give up on my goal for a natural birth...

By 7:30am, I had reached 8-9 centimeters and things were really getting intense. I will admit that there were a couple times during contractions when I remember thinking in my mind, "Why are you doing this? You don't have to be tough. Maybe you should just get the epidural". However, I just kept with my steady breathing and once that really bad contraction was over, I regained my strength and confidence and convinced myself that I really could do this. Plus, Jared was there constantly encouraging me every time I started to doubt myself.

Around 8:15am, I had reached 10 centimeters and I cannot even begin to describe what those contractions felt like. It was definitely the most pain I have ever experienced in my entire life, and the sensation is like nothing I could ever compare to anything else. Only people who have experienced those 10cm contractions with zero medication will ever understand what that feeling is like. By 8:30am, the nurse wanted me to practice "bearing down" so that I would know how to push once the time came and to make sure that the baby's head was in position and ready to go before they called the doctor in. We practiced for about 3 pushes and then the nurse told me to put my legs down and to not let my body bear down any more or we would be having this baby without the doctor. She instructed me to get through each contraction with quick, shallow breaths until she could get the doctor in the room. Let me tell you, getting all that way and then having to force myself to hold the baby in was a little challenging.

Warning: this is where things get graphic, so read at your own risk.

All of a sudden, a rush of nurses were in my room setting everything up as quickly as they could and the doctor arrived a few minutes later. I got into position to push and geared up for what I knew was going to be the most pain I had ever felt. However, the end was in sight and I was really going to do this all on my own with no drugs, just like I wanted. Adrenaline is truly a powerful thing. Baby girl was coming fast and within 6-8 pushes, she was out. At 8:54am, I felt an immense relief of pressure and the doctor told me to open my eyes and look down, and there she was. The doctor was holding her up in the air so she was all stretched out and I remember thinking, "Oh my goodness, I just pushed that giant thing out of me?!" Jared cut the umbilical cord and they laid her on my chest. Oh my, she was so heavy. Her lips were still a little purple, which concerned the nurses, so they took her over to check her. They cleaned her up and measured her, 9 pounds 15 ounces and 21 inches long. Then, they handed her to Jared so that the doctor could finish up with me. I had to deliver the placenta, which didn't all come out exactly as it should so the doctor had to reach up and pull the little remaining bit out (sorry, I know that's super gross). Of course, I didn't feel any of that because I had just pushed an almost 10 pound baby out of there so that lady's arm was nothing (over-share, I know). Then, the doctor had to stitch me up because I had a 3rd degree tear. Well duh, how else did you expect that giant baby to get out of such a tiny space? I'm glad that Jared was holding her because I was so exhausted and still trying to process all that had just happened.

Jared and I spent a little time alone with her, feeding her and enjoying our first moments as a family of three. I'm so glad that we decided to just have the two of us in there for the delivery. It allowed me to focus best and give me the calm environment that I needed. Plus, being able to share all those first wonderful moments together, just us, was so special.

Then, we allowed the parade of family members to begin! I let the grandmas come in first because I was still feeding her, but I knew that everyone was probably getting antsy in the waiting room. Everyone was so excited to meet her and I'm honestly surprised that there wasn't more crying :)

 Grandma DeeDee (my mom) meeting Peyton for the first time!

 Grammy Gina (Jared's mom)

 Grandpa Ben (Jared's dad)

 Uncle Chris and Aunt Melissa (my brother and sister-in-law)

 Auntie Erika (Jared's sister)

 I can't believe that she is finally here! We are so in love with this little girl!

I am so glad that we were able to have the natural birth that we truly wanted and that Peyton arrived safely. We are very blessed with this happy and healthy baby girl. Thank you all for the sweet messages and congratulatory wishes!