My Birth Story

Well,has many of you know, my sweet little boy Jeremiah arrived last Sunday! It was the second best day of my life and for the last few days I have been mulling it over in my mind on how to share my birth story with you all. It was such a beautiful experience and really, for lack of a better word, miraculous .

Saturday morning, I woke up feeling really anxious and excited ! Travis was going to be out of the house, so I took the opportunity to scrub my house spotless !  You would think that I would have taken this as sign of impending labor,  but I just saw it as me needing to clean my house! In the afternoon, we went on two mile walk, after getting back I was feeling some pain in my lower back, I thought I pulled something, but as the night went on , the pain got worse and walking around  became nearly impossible , but I wasn't having any contractions , so I took a bath (which helped) and then I went to bed.

Around 1 AM,I woke up with contractions,  so I walked around for a few minutes and the pain worsened , so I went to Jeremiah's room and rocked in my glider , which felt good. But I noticed the pain was getting rhythmic, so I texted my mother in law for a second opinion . She told me to start timing them, although she was thoroughly convinced I was in labor . After about a half hour, they were coming every 3 minutes and lasting about a minute long. So I attempted to wake up Travis ...that took a few tries ...and I started to gather up e last minute things for the hospital bag. Travis woke up and his mom was on his way over. I couldn't believer that this was actually it ! I was having a baby !

When we arrived at the hospital , I don't think the nurses believed I was in labor ! Simple breathing techniques were getting me through contractions and I was joking in between ! Once I was in triage , the nurse asked me a myriad of questions , the machine was not picking up my contractions, and finally she checked to see how dilated I was . Her eyes got huge and said "I am glad you're not standing because you aren't going to believe how you've progressed !" ( my last appointment on Thursday, I was almost completely effaced and I was 4 cm dilated). I called my mom and told her i was being admitted, and she basically got on a flight right away!  I was pretty much rushed to a delivery room and I was monitored for forty minutes ( in case you didn't know, laboring lying down is SUPER uncomfortable ) I was able to go into the jet tub, which was amazing, I was finally able to relax , I was feeling pretty nervous and shaky so the water just allowed me to pull myself together ! I had to get out and be monitored again , I decided I wanted to get on the birthing ball, which helped get my little man in the right position for birth.  After a fee minutes, I met the on call doctor, I wish i could have met him before i was in labor because he was really funny, but it is hard to laugh at jokes when you're just about to give birth ! The decided  to break my water so it would speed things along, but Jeremiah's head  was so low that he could barely poke a hole !  oh well, he tried...

My contractions were getting more intense, but I could still converse in between, my wonderful nurse couldn't believe that I was as calm as I was for being in transition ! She checked me again, and I was at 9 centimeters, my back labor was getting super intense . Whenever I had a contraction, I had Travis massage my low back, which helped counter the back pain. The nurse suggested I get on my hands and knees to relieve the pressure, as soon as I did I felt like I needed to push, so I rolled over ( um, ow) and she checked me and I was still at a nine.  They needed to monitor Jeremiah's heartbeat, so I laid on my side while they made sure he was doing well. At this point, I was feeling miserable,  and I  knew that I was going to meet my little man soon!

I got on my hands and knees and then the most intense pain I had felt all night ! I said that I needed to push , so the nurse checked me again and said " oh yeah , he's right there !" Then everything started to go really fast... Well not fast enough, people started coming in, I told Travis that they needed to hurry because I couldn't wait much longer ! 

Before I go on, I just want to say how awesome my husband was ! He knew exactly what I needed and he knew that I needed to feel relaxed, he kept his cool. My mother in law, was amazing as well, she was super fast at eating me those ice chips, which are a life saver, let me tell you !

So, pushing didn't really hurt too much, it was just a lot of work !! About half way through , I was ready to give up ! But I was spooned more ice cups and the nurse gave me some oxygen which made me feel like a new woman ! The doctor that delivered Jeremiah was a doctor that I had never met before, but he was a hoot! Before meeting him, all of the nurses told us that he was always cracking jokes, and I appreciate humor, and in my case I was using no drugs, so it got my mind off the pain and on to the joke. Anyways... now that you have that story... I can go on.
So the top of Jeremiah's head was making it's appearance, and suddenly everyone started laughing. I was really confused because here I am ... you know, pushing and then everyone is dying of laughter! I was like " What is so funny??' between a few breaths of oxygen. My husband said, "Jeremiah is getting his first fohawk!" My doctor was giving my son a fohawk while he was crowning! No matter how exhausted I was, I had to laugh at that... too funny.

The doctor was worried about tearing, so he gave me an epistiomy and a few more pushes and his head was out.  The doctor then took my hands and placed them on my son and I pulled him out and onto my chest .

Moments after cuddling on me, his cries subsided, and just looked at me.He was perfect, he had his dad's face but it was shared with  my nose and lips. The overwhelming feeling of love just washed over me, I looked at Travis for the first time and I could see that he felt the same way, we had a son.  We had everything. We were truly a family .