Baby Brother's Birth Story

First outfit

Baby Brother was born August 31 at 1:52 am. He weighed 7lbs 10oz, and was 20" long. We were both doing well and went home the next morning, but for some reason I haven't felt up to sharing my birth story. After a few months, I feel like it's time to document it.

My midwife mentioned at my 35 week (since schedules worked out that I missed 34 weeks) appointment that "baby could safely be born anytime after 36 weeks," and I started imagining that he would come early. Contractions started originally on a Sunday night when I was 35+6 weeks along. I remember it being stressful because we didn't have our insurance cards, and I didn't really know/understand the hospital check in procedures. That night they were pretty consistently strong and close together, to the point that I climbed in the bath and did some minor coping. Mario slept through it all, which was slightly frustrating at the time, but by the next morning I was glad he had the sleep and didn't stress about something that eventually resolved itself. It was a bit worrisome to me, though, since the contractions were 5 minutes apart and 1 minute long for almost exactly an hour--the recommended length to come into the hospital--but at 61 or 62 minutes of timing they almost immediately slowed down both in intensity and duration.

First thing that Monday morning, I called the clinic, and got my questions and clarifications answered, which was a bit of a relief. After that, contractions were on and off at about the same strength and duration for the rest of my pregnancy. (At 38 or 39 weeks, I found out that it's called prodromal labor.) It was exhausting.

As time went on, I was to the point that I just wanted something to either just stop the contractions (they were usually uncomfortable, but not yet painful--just enough to catch my breath briefly) or make them more productive so I could be done being so uncomfortable.

On August 28, I was doing so poorly, that I ended up crying to Mom on the phone that I just couldn't handle it anymore. After chatting with her, then later Mario, we decided to check Biggest Sister out at lunch/kindergarten pickup, and utilize the arrangements for the girls to stay with Mario's parents. Contractions weren't too bad by then, but with the way the rest of August had gone, how bad I was doing that morning, and how fast the other 3 came, we decided it was worth being checked. We met Grandma at the Hospital about 10 minutes after we got there, then we checked in. 

After we checked in, I was put on the monitors and given an IV saline solution for dehydration. Monitoring was annoying, due to largely feeling confined to the bed, but otherwise not unpleasant. Towards the end of the hour or so of monitoring, things were still basically the same, so we decided to wait a half hour more just to make sure, and the nurse asked if we wanted any snacks. She listed off a few things, and Oreos caught my attention. Instead of bringing just a couple Oreos, like I expected, she brought a bowlful of Oreos, graham crackers and another cookie/cracker--maybe bellavue? I'm not sure. They tasted like the Delta airplane cookies. After that, we were given the option to induce or go home. We prayed and felt like going home would be better, but that we would probably be back soon. 

We talked about going somewhere to eat out, but we decided going home for spaghetti made more sense. Afterwards, we had what felt like our first date since…. I don't remember when. (We've had temple trips, but this led more to the feeling of a date, rather than hurrying back to kids/babysitter.) We strolled a local Park, and discovered a duck pond and fruit trees that we didn't know existed. It was really nice to wander, chat and reminisce. After we got home, I asked Mario for a blessing, and in it he said Baby would be born the next day. Friday night, I got the best sleep I had possibly since having kids. I woke up Saturday feeling rejuvenated and ready to take on giving birth, and just life in general. Since contractions were still the same, we decided to work on a few more projects. The main thing we did was build an aquaponics setup to go on top of our fish tank. (We retired it since then due to a few "minor" issues that affected the effectiveness more than we expected.) After our day of project finishing, Mario asked if we should go back to the hospital, and I said, "contractions are still the same, so if rather labor at home. Plus, it's still today." We went to bed early, but I still didn't sleep very well. 

Sunday morning contractions picked up a bit, and we decided to have Home Sacrament Meeting, then head down to the hospital. As we got down towards the next City, we decided to walk the temple grounds before going to the hospital. It was nice to talk about the temple, and even though the official grounds were closed to have that time near the temple. We were also impressed by how well fruit trees worked for landscaping. Instead of planning 1-2 fruit trees for our backyard with a couple shade trees, we decided all of our backyard trees would be fruit trees. Then we headed over to the hospital. 

By the time we got to the hospital, contraction intensity and time was fairly consistent, so we thought it would be a fairly short time. We were wrong. They stayed there the whole time I was being monitored with no increase. After the initial monitoring, we were offered an induction again, and even though I was still resistant to pitocin, (Haha! I REALLY didn't want to) we both felt like Baby was supposed to be born, and it felt right. One of those, "not my will, but thine be done" circumstances. Pitocin officially started between 1:45&2:00p, and I spent the first half hour to an hour texting family to stave off boredness. (And I'm glad I had started those conversations, because it's from those messages that I have the times I do.)

I switched from the stationary to portable monitor at about 3:15p, and started wandering around 3:30p after the monitor calibrated. Unfortunately, I was allergic to the adhesive, so I could only use the portable monitor temporarily. Plus, the labor and delivery unit was tiny, and there wasn't much to wander. As labor started picking up, Mario read a Harry Potter fan fiction out loud to me, and I think he started reading after I switched back to the stationary monitor. I believe it was the Mr. Black one. I just remember it being funny.

I had been holding off on having my water broken, since I remembered it being much more pleasant delivering Baby Sister without breaking my water, but I gave in and asked to have it broken around 5:00p. My midwife had a delay, and she wasn't able to break it until about 7:00p. Contractions quickly started picking up, and I wasn't able to keep up with texting starting around 8 or 9p. At first, it was because I wanted to listen to the story more than respond, but labor also required some major coping. First birth ball, and at some point I couldn't handle the contractions, so we turned off the pitocin and I got in the shower. 

First meeting

My nurse was amazing. She applied counter pressure and helped Mario know where to spray the water. While in the shower, she asked if I wanted a pain killer, but I said no, so she left to let me cope. Then, almost as soon as she left, we called her back and said yes. I asked for an epidural, but she encouraged me to try something else (I don't remember what. I think it started with an F?) with an anti-nausea med, since I didn't think I could wait for the anesthesiologist to get in. She gave both through the IV, and I almost immediately got a little light-headed and headache-y. My nurse said that was normal for the pain killer, and to rest and drink water. I don't remember how long it was, but it didn't seem very long between when the pain killer was given and when I felt the urge to push. My midwife said Baby Brother was born in 3 contractions, but apparently I couldn't push through the whole contraction because I counted 6 pushes. After he was born, I texted family again until about 3:40a on Monday 8/31, when I crashed. I woke back up and responded to one at 6:40a explaining that I thought it was a literal adrenaline crash. Baby Brother and I stayed in the hospital all of Monday, with Baby in the nursery a lot so I could rest while Mario was at campus teaching his first class. We checked out Tuesday morning, and Grandpa brought the girls back home around lunchtime. 

Now

After that, it was pretty much business as usual. Due to covid-19, we didn't have anyone else come help, also due to covid-19 and allergies, we didn't have the Ward bring meals. It wasn't too bad at first, but I easily overdid it. I think I still have a little resentment at the circumstances and lack of help. (Though I know in many ways it was self-inflicted.) However, I certainly have felt blessed because I have been able to do so much more than I am capable. I feel a lot like the people of Alma: my burdens have been light.