I wrote up Jonah’s birth story in my google docs within the first week he was born, but haven’t been able to find the time to transfer it over here until today — when he happens to be ONE MONTH OLD! How?! Time truly flies by so fast. I love, love, love reading birth stories, and if you do too, I hope you enjoy this post. If birth stories aren’t your thing, then skip right over this (except maybe scroll down to the picture of our family of five, because it’s a sweet one). Alright, are you ready to hear all about Jonah’s birth? Here we go!
38 week appointment.
Heading into my 39 week appointment, I was really anxious. I knew Dr. Cox was going out of town 2 days after my due date, and I worried that if I hadn’t progressed or gone into labor he would simply want to schedule me for a c-section, which, while I was ok with another c-section if needed, I really wanted to experience labor again and hopefully go unmedicated, as well. I knew that VBACs are risky to induce, and I also knew that Pitocin contractions were more intense than naturally occurring ones, so overall, like I said, I was anxious about a lot of things.
However, at that appointment (on a Wednesday, I was 39+2), Dr. Cox offered to induce me that next week, on Monday the 21st, my due date, before he went out of town. I was only a high and posterior 1 cm dilated, so I was a little surprised, but excited, that he would offer that option to me, as I wasn’t sure he would suggest it. He also gave me the option to wait until I went into labor on my own, with the knowledge that if the other doctor who did VBACs wasn’t available, I’d be having a c-section. Since the induction date was going to be on my due date, I felt fine with that, since we weren’t inducing labor early.
Sunday, May 20:
We met Dr. Cox at his office around 8 pm, so he could place a balloon catheter in my cervix to hopefully get labor going. Bless his heart, he actually came back from his trip to Utah a little early in order to do this for me. The process wasn’t too bad – I laid back, and he inserted a speculum, and then guided the catheter through to my cervix. Once the catheter was in place, he used a syringe to fill up two balloons, one on each side of my cervix. By placing pressure on the cervix this way, it’s supposed to mimic baby’s head bearing down, and start to get contractions going and the cervix to dilate. The only thing that was bothersome was that dang speculum, but other than that it was painless. The catheter got to hang out between my legs the next 12 hours, too, and that wasn’t too fun, ha! Sadly, the balloon catheter only gave me a handful of barely there contractions the whole night. So while it was nice to be able to get some sleep before going to the hospital, it was kind of a bummer that I didn’t progress any more than I already was.
Side note: My friend Hillary is a labor and delivery nurse, and when I received my induction date I texted her and asked her if she was working that day. She said she was, and I asked her to be my nurse. Best decision ever! I’m so glad she was there with me the whole time!
Monday, May 21 (my due date):
6 am: My alarm went off, and so I got up, showered, dressed, and got ready, as did Kyle. I called the hospital a little before 7, to make sure they were ready for me, and Hillary actually was the one to answer the phone. She told me to eat some breakfast and come on down.
7:30 am: Kyle and I got to the hospital, Hillary met us at the nurses station, and took me to my room. I changed into my hospital gown, and we answered all the questions, got my IV, met the resident physician, Dr. Shippen, etc. etc. The IV didn’t take on my right arm, and I ended up with a huge bruise for 2 weeks, but my left hand was clearly ready, and sprayed blood all over the place, ha! She also checked me and I was still just at a 1 cm dilated.
9:30 am: Hillary hooked me up to Pitocin, starting me at the lowest dose of 2 milliunits/minute. Kyle and I started walking the halls, hoping that between that and the Pitocin, I’d start having some contractions.
10 am: We headed back to the room, and I bounced on the exercise ball for a while.
10:30 am: Dr. Cox came in, chatted with me a little bit, and checked me. I was at a 1.5, 50% effaced. He decided to break my water, in hopes that it would speed things up. (Spoiler: it didn’t.) I get a kick out of all the fluid that comes gushing out once my water is broken. Pregnancy is crazy.
1 pm: Contractions were starting to pick up, and Hillary had upped my Pit dosage a few times. I was still only at a 3 though.
3:30 pm: By this time, I believe I was at a Pit dosage of 10, which is halfway (as the highest dosage is 20). The baby’s heart rate had been decelerating during contractions a bit, and I had been laying on my side, which is NOT comfortable when you’re trying to manage painful contractions without medication. Dr. Cox came in, and I was only at a “tight 4” which was a bit discouraging to hear. He placed an internal monitor, so that he could see what exactly my contractions were doing, so he’d know if the Pitocin was working and it was just my body not cooperating, or if upping the dosage was a safe and good thing to do. I appreciated this, because as a VBAC, I was running the risk of uterine rupture, and so obviously didn’t want to have more medication if it wasn’t needed.
I’d been doing a really great job at managing my pain during contractions by breathing through them, but since I was only at a 4, I wasn’t certain I wanted to continue doing that for much longer, since I had been on Pitocin for 6 hours, with only 3 cm worth of dilation to show for it. I decided to get the epidural, because I knew that either I would be laboring a long while more, and wouldn’t regret having some pain relief, OR that it would help my body relax and progress more quickly.
3:45 pm: The nurse anesthetist came in, and I was in hell for 15 minutes getting the epidural placed. By now my contractions were quite painful, although somewhat manageable – but not so manageable while trying to hold completely still, bent over a huge stomach on the edge of a bed, while a man you don’t know it inserting a huge needle in your spine. Getting the epidural placed is not fun, and a main factor of why I had wanted to go un-medicated in the first place. He ended up having to place it twice, I got multiple zings down my spine, and was just sobbing the whole time. Hillary, bless her heart, was in front of me, holding me in place the whole time, and softly whispering words of encouragement and comfort. It was terrible.
However, when all was said and done, and I calmed down, the epidural itself ended up being a great one, because while I couldn’t feel any contraction pain, I could still move my legs a bit, and when the time came, I could feel the pressure of when to push, and was able to feel him slip out, which was really neat.
4:30 pm: Hillary checked me and I was at a 6, which was great and welcome news. After chatting a few minutes, and entering some information in the computer, Hillary told me to call her if I started feeling pressure. Her shift was over at 5, and I was sad she probably wasn’t going to be there for the actual birth.
5 pm: A few minutes after she left, I started feeling pressure “down there” and asked Kyle if I was having a contraction, since I couldn’t see the monitor from my position. He said yes, and I wondered if that was what she meant. I waited a few more contractions to see if it kept on coming, and a few minutes before 5, I figured this was what she was talking about, and called her in. I felt a little guilty, knowing that she needed to get home to her kids, but knew something was happening, ha! She checked me and I was at a 9.5. Dr. Cox came in a few minutes later, declared me a 10, got me into pushing position, and I started pushing.
5:16 pm: Out came a baby! I pushed through about 3 contractions, just like with Eliza, and baby was here. Dr. Shippen said something like, I know what your baby is, and Kyle and I both looked over and could see it was a boy! It was so fun to have that moment, and while I’m going to write a whole blog post about waiting to find out the gender, I 100% recommend it.
The rest of the time:
The next little while was a blur of holding him on my chest, getting stitched up, agreeing that Jonah was his name, Jonah getting weighed and measured, getting a new nurse, getting cleaned up, ordering dinner, etc. My in-laws had driven up on Sunday, so they could stay with Abe and Eliza, and they brought them to come visit us around 7 pm. Seeing Abe and Eliza meet their new brother was the sweetest experience – they were so excited and happy!
Once they left, I was transferred over to my postpartum room, met my new nurse, and settled in for the night. I was able to go to the nursery and watch Jonah get his first bath, something I hadn’t been able to experience with either of my other two (I was still in recovery from my c-section with Abe, and I was still unable to move because of my epidural with Eliza.) Having my epidural for only an hour and a half or so was really great, since it wore off quickly.
The rest of the time was a blur of doctors, nurses, and others in and out of my room, getting Jonah’s newborn pictures taken, trying to sleep, eating hospital food (for real I love it), and loving on my sweet boy. We had some amazing nurses, especially Whitney and Amilee. The day Jonah was born between 12-16 babies were born (I got different answers from different nurses, ha) when the average 3 per day, so it was a bit crazy, with multiple nurses being called in to help, but I was still given a lot of attention and good care. I was able to shower Tuesday morning, and I honestly was feeling so good. I had some pretty intense afterbirth contractions, a bit of pain where the epidural had been placed, and some vaginal/crotch pain, but NOTHING compared to either my previous c-section and vaginal recoveries. I was expecting the worse, as my recovery after my VBAC with Eliza was awful, but this was nothing compared to that. At first I thought it was because of the meds, but after a couple of days I realized it was just what it was, and I was so thankful.
We checked out Tuesday around 5 pm, and have been doing great since. I’ll be posting more about our transition to 3 kids, Jonah’s first month, and maybe a bit more about recovery, but that’s the end of our hospital stay. We are doing well, and are thrilled to have little Jonah here.
As a side note for those who might wonder: No, I am not breastfeeding. You can read all about my experiences here, here, and here. My milk came in on Thursday night, and I was in terrible pain and terribly engorged through Sunday. It took about another week or so for my milk to disappear completely, but as of today, a month postpartum, I am back to my regular, pre-pregnancy sized breasts, with no pain, and have been that way for 1-2 weeks.
One more shout out to Hillary, who was such a calming presence the whole time. I really appreciated having a familiar face there the whole time as well (other than Kyle).
And of course, shout out to Kyle, because he has been so great during all 3 of my labor and deliveries — helping me with my water, holding my hand, telling me what a great job I’m doing, and just hanging around a hospital room with me for hours on end. He’s my rock and best friend and the greatest ever.
In case you’re interested:
