Baby Hunter's Birthday Story

What a great way to remember the arrival day of my little man then by blogging about it and sharing my experience with all of my readers (since I know you are all just DYING to hear the story!)

I have read so many birth stories in the last few months as I prepared for my own experience, that I figured I'd share just to prove that EVERY birth experience is different.

As I prepared for my first childbearing experience, I read books and talked to friends and even watched videos on YouTube to try and get SOME idea of what to expect. My results were that EVERY experience is different and that trying to plan a "perfect" labor would only set myself up for disappointment, fear and more stress.

I think this actually helped me when the big day finally arrived because I had the "I'm here to have this baby and whatever happens, happens" attitude. I knew that I was in a place where things would be taken care of if something went wrong and knew the LORD was the only one who controlled how and when this baby was coming! 

Thursday morning, June 21st about 2am, I woke up with severe "menstrual like" cramps. After just a few minutes they went away and I was able to go back to sleep. 

(This was my first sign I was in labor but OBVIOUSLY I had no clue).

Around 5am, the same cramping woke me up and this time they stayed. About every 20 minutes or so the cramping would return and the pain seemed to be getting a little worse.

I was able to get going for the day and headed down to my weekly doctor's appointment.

On my way to my Doctors Apt on 06/21 @9am

Everything looked good as normal. When I met with Dr. Judd I explained the severe pains I was having and how often they were coming. I asked if he could see if I had dilated at all but because I was 36 weeks and 5 days, he told me he wanted to wait until my next appointment to check my cervix since I wasn't quiet full term. 

I left the office (still VERY uncomfortable) and headed to work for the day.

About 11am  I mentioned to my supervisor how MISERABLE I was. She finally suggested that she drive me home since I was having such a hard time at work.

At home I figured I would try a warm bath and lie down for a bit to see if the pain would go away. By 2pm the pains were getting much worse. I had been texting Kevin and keeping him up to date and he suggested that I call the doctors office to see what they say. At this point the pains (contractions) were coming every 4 minutes and leaving me on the verge of tears each time.

I called the doctors office and after explaining I was having contractions every 4 minutes was told to head down to Labor and Delivery.

OH MY HECK.

I called Kevin to tell him we needed to head to the hospital.

He came right home and as I sat on the couch for just a few minutes (it felt like a whole day) watching him run around trying to grab last minute items, it finally hit me that this baby might actually be on his way.

We arrived at the hospital at 3pm. The nurse took us to a room and examined me. I was dilated 2cm and 85% effaced. The nurse explained that Dr. Judd wanted them to watch me for one hour to see if I progressed. If I did they would admit me to have a baby, If I didn't they would send me home. I thought, there is NO WAY in heck I am going home with these pains. 

At 4pm, the nurse came back in to check on me. I hadn't dilated any further but had effaced to about 95%. I explained how much pain I was feeling and that I didn't feel comfortable going home. The nurse said she would call the doctor, get me some pain medications and watch me for a bit longer. By the time another nurse came back into our room with some morphine, my pains were getting much worse and I let her know! She decided to check my progress again before giving me the drugs. To her surprise I had dilated to 4cm and was 100% effaced.
She looked up at Kevin and I.
The words still ring in my ears, "Looks like your having a baby today!"

I couldn't believe it. 

Before I knew it they were putting hospital bands on Kevin and I, letting the doctor know I was being admitted, calling the anesthesiologist down to my room and having Kevin call my mom to let her know it was GO TIME.

Contractions.

 

Thumbs Up for EPIDURALS.

By 6pm, after I got my epidural (BEST INVENTION EVER), I was happy in labor heaven. I was totally calm and very excited for the next few hours.

My nurse, Little Debbie, was amazing. She was so sweet and helpful during the whole evening. She explained each step as we progressed and what the plan was. She also kept it very real by explaining what would happen if things didn't go as planned. 

She checked in on us every two hours which gave Kevin and I some time to just relax and hang out together in the room (our last few hours as a family of two).

Debbie checked on me a few times over the next few hours. At one point my water broke (which I heard) and when she came in to check I was now at 6cm. By 10pm I was still dilated 6cm and so Debbie decided she was going to call Dr. Judd to see if she should give me Pitocin to speed up the process (especially since I had an epidural and those usually slow things down). When Debbie came back in some time later she checked my progress again. To all of our surprise I had jumped to 10cm and she could feel the baby's head.

Another announcement that rings in my head, "You're at a ten and its time to push"

OH MY HECK AGAIN! 

This baby was ready to make his debut.

This was the part of labor that I was the most worried about. After hearing stories about the pushing process I was nervous. With the epidural, I wasn't able to feel anything (which I loved) but it did make it difficult when I was told to push. At first I had a very hard time concentrating on where exactly I was pushing. Debbie brought in a mirror so I could visualize where I was pushing. It really helped and it was so cool to see his head make his way to the exit. I only threw up 3 times while pushing, something I didn't even knew happened until my cousin Jessica told me about it.
Just over an hour of pushing, the doctor and nurses were called in. I watched as our room began to fill with nurses and medical supplies. A NICU team was called in since Hunter was coming early so our room instantly felt crowded. 

At 1:33am the doctor told me to look at my son. I looked down and saw this little person take his first breath in this world. 

Incredible! 

He was taken by the nurses right away to be cleaned off and monitored.
He scored an 8/9 on his APGAR test and looked great.

He weighed 5 pounds 12 oz at birth and was 18 inches short.
He was born with red hair like his momma and the cutest little face ever.

 

 Within a few minutes of observation after birth, the nurses noticed Hunter's breathing was quicker then it should be. They wrapped him up so I could hold him for just a minute and took him away to the NICU to be monitored. 

(NICU stay experience in a future blog post)

It was an incredible 10 hours from when we arrived at the hospital to the birth of our son. My labor was fairly easy and I was so blessed not to have any complications.

I am so grateful for the incredible nurses who took care of me during my 2 day recovery stay at the hospital. I was surrounded by wonderful women who each made me feel comfortable and relaxed even though my son was in the NICU. 

My Amazing Labor nurse Little Debbie.

Dr. Judd and Baby H.

I feel so blessed that my amazing husband was such a great support during the birth. He coached me on the breathing, fed me ice chips, adjusted my legs (since I couldn't move them due to the epidural) and rocked at taking pictures (usually my job) to be sure we captured every moment.

 

 

Overall, child birth was way better then I ever imagined it and the best part....

A super cute little baby boy I get to call my son.

 Welcome to our family Hunter Edward Ford.