Happy Labor Day! Parker's 1 month b-day and birth story

To celebrate “Labor” Day, I thought I’d share Parker’s birth story, but first, Parker turned 1 month old today!  

To celebrate, my cutie got a bath:

He got to enjoy his first college football games this weekend; they are a fall staple in this household.  Parker must be good luck; the 3 teams he cheered for all won their opening games!

Parker is a pooping and peeing machine; I had no idea how many diapers he’d go through!  It’s not unusual for us to change 2-3 within an hour.  He is now starting to fill out his newborn-sized clothes, and I had to retire one set of PJs because his legs are too long for them.  His hair is really thinning on top, and he just has this one long section near the very front.  He’s becoming more alert and has actually looked at his mobile this week.  He can also kind of scoot around a little.

One time when I was kissing him, he gave me an enthusiastic smile, and yesterday, he actually looked me in the eyes and smiled.  He probably didn’t know what he was doing, but it made my heart soar.

Breastfeeding is definitely the most stressful part about being a new mom.  Parker doesn’t have any problems with feeding, but his demands on my time and body are challenging.  I’ve also discovered a new pet peeve – public establishments that don’t have a baby changing station in the bathroom.  I just assumed that all restaurants had them, but that is definitely not the case.

 

And now, here is Parker’s birth story.  It is pretty long, but Himal and I wanted to make sure that we got down all of the details for our records. 

The first hint that Parker might be ready to come out started on the morning of Thurs., 8/2.  I woke up with some slight cramping and light bleeding that lasted all day.  I also felt generally uncomfortable all day long.  I figured I was slowly losing my mucus plug.  After losing her mucus plug, a woman generally goes into labor between 1 day and 3 weeks later, so I figured Parker would come in a couple of weeks.  However, I must have had some intuitive sense to prepare because I tried to leave things in decent order at work when I left that evening and even cleaned out my office a little.  That night, Parker was really active in my belly.

At 2:45 in the morning on Fri., 8/3, I woke up to a contraction.  At that time, I wasn’t certain that it was a contraction.  It hurt the most by my butt, and that sensation continued throughout most of my labor.  I had another contraction around 30 minutes later, and they kept coming pretty regularly.  By 4:00, I had gotten out of bed because I couldn’t sleep through the contractions.  I was sweeping, mopping, and folding clothes all while stopping every so often for a contraction.  I’d just kind of lean on the broom or counter until they passed.

Around 4:30, I passed my mucus plug.  It was an exciting event, and I woke Himal up to share the news.  LOL!  I thought I might be in false labor (it was 16 days before his due date) but continued cleaning in case I was really in labor and we’d have company coming later in the day.  I also wrote a blog post about pregnancy must-haves that I had been meaning to write.  I had to stop every so often for a contraction. 

   

At 6:45 AM, I got Himal up because the contractions were becoming more frequent.  At 7:30, I called my mom to let her know what was happening.  By that time, I was timing the contractions at 2-7 minutes apart and lasting 30-45 seconds.  I still thought I might be in false labor and told Himal to go into work and that I’d call him if we needed to go to the hospital.  He didn’t want to leave me but went ahead to work so that he wouldn’t have to waste his time off.  

I had planned on laboring as long as possible at home before going to the hospital because I didn’t want to be sent home or have to stay there a long time in labor.  I had been instructed to call the doctor’s office when my contractions were 5 minutes apart and lasting a minute for at least an hour.  I never got to that point because I never felt a contraction last for a minute.  I called the office at 9:15 when my contractions were 2-3 minutes apart and lasting about 30 seconds.  When the nurse called me back, she told me to come to the hospital and to be prepared to stay.  So around 9:40, I called Himal at work and told him to come home so that we could go to the hospital.  I had already eaten breakfast but decided to have half a bagel and peanut butter because I knew I wouldn’t be allowed to eat once I got to the hospital.  Being hungry during labor was one of my biggest worries.  Here I am as we were leaving for the hospital:

We arrived at the hospital around 11:15 that morning, and I was worried that they would send us home.  Well, when they checked me, I was already 8 cm dilated and 100% effaced!!  I was shocked and excited to hear that.  Little did we know when I sent Himal off to work that morning that I was probably about 6 cm dilated.  Who sends her husband to work at that point?!  Most ladies have already gotten their epidurals by then.  Haha!

When they put me on the monitor, it turned out that my contractions were indeed lasting at least a minute; I just wasn’t registering the pain at the beginning and the end.  The nurses stuck me 5 times while trying to put my IV in for antibiotics; that hurt worse than the contractions because they’d leave the needles in there for a bit and move them around.  My blood pressure was high at one point, but I’m sure it was due to the excitement of being in labor.

We had a birth plan that included:

     Me wearing my own gown because hospital gowns freak me out,

     No pain medication,

     No IV except for the necessary IV antibiotics for group B strep (Because I was group B strep +, ideally, I needed two bags of IV antibiotics spaced 4 hours apart so that Parker wouldn’t be at risk for infection),

     Only intermittent external fetal monitoring,

     Me being able to labor and push how I liked, and

     No episiotomy, forceps, or vacuum unless absolutely necessary.

We were very fortunate to be able to follow our plan to a T.  Except for the 20 minutes per hour that I was stuck in bed being monitored, I walked the halls (we must have done 200 laps around the floor),

sat on the birthing ball, 

and just stood/sat around hanging out in the delivery room.  Contractions hurt, for sure, but the pain wasn’t unbearable.  The contractions that occurred when I was stuck in bed were the worst.  Himal, the doula, and the nurses quickly learned that I just wanted silence during contractions.  I’d let them know one was coming on and then retreat into myself to get through them.  

My natural labor was inspired by the Bradley Method, but I didn’t follow it exactly.  Mostly, I tried to trust that my body and Parker were doing the work needed to get him out, and I tried to just go with the contractions instead of fighting them.  I kept Parker’s framed ultrasound pictures where I could see them to remind me what I was working toward.  I didn’t have a special breathing pattern; I just tried to take slow deep breaths.  Several times during labor, the nurses said I was “rewriting the rules” on having a baby, I guess because we were just hanging out between contractions and I was dealing with the pain pretty well.  There was never a time when I felt like I wanted or needed pain medication.

Around 2:30 PM, I started feeling more intense pressure, but my contractions remained pretty steady during my entire labor.  It took me forever (from 11:00 AM until about 5:00 PM) to get from 8 to 10 cm (the doula later told me that she thought I'd be done in 2 hours when I first came in), and I was worried that they’d try to give me Pitocin to speed things along, but luckily, we never got to that point.  Under normal circumstances, the midwife would have broken my water, but because I really needed to get 2 rounds of antibiotics 4 hours apart, she didn’t break my water.  Eventually, I got bored of being in labor and wanted something new to happen, so towards the end, we turned on the TV and put the Olympics on in the background.  I was also very hungry, just as I suspected I’d be, but I wasn’t allowed to eat.  The doula did give me a lollipop and a popsicle, but that just made me feel gross from all of the sugar. 

Finally, around 5:00, the nurse checked me and said I was close enough to 10 cm that I could start pushing when I wanted.  Now, for some reason, the pushing part was the hardest for me.  I had heard that women felt relief when they got to push, but for me, it really, really hurt and I think I was fighting it.  My first pushes were kind of half-hearted.  I wasn’t sure exactly how to push.  Eventually, I started pushing as hard as I could.  I squatted during pushing using the birthing bar on the bed.  Up to that point, I’d been quiet during labor, but during pushing, I got vocal.  I was grunting and moaning, and I kept saying how badly it hurt and that I thought Parker was stuck.  I kept apologizing to the nurses and midwife about how much I was complaining.  I really thought he’d never come out.  

We had a mirror set up at the end of the bed for me to see, but during pushing, my eyes were squeezed shut.  When I was able to look, it seemed like Parker's head was stuck in the same position the whole time.  Himal got to see everything and kept saying how amazing it was to see the head, hair, etc.  At some point, the nurses got excited and pointed out that my water bag was coming out.  It had squeezed partially out and looked like a ping pong ball-sized balloon sticking out.  Then, it burst and the water spilled out.

Pushing was really hard work, and it was very painful.  By the last few pushes, I was so worn out that I couldn’t even get myself into a squatting position, and the nurse and doula had to hoist me up.  When it was time for the final push, I just stayed in a reclined position on the bed because I was too exhausted to move.

At 6:23 PM, the midwife told me to reach down and grab my baby.  What an amazing moment!  I always thought that I’d cry when I first saw my baby, but the truth is that I was completely worn out and kind of spaced out for several hours after the delivery.  Still, it was amazing to see the little person who had been growing inside of me for 8.5 months and who we’d been wanting for years. 

Now, in the movies, that’s the end of labor and delivery, but that’s not completely true.  I then had to deliver the placenta, then the nurse kept pushing on my belly and pushing stuff out of me which hurt, and the midwife had to sew me up because I tore.  She numbed part of the area but not all of it, and getting those stitches hurt like the dickens.  During all of this, Parker screamed his little heart out.

The first thing I did after holding Parker for a few minutes was order room service because I was starving.  This picture cracks me up; it’s of my sister meeting Parker for the first time, and you can see me with a big tray of food in the background.  Ha!

I pretty much got the birth experience that I wanted, and I am very grateful for that.  I think it helped that my contractions stayed pretty steady the whole time.  I would have preferred to reach 10 cm sooner than I did, but having that stage go so long allowed for me to receive the 2 doses of antibiotics that I ideally needed.  If I hadn't gotten that second dose, we would have had to worry about Parker getting group B strep, and he would have had to have extra blood work done.  The timing also allowed my parents to get to the hospital from out of town in time for Parker's birth, and my sister wasn't too far behind.   

Himal and I are so very thankful that we got to experience a birth and are so blessed to have our sweet, healthy baby boy in our lives!