David's Birth Story - {The Whole Story}

Mr. David Anthony arrived on December 1st at 9:20 a.m. He weighed 7 lbs 0 oz, and measured 19.5 inches long. His birth story is quite different from his big sister's, but it's one with a happy ending :)

Now y'all, I know I can be a bit dramatic sometimes. {Shock, I know!} However, I will try to keep my overreactions to a minimum ;) It is still a crazy story. Hold on to your butts...

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As you recall from my last few posts, my induction date was in the air, and I had not progressed very much. I felt like I hit a wall and that David was not going to come on his own like I really wanted. Knowing my parents didn't have much time left, and yet another impending SnowmyGod/Icemaggedon, I didn't know what to do. On the 30th, I tried walking 2 miles, relaxing, watching the intense football games on TV... really anything that might get things moving. By bedtime, I had come to the conclusion that David was obviously going to come when he felt like it. As I told my parents goodnight, my dad said "Don't worry Sug. I have a feeling tomorrow is going to be the day!" I shrugged his comment off with a smile.

At 4:45 in the morning, I got up to pee as per usual. However, walking was much more painful than normal all over my abdomen. After doing my thing, I took my phone off its charger, and took it with me back to bed. After a few moments, I had some big pains. I used the contraction timer, and I had 3 contractions that were 4-1/2 minutes apart. I decided to go ahead and wake up Phil. He jumped in the shower, and I tried to stay calm.

I'm going to do a side note here. Because I was induced with Jillian, I complained about not feeling any "real" contractions the first time. Even with my false labor, I figured I had felt the worst of it. Trust me when I say, I will never mistake the two again! I would literally have to go down on the ground on my hands and knees with every contraction. It hurt that badly! I am kind of a wuss, but that was pretty painful.

We took a quick bump picture, and I called my hospital to see if there was any room. There was, but I was told I could either go now and be observed or wait an hour. The only reason I decided to go right away was because I got another contraction while talking to the labor nurse on the phone. Otherwise, I may have had a home birth situation on my hands!

Anyways, we got our stuff together, my mom jumped in the car with Phil and me, and we took off to the hospital. There was some major fog going on all the way to the hospital. I'm talking pea soup kind of fog! It was hard to see, and I was having a hard time anyways thanks to the contractions. Luckily, the hospital was only a 10 minute drive. We got there around 6:20 am, and decided to keep our bag in the car on the off chance they would send me home.

Once I was in the hospital, they sent me into an observation room. They checked me and I was still at 4 cm dilated. After an hour of painful contractions that were 3 minutes apart, they were still unsure about keeping me. They called the on-call doctor who was headed our direction to see me herself. {My doctor was still out of town!} After another 20 minutes or so, I was starting to feel like both my butt cheeks were getting pinched during my contractions. {Apparently, this was back labor} Suddenly, I had an intense contraction, and I felt what I thought was a gas bubble in my lower, left back pop. As soon as it popped, I felt three small gushes. My nurse checked me again and I was still at a 4, but 80% effaced. I thought the gushes meant I peed, so they gave me a special pad to wear in order to check to see if it was my water breaking.

Well, the next two contractions were extra painful! You know when you're really sick and your body just naturally makes you heave involuntarily? Those two contractions made my body bear down a little. I thought maybe it was just trying to push more water out because I felt a light gush as well. I can't remember if we called the nurse back in or what, but she checked me again and told me I was "going to have a baby today" because I was at 5 cm! After I stepped off of the bed to move into a labor and delivery room, I had to go on my knees again. The bearing down was still happening, and I just couldn't help it. My nurse told me not to push and to just breathe. I recall apologizing a lot because I really was trying not to push. When the contraction was over, I got back up and noticed some water that had some blood in it. I was really nervous that meant something was wrong and got a knot in my stomach :( Phil texted his parents to tell them I was officially being checked into the hospital. This was at 8:50 am.

We walked 50 feet from the observation room to the room I delivered in. I asked if I could try peeing real fast because I felt like I needed to. I would feel urges to push during contractions, and while I tried everything I could to not push, my body continued to involuntarily do a little pushing on its own.

By the time I crawled into bed, I was having a hard time catching my breath. Every contraction made my whole body double over, and I was making sounds like I was going to throw up. I had a room full of nurses trying to put in an IV, giving papers for Phil to sign so I could be officially admitted into the hospital, and I was told to try breathing with the traditional "hee hee ho." I was able to breath like that for a few minutes, but was getting to the point where I couldn't. Every time I tried to say "hee" or "ho", I would literally yell the word instead of breathe it while my body continued to heave on its own. I told my nurse I really wanted to push, so she checked me quickly only to discover that I was already at 10 cm, however he was still too high up (-2 station) so I had to wait. The next few moments are a complete blur to me. Between the pain I was feeling and the mad dash to get the room ready for my delivery, that room was just crazy.

They called for the nursery and the anesthesiologist to come right away. I remember hearing the anesthesiologist introduce himself, and he moved the bed to do a spinal block. I heard him rustle around in a box, but I told my nurse that I felt like I needed to poop. She checked me one more time and said "No time for the spinal; he's right there!" David had moved down and was just about to crown. They broke down the bed, and I remember hearing "Now don't push because the doctor is getting her gloves on!"I looked over and noticed my IV had come out of my hand. {They didn't have time to fix it so that was done after he arrived.}

I pushed three times as hard as I could, then was told to stop. David had come out sunny side up! {He did swallow some fluid because of this, but they were able to get it out and he is just fine :)} They laid him on my chest at 9:20 am. That is exactly 30 minutes after I stood up to move rooms. I was told that I was still not officially admitted yet, so Phil finished some paperwork, and they did my blood work a few hours later to catch up. Too bad that doesn't mean the delivery was free since I technically wasn't a patient... ;)

They did give me some local anesthesia to stitch me up. I feel like the doctor and nurses were talking to me a little more than last time so I was a little more at ease while I was getting cleaned off. We did skin-to-skin time for close to two hours, and we did try feeding within 30 minutes of his arrival. He's not latching well, so we'll see how nursing will go. It's partially due to the fact that his mouth is so tiny. {Trust me, the lactation consultants had me try lots of things before discharge, and not much was helping.} 

I was told that I was impressive, but honestly I really didn't have a choice. I did what needed to be done, and I am so very, very thankful we are both healthy and happy :)

Would I do it again naturally? I'm not really sure. I know it helped that it went quickly. If I went naturally for hours, I really don't think I'd do very well. I do tend to make small babies, so natural seems to be ok for the most part. You may have to ask me again later! HAHA

Aside from some slight swelling and a little cough thanks to allergies, I am actually in very little pain. I've only been taking Motrin and it seems to be working just fine for me! I showered on my own the next morning, I've gone to the restroom alone since day 1, and I even walked a bit in the hospital during our stay. Because I feel so good overall, my main concern is pushing myself too hard, especially with Jillian around. I'm so used to just picking her up that it'll be hard to stop for 2 weeks!

Overall, Jillian is doing well with him around. She ignored him for the most part the first day, was pretty jealous of him yesterday, and is half ignoring/half being sweet to him today. Honestly I'm proud of her so far, but I am mentally preparing for some rough days in the next few weeks.

I call David my Sunshine, or Sunny Boy since he came out sunny side up :) Plus, he loves being cuddled. I mean, he will cry out just so you'll hold him. I don't recall Jillian being like that per say, but I do think it's sweet and don't mind snuggling at all :)

He was also the first baby born at the hospital in December, which was kind of fun to find out! Apparently it was crazy busy Friday and Saturday, then we were the only delivery all day Sunday. Of course, yesterday and today are full of births too since so many inductions were pushed back. He definitely picked a good day to be born.

Like I said, it's a crazy story. I would do it all over again though because he is totally worth it!

Now it's time for me to go enjoy my baby, and leave you with this...