A Birth Story

 (Final snapshot: 40 weeks + 3 days)

Labor with Wyatt began Monday June 13th in the morning.  I had pretty regular contractions (about every seven minutes) for a few hours, then they tapered off.  By Tuesday (the 14th) they came back in full swing and as the day progressed, I was having at least four or five an hour.  By Tuesday afternoon (around 4pm) I was hunched over deep breathing through the contractions as they came.  I wanted to labor at home as long as possible because of the freedom to walk around, crouch, or get into any kind of position that was comfortable.  So we had the boys over at my mom's for a few hours, came home and made them dinner and put them to bed and throughout all of if, the contractions were growing both stronger and closer together.

At 11pm I decided the contractions were strong enough and close enough together (every four minutes) for us to head to the hospital.  My sister brought her son over and they spent the night with our boys.  We headed to triage to see where I was at.  The nurse checked me and I was 90% effaced and 3.5 cm dilated.  She seemed hesitant to admit me based on my numbers, but because of my due date having passed three days earlier, she called the doctor for a consult.

While waiting for a doctor to come see me, I had a really strong contraction and my water broke.  I was immediately admitted and given Suite 137.

 My mom met us at the hospital and had been waiting in the waiting room while I was in triage (you are only allowed one visitor with you in triage.) So once I had my birthing room, she was able to join Josh and I.

I was given two IV sites (one for saline & one in case of emergency) and had both a baby monitor and a contraction monitor put on my belly.  They gave me a mobile box that made it possible for me to labor out of bed and still allow them to track my contractions and Wyatt's heartbeat.  I would stand and rock or sway as each contraction passed.  I also spent some time in the tub, which was wonderful.

When I walked into the room from triage, I had already been laboring (albeit sporadically) for a day and a half.  After that many contractions, you start to forget what you're working for.  When I passed by the baby bed with a little shirt all ready for Wyatt's arrival, I remembered that in the end I was going to have a new little boy to hold in my arms.  It was a welcome reminder.

After laboring in the tub for a while,  I laid in the bed.  Josh slept a little on the couch in the room and my mom worked through my contractions with me.  She would push really hard on my back as each contraction swept over me, reminding me not to move away from the pain, but to imagine Wyatt working his way down.  She was amazing throughout the entire experience.

Wednesday morning I decided to try the birthing ball because while I was progressing in terms of dilation, Wyatt was not moving down into the birth canal. We thought some good old fashioned gravity might help. Mom put my hair into french braids for me and I put on my homemade hospital gown. 

As the hours passed I kept dilating, but my cervix was not going away and Wyatt was still at -2 station. (The baby is at +2 station when you are ready to push.)  Around 11am my second bag of waters broke.  It was the strangest sensation and was a HUGE gush of water like in the movies.  I'm still not sure I understand how my water broke twice, but the nurses seemed to think it was normal.

After my water broke the contractions hurt worse than anything.  I was starting to lose my edge. I was struggling to relax between contractions and I was exhausted from not sleeping a wink Tuesday night.  The nurse suggested I take a pain medication via my IV. She said it would only last about an hour, but she thought a nap would do me good. I accepted the IV pain relief and tried to rest.

By noon that medicine wore off, my contractions looked like plateaus on the screen and were so strong I was crying.  Josh was really advocating that I get an epidural.  We were worried that when the time came to finally push the baby out I wouldn't have enough energy left to get him out.

 So I got an epidural. And, oh, the relief!  I was so happy to have a break from the pain.  I was able to lay in bed, breathe quite easily through the contractions, and catch my breath.  A few hours later my nurse told me that although my contractions were quite strong, they weren't close enough for how far into my labor I was.  She decided to push some Pitocin in my IV.  I had originally not wanted an epidural or pitocin, but I also knew that I was rapidly approaching the 24 hour mark in terms of my water being broken, so I accepted the drugs and we got my contractions two minutes apart.

Still, Wyatt was at -2 station.  Despite the close, hard contractions, he was not cooperating.  It wasn't happening.  At 7pm the on call doctor came in to discuss a c-section.  I couldn't believe after nearly 20 hours of laboring, it was going to end in a cesarean anyway.  But the doctor was adamant- we had tried everything possible to get this baby out vaginally, it just wasn't in the cards for me. 

I felt really frustrated about the situation, but I knew that I had done everything possible to try for a VBAC. I cried a little once the decision was made.  Then it was just a waiting game.  There were two women laboring ahead of me, and the second doctor was doing an emergency c-section at Legacy.  While we waited for the doctors to be available they turned off the Pitocin and the epidural.  My contractions continued and were growing quite painful when the doctor finally showed up around 9pm ready to do the surgery.  So they suited Josh up and wheeled me off to the OR.

In the OR I lost it. I was crying and had to ask my sweet nurse to tell me it would all be okay.  She came over, held my hand, and assured me that they would be right there for me, that it would all be worth it when my baby was here.  I was shaking like crazy, feeling really nauseous, having horrible anxiety and was so dang tired.

The anesthesiologist gave me some medication to deal with the shaking, nausea and anxiety.  It helped so much.

 As soon as they brought Josh in, surgery began.

And at 9:39pm Wyatt Nathanial Cunningham was brought into this world.

He weighed 8 pounds, 14 ounces (the same as me when I was born)

and was 20.5 inches long.

He has a bunch of stork bites all along the back of his head, ear to ear, near his neck.  My mom said he has so many stork bites because he was so heavy for the stork to carry!

He has brown hair, blue eyes, a dimple in his right cheek and is perfect.

 After he was born, weighed, & checked over, Josh held him.  I was too out of it to even really look at him.  My eyelids were just so heavy.  I do remember hearing them count their tools back to each other and I remember thinking, "They are counting things to make sure they didn't leave any pieces inside of me. Weird!"

Then we were wheeled to a recovery room.  Once we were in there I just wanted ice chips.  I was so parched.  Josh said I just requested ice chips over and over and over.

My mom was able to come into the recovery room for a few minutes to see Wyatt. She was so happy that everything worked out okay.

After an hour in recovery I was wheeled back into my birthing suite and I was awake enough to hold Wyatt and really lay eyes on him.  I was shocked by his brown hair, and how much of it he has.  I was amazed at how perfect he was- beautiful eyes, nose & mouth.

 My mom got to hold Wyatt for a bit after that.  I know that she was grateful that Wyatt arrived safely, but we were both disappointed that she couldn't be in there for the birth as we had envisioned.

Shortly after arriving in our room Wyatt got his first bath.  He didn't care for it much, but was happy once it was over.

My recovery from surgery felt very slow.  I was really tired and overwhelmed by all the medication I had been on; my legs, ankles & feet were incredibly swollen and painful; and I had really bad pain in my shoulder from air left inside me post-surgery.  I opted to forgo any narcotic pain medication. I had been so pumped full of drugs, I really just wanted to clear my head. So I have only been on ibuprofen & tylenol for the pain management.

The exhaustion lasted through the night but by Thursday morning I was finally starting to feel better.  Regaining the feeling in my legs helped a lot.  Luckily despite my exhaustion I was able to breastfeed Wyatt right away and he took to it like a pro. 

He was born with really long fingernails, so he wore this shirt with his hands stuck in mittens to keep him from scratching himself.  Josh loves babies in mitts.  They look so adorable!

 He is just beautiful.

 And when he opens his eyes, my heart just melts.

 Just look at that face!

He is so fuzzy over his whole body. I love nursing him, skin to skin, and rubbing his sweet furry back.  He just melts into me, all warm & cozy, and I can't imagine my life without him.

We ended up spending Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday & Friday nights in the hospital.  We had very few visitors and tried to enjoy our time, just the three of us, knowing that as soon as we got home the chaos would begin & never end!!!

I worked hard on getting Wyatt comfortable nursing.  He lost nine ounces before we left the hospital, so I am curious what he weighs now.  Although if I had to guess, I would say he is fine because he is eating & pooping all.the.time!

I had some amazing nurses during my time in the hospital.  They can really make your experience.  And mine did.

 I found that night times were the most difficult for me.  I was tired, Josh was tired, and my emotions were all over the place.  I would cry at the drop of a hat. 

I would think of how much I missed Logan & Jack and start crying. I would think of how much I loved Wyatt and start crying.  I would think of Josh leaving in seven weeks for Alaska and start crying.  

...there was a lot of crying.

 But there was also a lot of smiles...

Smiles when I held Wyatt.

Smiles when Wyatt would have a good feeding.

Smiles when I saw Josh holding Wyatt.

Smiles when I saw our boys meet Wyatt for the first time.

Smiles when I started feeling like myself again.

And smiles when it was time to head home.

Wyatt was such a good boy, totally content to be buckled into his car seat.

Josh loaded the car, then scooped Wyatt up and off we went.

I walked out to the car, feeling so grateful for everything.

For the nurses & doctors,

for my family & support,

for my husband,

& for my sons.

We are so happy to be home sweet home...