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I've been wanting to write this down forever! I can still remember so much in vivid detail. Now it's finally written down and I can do my daughter's birth story before number 3 gets here, hopefully!! Warning, this is long! I wanted to write down as much as I could remember.
All right, starting at the beginning. Sladeâs pregnancy wasnât too bad, all things considered. I was barely sick at all during the first trimester. I slept a lot on my days off from the hospital, and sometimes early in the morning at the hospital I would get winded/light headed and have to sit down for a minute or two in whatever patientâs room I was in. Around 7 weeks pregnant I had terrible sciatica, but I didnât know what it was. I ended up getting an early ultrasound to rule out ectopic pregnancy. That was so cool to see my little bean in there with a heartbeat! My next appointment I was 11 weeks and got to hear his heartbeat on the Doppler. It was my birthday in 2014. Iâll never forget that day! The next day we announced our pregnancy on facebook.
Around 34 weeks or so I started getting really bad pelvis pain. Being on my feet and walking around on trauma was really hard. Shortly after that I went on short-term disability leave with my doctorâs permission. That was difficult to go through with my boss, but I wonât talk about that here.
My due date came and went (July 4th), and I went in for a checkup at 40 weeks 3 days. It was a Tuesday. I asked my doctor if he would do a "ÂÂsweep,"ÂÂ where he reaches up my cervix and sweeps his fingers between the babyâs sac and my uterus. Lots of people swear this sends them into labor. I wish now I hadnât asked him to do that, because maybe my body just wasnât ready yet. Tuesday night we were at a friendâs house playing cards, and I was having regular Braxton hicks that werenât painful but were definitely noticeable. They didnât turn into anything though. The next day, Wednesday, I lost a good portion of my mucus plug when I went to the bathroom. It was gross and a bit bloody so I started thinking the baby was coming soon. I asked my mom to come down, which I now kind of regret because she was with us for about half a week before he was born so it limited how long she stayed after he was born (which is when I really needed her). Wednesday night I started having painful contractions, but they were only every 7-10 minutes apart. I waited through the night, but they didnât get closer together. Thursday was the same deal, and I think my mom arrived Thursday too. I slept barely at all Thursday night--lying down through contractions was excruciating so I slept sitting up in a chair between contractions. Sam (my husband) tried to rub my back through some of them but I wanted him to sleep. Friday I was a mess because I was so, so tired. We ended up going to triage where they told me I was barely 1 cm and I should go home and walk. We came home and my mom, my best friend Alyssa (who was visiting at the time) and I walked and walked around the parking lot at the school that was next to our apartment. Walking seemed to slow the contractions, which was very frustrating. I know now that Slade was turned the wrong way and was back-to-back, which I think was a big factor in 2 things: 1, how stalled and drawn-out my early labor was, and 2, how painful my contractions were, even from the get-go. Every contraction felt super localized to the area by my bladder, like someone was punching and squeezing me right there every time. It was pretty awful. That night was terrible. I was so, so tired and couldnât sleep through the pain. The next day at noon (Saturday) we went back to triage and the nurse was very mean. She told me I was still only dilated to 1 and that if I was crying in pain now, I had no idea what was in store for me. Iâm a nurse myself and she did not handle the situation well at all. For one thing, pain is always what the patient says it is, and she had no idea how much pain I was in. Long story short, they ended up admitting me to induce me even though I had planned to use the natural birthing center within the hospital. I was exhausted at that point and couldnât handle another night like the last 3 I had had at home. That was at noon on Saturday, I was 41 weeks. First they inserted cervadil to soften my cervix. They told me it might take 12 hours to dilate me to a 3. It only took two hours before I was writhing in pain, I was having double-peaking contractions back-to-back. When the nurse came in to check me I was already at a 3 so she took the cervadil out. My body needed no more help from there. I got nubane through my IV at that point in an effort to avoid an epidural, and that was TERRIBLE. I felt groggy and drugged, and when I tried to talk it felt like an incredible effort and my words were all slurred. The worst part was I could still feel my contractions, I just couldnât move as well. I will never get that stuff again. Eventually, maybe around 5 or so? I couldnât take it anymore and my mom requested an epidural for me. They came immediately and I relaxed for the first time in 3 days after that was going. It was heavenly. I should probably mention my mom was with me this whole time, my husband had gone to a wedding! He came back after I got my epidural. Epidurals freak him out so he was glad he had missed it. The night passed without much incident. I didnât sleep much, if at all, because people kept coming in and out, banging around emptying the trash and setting up tools and whatnot. I had an awesome nurse, and I liked my doctor too even though I hadnât met him before. I canât remember when exactly the doctor broke my water... I think I was around 7 or 8 cm. I didnât care at all at that point because I couldnât feel anything. Ohhh BUT the morphine in the epidural made me soooooo itchy everywhere. It was like itchiness thatâs under your skin. Itâs hard to describe, but it was terrible. I kept scratching everywhere and had to put my hair up so it wasnât touching my back. I also could feel it going down my right arm which isnât normal apparently. I also lost feeling on the back of my upper arm for months and months after that. Anyway, I finally hit 10 cm maybe around 3 am or so and my nurse said I could try to push. I was prepared to push for hours because I had heard a lot of first time moms have to do that. I had really good mobility despite having the epidural; I was able to get on my hands and knees and try to push that way, which is what I wanted. However, Sladeâs heart rate kept dropping into the 70s when I pushed. My nurse was awesome and kept very calm, but she had me lie on my side and eventually put oxygen on me. After a bit she had me try pushing again from on my back, but the same thing happened so I switched to my other side with oxygen still on. I didnât end up pushing that long because Slade just wasnât tolerating it. Finally the nurse went to get my doctor, who felt Sladeâs head and said he was almost out so he was just going to get him out. He used the vacuum and while I pushed through contractions guided him out. I think it took 3 contractions, but I canât remember. When he came out his cord was wrapped around his neck which was causing lack of oxygen and decels, so Iâm really glad the doctor got him out when he did. My mom was the one who said "Itâs a boy!!" Which I was kinda mad about later because I had waited almost 10 months to hear Sam tell me if it was a boy or a girl, but I couldnât really blame her... she was excited about her first grandbaby
He was born at 4:58 am. Sladeâs head was cone-shaped and bruised at the top from the vacuum, but I got to hold him right away on my tummy for a bit before my placenta came out and they cut the cord. I also nursed him pretty much right away. He was a champion nurser from the beginning, and I nursed him for 16 months before he self-weaned because I was 22 weeks pregnant with his sister and my milk was gone.
The next little bit is kind of a blur but Iâll tell what I remember. Sam and I spent a while trying to decide what his name would be. We were torn between Judah and Slade. We finally decided on Slade obviously and Iâm glad we did, I love his name. After we decided his name we facetimed his parents and his siblings to share the news. I have no clue what time it was, maybe 8 in the morning at that point, but it was a Sunday and his parents were still in bed. They were VERY excited to find out it was a boy because they had 6 granddaughters (one hadnât been born yet but they knew it was a girl) and no grandsons! They started driving almost immediately even though they live 10.5 hours away and came to the hospital in the late afternoon to visit with us. They stayed 4 days total I think, coming back to the apartment with us the next day. Anyway, after we facetimed the necessary people I tried to pee for the first time since having the epidural, which was out now obviously (I had been cathed a couple times throughout the night). I could feel my legs ok but I didnât take into account that I hadnât eaten in... well. A very long time. Also I was still exhausted for not sleeping hardly at all for almost 4 nights now. I made it to the bathroom with the nurse, but once I sat on the toilet I got super light-headed and wanted to put my head down between my knees to help blood stay there, but the nurse told me not to look down. Next thing I knew I was looking up at what seemed like 10 nurses (I think it was only 3 or 4), lying on the floor of the bathroom, and my head was throbbing. My husband was holding my hand but I didnât know it was him until a few minutes later. I asked them if I hit my head because it hurt so badly, but they said no, they had slid me down onto the floor. And to this day, thatâs the only time in my life Iâve ever fainted. They gave me orange juice to drink while I was on the floor, and with the help of the nurses and a wheelchair I got back into bed and they got me some crackers and peanut butter or something. Eventually we transferred into the postpartum room on a different floor where we spent the rest of the day and that night, then we discharged the following afternoon. Slade had no issues. I gave him a bath with the nurse sometime that day I think, and he also got his hep B vaccine.
That first night in the hospital was terrible. No matter what, Slade would not stop crying unless I was holding him, therefore I couldnât sleep. The nurse came in at one point and asked if I wanted her to take him, but I didnât! I wanted him with me. It was terrible because I was so exhausted. Sam slept through some of it because he was exhausted too. My mom wasnât there either, she had gone back to our apartment to sleep. Finally, really early in the morning, I brought Slade into bed with me and lay on my side nursing him. We both fell asleep like that and slept for a few hours. I knew I wasnât supposed to have him in bed with me but we were so tired and it was the only thing that worked. We were woken by the lab tech who came in to prick his ankle. That was awful, I hated hearing him in pain. A photographer came later that day to take pictures of him (that we had to pay for if we wanted copies of course) and we discharged later that day. He looked so tiny in his car seat on the way home! We didnât have an infant one, only a convertible.
I didnât tear very much, just a first degree, but I did also have a labia tear that was excruciating every time I peed for the next couple weeks. I remember putting ice packs into my pants or down on the couch before I sat down. The postpartum period was very rough. I wasnât prepared for the immense amount of tears and intense emotions I experienced. It hadnât been the birth I wanted (I wanted a medication free water birth), and that was very very hard for me, I felt like I had failed. My body hurt sooo badly, and of course Slade slept terribly at night. Some nights he was up every hour to nurse for 5 or 6 hours straight. I wondered if I had done the right thing by deciding to become a mom, was I cut out for this?? I missed all my alone time with my husband. All normal things, I realize now. At exactly 1 week postpartum I had a very high fever (102.5 I think) in the middle of the night, which was terrible--ÂÂI couldnât get warm and shivered convulsively every time I had to get Slade up to nurse or change him. We ended up calling the on-call doctor who told us to come in since I was only a week postpartum. Turns out I had a UTI, probably from being cathed, and I was put on antibiotics. It took a few days for my fevers and pain in my back to go away.
Eventually though, maybe 3 months in, I started to love being a mommy. We put Slade in his own room when he was about a month old and we all started sleeping a bit better (he was up every 3 hours or so till about 10 months though, then he finally started sleeping through the night). Slade and I formed a very tight bond and now heâs my little 2.5 year old buddy who loves to read and do crafts with me. Even though his birth wasnât ideal by any means, he was safe and sound, and Iâm so so glad I get to be his mommy!
I'm too lazy to figure out why the pictures are sideways so just turn your phone or laptop
All right, starting at the beginning. Sladeâs pregnancy wasnât too bad, all things considered. I was barely sick at all during the first trimester. I slept a lot on my days off from the hospital, and sometimes early in the morning at the hospital I would get winded/light headed and have to sit down for a minute or two in whatever patientâs room I was in. Around 7 weeks pregnant I had terrible sciatica, but I didnât know what it was. I ended up getting an early ultrasound to rule out ectopic pregnancy. That was so cool to see my little bean in there with a heartbeat! My next appointment I was 11 weeks and got to hear his heartbeat on the Doppler. It was my birthday in 2014. Iâll never forget that day! The next day we announced our pregnancy on facebook.
Around 34 weeks or so I started getting really bad pelvis pain. Being on my feet and walking around on trauma was really hard. Shortly after that I went on short-term disability leave with my doctorâs permission. That was difficult to go through with my boss, but I wonât talk about that here.
My due date came and went (July 4th), and I went in for a checkup at 40 weeks 3 days. It was a Tuesday. I asked my doctor if he would do a "ÂÂsweep,"ÂÂ where he reaches up my cervix and sweeps his fingers between the babyâs sac and my uterus. Lots of people swear this sends them into labor. I wish now I hadnât asked him to do that, because maybe my body just wasnât ready yet. Tuesday night we were at a friendâs house playing cards, and I was having regular Braxton hicks that werenât painful but were definitely noticeable. They didnât turn into anything though. The next day, Wednesday, I lost a good portion of my mucus plug when I went to the bathroom. It was gross and a bit bloody so I started thinking the baby was coming soon. I asked my mom to come down, which I now kind of regret because she was with us for about half a week before he was born so it limited how long she stayed after he was born (which is when I really needed her). Wednesday night I started having painful contractions, but they were only every 7-10 minutes apart. I waited through the night, but they didnât get closer together. Thursday was the same deal, and I think my mom arrived Thursday too. I slept barely at all Thursday night--lying down through contractions was excruciating so I slept sitting up in a chair between contractions. Sam (my husband) tried to rub my back through some of them but I wanted him to sleep. Friday I was a mess because I was so, so tired. We ended up going to triage where they told me I was barely 1 cm and I should go home and walk. We came home and my mom, my best friend Alyssa (who was visiting at the time) and I walked and walked around the parking lot at the school that was next to our apartment. Walking seemed to slow the contractions, which was very frustrating. I know now that Slade was turned the wrong way and was back-to-back, which I think was a big factor in 2 things: 1, how stalled and drawn-out my early labor was, and 2, how painful my contractions were, even from the get-go. Every contraction felt super localized to the area by my bladder, like someone was punching and squeezing me right there every time. It was pretty awful. That night was terrible. I was so, so tired and couldnât sleep through the pain. The next day at noon (Saturday) we went back to triage and the nurse was very mean. She told me I was still only dilated to 1 and that if I was crying in pain now, I had no idea what was in store for me. Iâm a nurse myself and she did not handle the situation well at all. For one thing, pain is always what the patient says it is, and she had no idea how much pain I was in. Long story short, they ended up admitting me to induce me even though I had planned to use the natural birthing center within the hospital. I was exhausted at that point and couldnât handle another night like the last 3 I had had at home. That was at noon on Saturday, I was 41 weeks. First they inserted cervadil to soften my cervix. They told me it might take 12 hours to dilate me to a 3. It only took two hours before I was writhing in pain, I was having double-peaking contractions back-to-back. When the nurse came in to check me I was already at a 3 so she took the cervadil out. My body needed no more help from there. I got nubane through my IV at that point in an effort to avoid an epidural, and that was TERRIBLE. I felt groggy and drugged, and when I tried to talk it felt like an incredible effort and my words were all slurred. The worst part was I could still feel my contractions, I just couldnât move as well. I will never get that stuff again. Eventually, maybe around 5 or so? I couldnât take it anymore and my mom requested an epidural for me. They came immediately and I relaxed for the first time in 3 days after that was going. It was heavenly. I should probably mention my mom was with me this whole time, my husband had gone to a wedding! He came back after I got my epidural. Epidurals freak him out so he was glad he had missed it. The night passed without much incident. I didnât sleep much, if at all, because people kept coming in and out, banging around emptying the trash and setting up tools and whatnot. I had an awesome nurse, and I liked my doctor too even though I hadnât met him before. I canât remember when exactly the doctor broke my water... I think I was around 7 or 8 cm. I didnât care at all at that point because I couldnât feel anything. Ohhh BUT the morphine in the epidural made me soooooo itchy everywhere. It was like itchiness thatâs under your skin. Itâs hard to describe, but it was terrible. I kept scratching everywhere and had to put my hair up so it wasnât touching my back. I also could feel it going down my right arm which isnât normal apparently. I also lost feeling on the back of my upper arm for months and months after that. Anyway, I finally hit 10 cm maybe around 3 am or so and my nurse said I could try to push. I was prepared to push for hours because I had heard a lot of first time moms have to do that. I had really good mobility despite having the epidural; I was able to get on my hands and knees and try to push that way, which is what I wanted. However, Sladeâs heart rate kept dropping into the 70s when I pushed. My nurse was awesome and kept very calm, but she had me lie on my side and eventually put oxygen on me. After a bit she had me try pushing again from on my back, but the same thing happened so I switched to my other side with oxygen still on. I didnât end up pushing that long because Slade just wasnât tolerating it. Finally the nurse went to get my doctor, who felt Sladeâs head and said he was almost out so he was just going to get him out. He used the vacuum and while I pushed through contractions guided him out. I think it took 3 contractions, but I canât remember. When he came out his cord was wrapped around his neck which was causing lack of oxygen and decels, so Iâm really glad the doctor got him out when he did. My mom was the one who said "Itâs a boy!!" Which I was kinda mad about later because I had waited almost 10 months to hear Sam tell me if it was a boy or a girl, but I couldnât really blame her... she was excited about her first grandbaby
He was born at 4:58 am. Sladeâs head was cone-shaped and bruised at the top from the vacuum, but I got to hold him right away on my tummy for a bit before my placenta came out and they cut the cord. I also nursed him pretty much right away. He was a champion nurser from the beginning, and I nursed him for 16 months before he self-weaned because I was 22 weeks pregnant with his sister and my milk was gone. The next little bit is kind of a blur but Iâll tell what I remember. Sam and I spent a while trying to decide what his name would be. We were torn between Judah and Slade. We finally decided on Slade obviously and Iâm glad we did, I love his name. After we decided his name we facetimed his parents and his siblings to share the news. I have no clue what time it was, maybe 8 in the morning at that point, but it was a Sunday and his parents were still in bed. They were VERY excited to find out it was a boy because they had 6 granddaughters (one hadnât been born yet but they knew it was a girl) and no grandsons! They started driving almost immediately even though they live 10.5 hours away and came to the hospital in the late afternoon to visit with us. They stayed 4 days total I think, coming back to the apartment with us the next day. Anyway, after we facetimed the necessary people I tried to pee for the first time since having the epidural, which was out now obviously (I had been cathed a couple times throughout the night). I could feel my legs ok but I didnât take into account that I hadnât eaten in... well. A very long time. Also I was still exhausted for not sleeping hardly at all for almost 4 nights now. I made it to the bathroom with the nurse, but once I sat on the toilet I got super light-headed and wanted to put my head down between my knees to help blood stay there, but the nurse told me not to look down. Next thing I knew I was looking up at what seemed like 10 nurses (I think it was only 3 or 4), lying on the floor of the bathroom, and my head was throbbing. My husband was holding my hand but I didnât know it was him until a few minutes later. I asked them if I hit my head because it hurt so badly, but they said no, they had slid me down onto the floor. And to this day, thatâs the only time in my life Iâve ever fainted. They gave me orange juice to drink while I was on the floor, and with the help of the nurses and a wheelchair I got back into bed and they got me some crackers and peanut butter or something. Eventually we transferred into the postpartum room on a different floor where we spent the rest of the day and that night, then we discharged the following afternoon. Slade had no issues. I gave him a bath with the nurse sometime that day I think, and he also got his hep B vaccine.
That first night in the hospital was terrible. No matter what, Slade would not stop crying unless I was holding him, therefore I couldnât sleep. The nurse came in at one point and asked if I wanted her to take him, but I didnât! I wanted him with me. It was terrible because I was so exhausted. Sam slept through some of it because he was exhausted too. My mom wasnât there either, she had gone back to our apartment to sleep. Finally, really early in the morning, I brought Slade into bed with me and lay on my side nursing him. We both fell asleep like that and slept for a few hours. I knew I wasnât supposed to have him in bed with me but we were so tired and it was the only thing that worked. We were woken by the lab tech who came in to prick his ankle. That was awful, I hated hearing him in pain. A photographer came later that day to take pictures of him (that we had to pay for if we wanted copies of course) and we discharged later that day. He looked so tiny in his car seat on the way home! We didnât have an infant one, only a convertible.
I didnât tear very much, just a first degree, but I did also have a labia tear that was excruciating every time I peed for the next couple weeks. I remember putting ice packs into my pants or down on the couch before I sat down. The postpartum period was very rough. I wasnât prepared for the immense amount of tears and intense emotions I experienced. It hadnât been the birth I wanted (I wanted a medication free water birth), and that was very very hard for me, I felt like I had failed. My body hurt sooo badly, and of course Slade slept terribly at night. Some nights he was up every hour to nurse for 5 or 6 hours straight. I wondered if I had done the right thing by deciding to become a mom, was I cut out for this?? I missed all my alone time with my husband. All normal things, I realize now. At exactly 1 week postpartum I had a very high fever (102.5 I think) in the middle of the night, which was terrible--ÂÂI couldnât get warm and shivered convulsively every time I had to get Slade up to nurse or change him. We ended up calling the on-call doctor who told us to come in since I was only a week postpartum. Turns out I had a UTI, probably from being cathed, and I was put on antibiotics. It took a few days for my fevers and pain in my back to go away.
Eventually though, maybe 3 months in, I started to love being a mommy. We put Slade in his own room when he was about a month old and we all started sleeping a bit better (he was up every 3 hours or so till about 10 months though, then he finally started sleeping through the night). Slade and I formed a very tight bond and now heâs my little 2.5 year old buddy who loves to read and do crafts with me. Even though his birth wasnât ideal by any means, he was safe and sound, and Iâm so so glad I get to be his mommy!
I'm too lazy to figure out why the pictures are sideways so just turn your phone or laptop
