Its taken too long to get here, but I’m finally going to share Solly’s birth story with those who want to hear it! Its just been a super busy time of life, obviously, and I like to take lots of time to write out the kids birth stories, so I don’t miss anything. I don’t want to cut corners on important posts like these. So I’m starting this morning, and we’ll see when it actually goes up, haha! My kids are beautifully chill this morning, so it seems like an appropriate time to start writing.
Here is what I know. In my past two pregnancies, I have not felt my labours. I know that all labours and deliveries are different. I know that plans change unexpectedly.
I know that we don’t always get to know why plans change, but they change, regardless of our level of readiness.
And I know myself.
I don’t feel labour. My first sign of pain either comes when my water is broken (its never broken on its own) or when the baby is ready to be delivered. Through Laela’s birth, I saw the very scary side of this, where we barely made it to the hospital in time, where I struggled with PTSD afterwards, where I thought my daughter and I were going to die together. Through Rowan’s birth, I learned how much I could genuinely enjoy my labour and delivery. I learned that no one has the same “ideal” in childbirth, and that my ideal looked a lot more controlled than lots of people’s. I learned not to feel shame about that.
Because of these things that I know, my doctor and I decided early on in this pregnancy to go with the same plan as Rowan’s L&D, and to go forward with induction at 39 weeks. June 1st, 2016.
As the pregnancy wore on, I struggled hard with a lot of things, and it became my most painful, difficult pregnancy yet. I would describe my body pain as incredible, which is defined simply as “impossible to believe.” It was truly incredible; hugely challenging. I spoke to my doctor and our student doctor about how I was feeling. As I said on here a handful of times, I felt like I was further along than my dates claimed. My body was exhibiting all of the signs it normally does when I’m right at the end of my pregnancy, but a full month early. Probably even earlier. My body felt FAR more pregnant than my dates claimed it was. I was worried, if I’m being honest. It is (was) an incredibly little known fact, but I lost a baby the cycle before we conceived this pregnancy. With that being the case, my cycle wasn’t normal, and I had no idea when I ovulated, when we conceived, etc. But even with that loss factored in, I could only be one week further along at the very most. So I spent the last month or so of my pregnancy in incredible pain and lets say moderate worry.
At my 38 week appointment, my doctors, Brady, and I discussed official plans, and I found out my doctor would be in the hospital, in labour and delivery, all day on May 31st. I had said through my entire pregnancy that I was excited to have a June baby, but Dr. Guselle being present for my delivery was a higher priority than which month the baby’s birthday would be in. Of course, there is always the risk of being bumped to another day. I started to pray very specifically that we would be induced that day, Tuesday, May 31st. That was my great desire. I was starting to lose grip with being in so much pain, I knew our move was coming up, and I could not possibly wait another day to meet our baby!!
At 8:30am on May 31st, I cried after receiving our call from the hospital. I expected that we would be bumped, but we were not. We were going in that morning, 10:00am, for our induction. We made our calls to mom and Willa, who headed over right away to spend the day with Dekker, Laela, and Rowan, and we grabbed the remainder of our stuff to load into our hospital bag. Once everyone arrived, we gave hugs and hit the road!
(Only 700 words in and we’re finally at the hospital, lol!)
We checked in at the nurses station and sat to wait our turn. It was SUCH a full room this time around, and we watched couple after couple get called. But we are always SO psyched up on our induction day, and lots of the women waiting seemed so tired and uncomfortable and READY. So it was good that they went in before us. However, when the nurse did come and call my name, I basically chased her down. We were ready too.
With Rowan’s labour, we were taken to one room, and that is where we were assessed, laboured, delivered, etc. However, because I hadn’t had any cervical exams in my prenatal appointments, I had to be checked and assessed in one place so they could determine what method of induction to us, and then moved to another room where I’d labour and deliver. I learned later that different forms of induction are done in different places, so it needed to be done this way to know where to put me. In this exam, I learned that I was 4cms dilated and suuuper stretchy, and almost all the way effaced. Baby hadn’t come down yet at all, though. His head was bouncy. On the monitors, it showed that I was contracting every four minutes. However, that didn’t last. I don’t know how long that was going on. I had no idea I was contracting at all. No lie. I just don’t feel it. Because my cervix was dilating and stretchy, the one method of induction was moot, as its job is basically to soften the cervix. So that was how I ended up on an iv drip. It was 12:55pm.
Most painful iv in the world, let me tell you. Two weeks later, its still deep yellow and hurts to the touch. I look less like an intravenous drug user though, so we’ll call it progress.
My doctor ducked in to make contact with me, and we discussed our plan for the labour. Our “birth plan,” I guess. There wasn’t much. She made a joke that she had something up at 5:30, and that the student doctor who I’ve been seeing through my whole pregnancy was on another floor until 5:00. I told her I could work within that window, lol! Mainly, though, I specified that I wanted an epidural. I reminisced about asking for one when I was labouring with Dekker, and from me asking to actually receiving one was three hours. With my labours being quicker and quicker, and that possibility of not feeling any pain until I’m fully dilated and ready to deliver, I was interested in how long it could take to get one. Thankfully, it wasn’t a super busy day at the hospital, and I was assured that it would be quick. They said they’d tell the anesthetist that I had requested an epidural, and as soon as my induction had kicked in and I was contracting consistently again, he should come.
But he came early.
I was very thankful that my nurse had given me a gentle heads up about my anesthetist before we actually met, because he was quite a character, and would have caught me off guard, for sure. He burst in the door and demanded “Where’s your nurse?” I stammered through an “uuuuuhhh” before I heard her say “I’m right behind you!” (I found out later that she had been trying to beat him to the room but he had won the footrace, basically. With that, she hadn’t had a chance to speak with him, and he did not know I wasn’t in labour. He just knew I was next on the list, and he had a meeting to get to. Yikes!) So he breezed in and commanded the room. He had a long series of off-color jokes that we all politely laughed at, and let him feel very alpha-male-esque. He made sure of that by instructing Brady to take his hands out of his pockets at least five times. Brady’s witnessed a couple epidurals now, and he knows to stay to the side and wait to be called on. Leave my husband alone, his hands are fine in his pockets. When he was called on to help, he stood in front of me and I was supposed to squeeze his fingers when I felt a contraction coming on. I wasn’t having any contractions, though, so I grasped his fingers to pacify the anesthetist, and partially to hang onto someone until this whirlwind gave way! The initial freezing poke is the worst part of the epidural. A good solid bee sting. Once that was done, the anesthetist commented to me “Now did that hurt more than your contractions?” Foolishly, I answered with the truth, and said it had. His reply was something along the lines of “If thats true, I probably shouldn’t be putting this on.” I glanced up and saw my nurse kind of chuckle to herself. Clearly he had missed something. But this thing was happening! The procedure itself went off without a hitch, and I have to give credit where credit is due. He was great at his job! Bedside manor, not so much, but his know-how was above and beyond. He then made a bunch of dumb remarks about how any movement can pull the epidural out (they wouldn’t) and walked out the door making a rude quip about me, curse words and all. I definitely understood why I was forewarned about him. The moment he left, everyone in the room breathed out for the first time in ten minutes. Thankfully, though, we were all feeling the same, and could just roll it off.
Once all of that silliness was over, we waited for the fun to begin. And it did!! My friend from high school, Danielle, works on labour and delivery now, and she dropped by with some tea from Tims for me, which was sooo sweet!! She also came to check on me once or twice when my nurse was on a break. It was so nice to see a familiar face. I was also super happy that my friend Shauna ducked in to see us! She was my nurse when I was in L&D with Rowan, and had been keeping an eye out for my name to come up. Unfortunately, she was hanging out with the ladies who were being induced with a different method that day, so she didn’t get to be my nurse. Maybe with the next one 😉 Still SO nice to see friends while we waited for our baby to make his appearance. Thank you, friends, for making Brady and I feel so special and celebrated!
Being on oxytocin induction, baby and I were on monitors the entire time, and were checked on every fifteen minutes. Everything was pretty uneventful. Brady and I watched “The Good Wife” and waited impatiently for babe to come. At 4:30, I had officially stalled out dilating, just hanging around at 6 cms. My doctor also said that the babys head was still bouncing quite a bit. Normally, it doesn’t feel as safe to break water when the head is still floating around, but I reminded my doctor that Dekker also never came down down, and I had to push him out from way the heck up there. She said if I was comfortable with it, she’d be willing to break my water. I consented, but made the special request that, even though I wasn’t in any pain, could I have a minute or two to bump my epidural up a bit. Usually, after my water breaks, everything moves quick and gets super intense, and thats when I get scared. My doctor totally understood and they gave me the button to push every ten minutes, if I wanted.
A few minutes later, she broke my water. No pain, and no meconium! Yay! As usual though, WAY more fluid than she was bargaining for. Her eyes grew as it appeared that my water broke three times It went from “There we go!” to “Oh, ok, well there’s more.” to her eyes bugging out and a quiet “uuuuummm, ok, wow…” I know, lots of info. But its not gross, don’t worry.
This time around, things didn’t rush like crazy after my water broke. I kept on that epidural button though, quite determined not to be in excruciating pain, if I could at all help it. It was about an hour later that I thought to myself “Is that pressure? Thats what the pressure everyone is always talking about feels like? Huh.” I’ve never felt that impending doom pressure that people talk about, and that nurses are always telling you to inform them about. I’ve never felt it. Until this baby! It wasn’t a big pressure, but I’d been amping my epidural, so I couldn’t really know for sure. I pressed the nurses button, and within a minute, my doctor and also my student doctor, Jasmin, came into the room. They said they were just discussing me when I rang. Jasmin realized in that moment that they had left my info, and she headed back for it. I told Dr. Guselle I was suspicious that I was feeling pressure, and she lifted the sheet to check on me. Her comment was “Oh, so your baby has hair!” I was super surprised that apparently he was quite so visible already, and I laughed. To which she responded with “Oh boy, let’s get Jasmin back in here quick, that baby is ready!”
I had given my permission to have a few additional students in to witness our delivery, so the small group assembled and we waited for a contraction. I was feeling pretty good, and was a bit unsure about when my contractions actually were coming and going. I would have to feel my stomach to see if it was hardening. When I was all in position, and had a contraction, I gave my first push. And Jasmin burst out laughing. Dr. Guselle did as well, and said “Yes, sometimes they do go this perfectly!”
I pushed for three minutes. It was perfect. I could feel exactly what I was doing, and where and how to push, but I wasn’t in pain. I felt capable and excited! I felt encouraged by my group. I felt strong. And to be honest, I felt a little bit proud that this small group of women who had never witnessed a delivery before were getting to see such a good one! Baby’s head came out, and I had to work a little bit harder for those shoulders, which was new for me, but still very doable. It was incredibly quick, but totally and completely under control! And there he was!!!
Solomon Brady was born on May 31st, 2016, at 5:20pm, right within that window that I had promised the doctors 😉 He felt just right TINY in my arms, yet that sturdy body weighed 10 lbs 7 oz, and once they managed to unscrunch him somewhat, we learned we was 23″ long. He has fuzzy brown hair on his head, with some Dekker-style cowlicks to boot. He has long, piano fingers. As for his APGAR details, his initial number was 9, but it actually went down to 8 after a few minutes. His breathing wasn’t great, he still had a lot of crud to get through, so he was our first baby to get suctioned a little bit, but he was doing much better after just that little bit of help. I snuggled with him for a good long while, even all through my stitches (yup, got those) SO thankful for my doctors, making sure I was solidly numbed up before they began their work.
Everything felt so peaceful. My entire labour and delivery was 4.5 hours, and I can honestly say that I really enjoyed it! Just about every aspect 🙂 I felt celebrated, and cared for, and like everyone around me was rooting for me and my family. And this continued to be the case all through our hospital stay. I hesitate to add all of that information to this post because this is a LONG post, in case you hadn’t noticed, haha! But truly, we were amazingly well cared for. I couldn’t have asked for a better labour and delivery experience than this one, yet I said that about Rowan’s as well, and here we are 🙂 God is SO good.
We are so very thrilled with how Solly was born into the world. The Lord certainly answered our prayers.