Henry's birth story

Since we plan on this being our last baby, I have been a little torn about what I wanted out of the birth (besides a healthy baby of course). Is there anything I wanted to do differently? Did I want to try natural? And just why would I want to do that? Would I feel I missed out if there was something I didn't do? In the end, I decided I wanted to try several things during labor and get an epidural after I'd had enough "natural" for the rest of my life - a point where I could say "OK - that's it, your never going to feel this again" and be ok with it.

I also wanted to savor the baby's first moments with us - hold him close and get to know him without any intrusion.

On both cases - I got a lot more than I bargained for.

I feel like labor started on my birthday, that day I was so horribly sick that we had to go the hospital. Over the next week, the intensity came and went with contractions coming every 5 minutes for hours and then disappearing entirely. It was a very frustrating and overwhelming week to say the least. By our due date (Feb 23), I was starting to feel anxious and excited again - but I really wasn't well so it was a good thing everything stayed put.

I will be forever grateful that Grandma came to stay through it all. She arrived on my birthday and planned to leave on the 27th. When my due date came and went, she extended her ticket to March 4th. I had to be through this by then, right? By the end, she was as anxious and uncomfortable as I was. The woman deserves a medal.

Sure enough, on Thursday, the 25th, I could feel it ramping up. My stomach was turning and I felt on edge. We carried on mostly as usual but after walking over to Esparza's for dinner (which I couldn't eat) the contractions started getting much stronger. By the time we got home, I was pretty sure this was IT and we could go to the hospital any time. I wasn't eager to go yet though so we put Lucy to bed and hung out in our room timing contractions, eating sour patch kids which calmed my stomach, and making a play list to take to the hospital.

Around 11:30 p.m., my water broke and we were set to go. (Amazingly, my water has broken twice now without making a mess. I always thought it would be a big gush of water like in the movies, but my experience was more like a hole in a balloon, just slowly leaking.)

We got to the hospital around 12:30 and it took an hour or more for us to get through triage and to our room. I was still around 3 cm so I had a while to go and the contractions were getting pretty strong. I picked out a birthing ball and used that for a while and then I decided to get in the tub for a while and experience water labor. The water did help with the pain as I could really move easily and find positions that would have been impossible out of water. I stayed in there until around 4:30 am when I was pretty sure I was close to needing an epidural.

The pain was building and it was hard to get back to my room and back on the birthing ball where I could handle the contractions. But I was definitely getting to the "OK - enough" point. Wow - it really, really hurts. I wasn't enjoying the experience anymore and that was my limit (yes - I love being a woman of this era!).

Around 6 am, I was at 6 cm and they started prepping for the epidural. I panicked a little at the thought of the needle in my back again but the pain was getting worse and I knew it was time. Finally, they got it in and taken care of and I could feel the medicine starting to work soon after. One side was still feeling a lot of pain so they had me lie on that side and gave it a boost. That seemed to work for a while and I got some rest. Jeremy was exhausted so he fell asleep at the sight of my relief. I watched him sleep, listened to my playlist (which actually helped a lot the whole way through) and felt the contractions come and go with enough pain to keep me breathing hard but not so much that I was miserable.

By 8 am, I was miserable again so I laid on the painful side and had another boost of meds. It wasn't working as well this time but did help some. It started to drag a little as I was thinking we would be closer to the finish line by now, but I still had 3 cm to go and the baby hadn't moved all the way down.

By 11 am, the pain was getting worse and baby still wasn't moving down. I was nearly fully dilated so we tried some different positions to help him get moving. They were ready to give me the ok to push but thought I should save the energy for when he was helping me from inside.

The positions or the timing was working, and he started to move but he still wasn't all the way down. His heart rate was starting to drop dramatically during contractions though and the nurse was monitoring much closer. They called the doctor and said I would need to push soon.

The last 20 minutes get much blurrier as there was so much going on. I could tell there was some panic about the baby as they were shoving a oxygen mask in my face and telling me I really had to push, hard! The nurse at my side was paging this and that doctor through her beeper and behind her, I could see people streaming in and starting to prep things over near the incubator. I asked if something was wrong and the nurse told me the baby probably had the cord wrapped around it's neck. She said we needed to go now even though my doctor was in the elevator and wanting us to wait. The fake smile on her face made me more nervous than what she was saying.

So with the next contractions I pushed hard. Unlike Lucy where I had to watch the monitor or be told when to push, I could feel the contractions coming before they could see them and I was prompting Jeremy and the nurse when to help by pushing on my legs.

Five contractions later, Henry's head came through - face up - and sure enough, there was a thick cord pulled tightly across his neck. They took care of that fast and his apgar was announced as 9. The people behind the bed took off their masks and started leaving. I knew everything was ok.

The pain and the people in the room melted away. It was pure bliss to see our tiny, perfect baby. They had him back to me within a minute and he quickly calmed laying on my tummy. The medical staff finished their work and let us be. We spent the next hours going over every inch of him.

Finally, we gave him to the nurse who weighed and measured our Henry.

Weight: 8 lb 4 oz

Length: 20.5"

Head: 14"

Chest: 13.5"

In every way - perfect.

See photos online.