Parker's Birth Story: Part 2

Part 1

They brought me into a delivery room and hooked me up to monitors for the babies heartbeat and my contractions since the baby was early.  Which meant that I was stuck in one position for my labour.  The whole things was still pretty unreal to me at this point.

I was asked whether I wanted an epidural and was very conflicted.  I didn't know how long I would be in labour or how bad it would get.  Because we didn't have my GBS swab results back since it was so early, I needed 4 hours of antibiotics before they would break my water.  Because of that, the fact that I was told contractions would get worse, I hadn't slept in 2 nights and I couldn't change positions, I decided to just go for the epidural.  I couldn't believe how instant the relief was.  Life was wonderful and I couldn't feel anything!

Parker kept moving positions, so they were constantly trying to roll me on my side and my back and moving the monitor around so they could pick up the heartbeat.  

It is strange being in labour and not being able to eel it.  My midwife, Isabelle, told me that my contractions had spread out and I was a bit worried that things weren't progressing.  Later on they checked and I was at 7cm.

Finally my antibiotics were done and my water could be broken. However, because my midwife had to do shared care with the doctor, the doctor wouldn't let her break my water, and the doctor was too busy to do it.  WE had to wait an extra hour and a half for the doctor to show up!  After they broke my water, they told Ryan to go get something to eat while he had time.  Ryan messaged my parents just to tell them everything was fine, but not that I was in labour, as we thought it might be a few more hours.  The midwife and nurse kind of traded off taking a dinner break as well.

I could not feel a lot of pressure when I was having contractions.  I messaged Ryan and told him to hurry back right as he walked through the door.  I felt so much pressure with each contraction that Ryan went out into the hall and got the nurse.  I was 10cm!  No wonder I was feeling something.  We were surprised as it had only been about 20 minutes since my water had been broken.

Isabelle told me that extra people had to be there since I was so early.  So we had a nurse, 2 midwives, a doctor and 2 pediatricians waiting for the baby.  Luckily, the doctor let Isabelle do her thing and she just observed.  Isabelle and our awesome nurse Andrea coached me through the whole thing.  They were so encouraging.  Ryan held my hand and was really great too.  They told me to just pretend nobody else was in the room.  

I probably pushed for about half an hour or less.  Luckily, even with the epidural I would really feel when each contraction was happening and knew when to push.  It's amazing how your body just knows what to do.  I touched his head as he was crowning.  That was very weird!  With the epidural I wouldn't say that it hurt, but I could feel it.  

Finally at 6:40, Parker was born.  They handed him to me and he cried before they whisked him away. Ryan cut the cord.  After they checked him out, I got him back for about 5 minutes.  He was having a bit of trouble breathing, but I didn't realize it at the time.  Then they took him down to the nursery to check him out.

He was perfect.  10 fingers, 10 toes.  His breathing turned out to be fine.  I couldn't believe that we had a baby!  And that he was a boy!  I was so sure that it was a girl my entire pregnancy.  I was just so happy that everything was fine.

When Ryan came back from the nursery, we called our families.  Everyone was pretty surprised.  My parents knew we were at the hospital, but didn't think I would actually be having the baby.  Ryan's parents had no idea!

And just like that, a bit sooner than expected, our entire world changed.  Parker is the best thing that I have ever done and I can't wait to watch him grow and see the person that he will become.