Our Baby Boy is Here!

Yay! I finally get to post a birth story!! Samuel Ryan arrived on 8-18-08 at 7:18pm. He weighs 6lbs 11oz and is 20 inches long. Like most of this pregnancy, his birth was quite different than my other two.

On Monday morning (yesterday) I was laying in bed and having, what I first thought, were Braxton Hick's contractions. After a couple of them, I realized they were hurting a bit and feeling more like actual labor contractions but were coming far apart. I didn't time them but it was probably 10-15 minutes. That went on from 7am-9am when I finally got up. I went to the bathroom and had my bloody show (first time that's ever happened) so started thinking that maybe something was going on. Getting up and around stopped the contractions though so I figured it would be awhile, maybe not even that day.

After breakfast I walked a mile on the treadmill hoping to get things going but nothing more than more BH's. I had lunch around noon and noticed during lunch that I was having those lower menstraul cramp type contractions again, still not strong though. I went to tell Russ that maybe things were picking up a bit but it was still WAY too early to tell and not to get too excited. I had planned to go to Target and run a couple of errands so Katie, Isaac and I headed out.

While shopping, I kept having the pretty light and easy to get through contractions but I was noticing they were somewhat regular. On our way home, around 2:30 or so, I was having to take deep breaths through some of them so I decided to time them once I got back to the house.

They were coming about 7-9 minutes apart, still easy to get through though and I really wasn't sure what to do. With my other births, my water broke first so there was no guessing if I was in labor or not, it was clear. This time I wasn't positive and didn't want to call and alert people too early if it was nothing and fizzled out. I ended up calling my doula, Jessie, around 3:00 and letting her know and also calling the hospital to just ask a couple of questions and find out who the midwife on call was.

By 3:30 or so, the contractions were coming every 5-6 minutes but were still easy to work through. I'd have to breathe through them but could still talk and pretty much go about my business. I was very aware of the time though because that's how Elijah's labor was until it changed QUICKLY and we almost didn't make it to the hospital. We had an hour drive to factor in this time too.

After talking to my doula again we decided that we'd head to her house as she was only 20 minutes from the hospital and I'd labor there until we felt ready to go. She called back and said she had her best friend's 15 year old daughter who desperately wanted to see a birth and could come to watch Isaac if he wanted to be there. After talking it over with him, he decided that he did want to come so we got his backpack of toys and snacks and headed out.

We had only gotten out of our development when I had another contraction that was getting stronger and we decided to head straight to the hospital. Russ was very paranoid about doing another 90mph drive! I called Jessie to let her know to just meet us there. For most of the drive the contractions were uncomfortable and I couldn't talk through them anymore. About 10 minutes from the hospital, I felt the baby kind of shift and drop and the contractions immediately got harder. By the time we got to the enterance, they were hurting and I was really having to work through them.

I was brought up to Labor and Delivery and put on the monitors for 15 minutes or so. It was about 6:30pm at this point. While I was being monitored they started filling the tub up for me. I was checked and was 7 centimeters and 100% effaced, baby at 0 station. I was SO happy to be that far, yet also very scared since transition is the hardest part so finding out I was just about there was both good and bad news for me.

After I was monitored we headed over to the birth tub room.

I got in the tub and immediately felt more relaxed but the contractions really started coming hard then, with lots of pressure. My water still had not broken and when I was checked again I was complete and told I could push if I wanted to.

I started pushing with the next contraction and had a hard time stopping. For some reason, with this birth, I was really hating every contraction and dreading the next one and I just wanted to be DONE. My midwife had to remind me not to push until the peak of a contraction because I wanted to be working with my body and saving my strength for when it was most effective.

At the 2nd push, I felt the infamous POP and my water finally broke. About 2 more pushes and Samuel was delivered at 7:18, about 45 minutes after getting to the hospital. I immediately felt immense relief and happiness that he was here safely (I had been worried about complications this time for no real reason, just scared) and that I was done. Samuel was just beautiful and SO alert. I was shocked at how tiny he was. You just forget how little newborns are and I was expecting him to be bigger since he was my only full term 40 weeker.

I stayed in the tub holding Samuel for about 10 minutes before I had to deliver the placenta. Russ got to cut his cord and then took him when I got out.I was checked out and had no tearing, thank goodness, and everything looked good. I got Samuel back and we had almost an hour to nurse and rest before we moved back into our room.

Isaac was there throughout the whole thing and did awesome! He did cover his ears and didn't actually watch when Samuel was delivered but as soon as he was out, Isaac came over to the tub and got to see him when he was still under water, before we even pulled him up. He just loves Sammy and is already doing whatever he can to help. He was really sad to leave him last night and kept giving him kisses.

We're so thankful to have Samuel here, safe and healthy, and for another wonderful birth. I'm so grateful and blessed to have my new beautiful boy. We couldn't be happier!