A Birth Story

My baby is 6 months old today. HOW did that happen so fast?! That is such a "parent" thing to say, but it's true: you blink and they've morphed into a little person.
My younger brother and his wife recently joined the preggo bandwagon, and their little one is due in September, which means Wyatt and Baby G will only be a year apart (so fun!) and that Britt and I will have had the same "preggo months" (also so fun!). We were talking yesterday about being pregnant, feeling fat, and being so excited for that baby to get here; I know I was in her shoes in the not-so-distant past, but it does feel like another lifetime ago.
This morning, Wyatt was up at 6:30, which meant Dad and Mama were also up at 6:30. After his bottle and a bowl of rice cereal (Ms. Rosa, I hope you're reading this :)!), we sat and played for a little bit, then he went down for a nap. We have church on Sunday nights, so Sunday mornings are usually filled with lots of down time for us. I cranked up some worship music, which just so happened to be the playlist that was supposed to play while I was in labor with Wyatt, which led me to realize it's the 20th today, which leads me to this post: Wyatt's Birth Story. Sorry I'm rambling a little, coffee is still in the process of kicking in :).

 

(2 months pregnant, and 40 weeks pregnant-and-enormous)

My original due date was 09/18, but at my check up earlier that week, I had zero progression and had only experienced a few Braxton-Hicks contractions, so we decided to go ahead and schedule an induction for 09/19; I still wanted to experience going into labor on my own, but since I was so huge at that point, and walking from my car to my desk every morning at work was making me winded, I didn't want to go many more days past the 40 week mark. I started having some back contractions early Thursday morning, and called into work thinking that might be the day. Wrong! The 18th came, and went. I walked, did lunges, squats, you name it, I tried it and nothing! Even watching that miserable Tech/UT game didn't help!

Sunday morning we slept until 9, and I woke up realizing that would probably be the last time to sleep that late for a looooong time. The bags were packed, I had a zillion lists floating around the house of things we needed to bring, things we needed to triple check that they were ready, a list for my mom and Wade's mom who would be staying at our house while we were in the hospital; I was nothing if not prepared :). I had made a playlist of my favorite worship music, that was to be played in the background as I gave birth, I had pre-registered at the hospital,  gone to birthing and nursing classes, I even packed makeup. I didn't mean to be "That Pregnant Lady", but I totally was! We spent the day as just the two of us, and prayed before we left the house knowing we would be coming home with a precious little third person.

As we pulled into the hospital parking lot, I started noticing mild contractions. We unloaded the car and headed to the "check in" point inside. Of course they "misplaced" my information and after an hour of filling out more paperwork and correcting the registration lady ("Um, it's SLA-ton, not Salton."), we were upstairs, ready to get this show on the road!
I had the sweetest nurses ever (which is SO much more important than packing your makeup), and after they started the induction process, we waited. And waited. And waited. And then turned on tv and watched the Giants/Colts game, because although I was technically in labor, I still love me some Manning brothers :). Out of nowhere, Back Contractions. In caps, because that's exactly how they felt. My pre-labor self had decided to wait as long as possible before getting any type of pain meds...and I lasted about 2 hours max. After feeling like a total wimp, I finally told the nurse and she started me on some iv meds. Pure bliss, for a couple of hours. I still wasn't progressing despite the contractions. I had the worst back pain EVER and could only walk a couple of steps before sitting back down on the bed. I was so worried Wyatt was "sunny-side up", and after checking, the nurse confirmed my fear. She patted my hand and said, "we'll try to move him, but this may be hard for you, sweetheart. But I know you can do it." So I prayed and rolled on my side. And then threw up.

Fast forward to 4am: My nurse came back in to check me, and told me I was MAYBE a 2. "A TWO?!" I said, "Are you kidding me?!" I was dry heaving, rocking back and forth on the bed, in so much pain I couldn't think straight. But every time I was asked, I said the same thing: "My pain is about a 6 out of 10." I was in so much pain, but I knew this was probably just the beginning of what I was about to experience, so I was afraid to go any higher! She came up with the brilliant idea that if we could talk the anesthesiologist into giving my epidural early, it would maybe help my body relax enough to progress easier.
An hour later, I had dragged Wade, the labor nurse, and my iv stand into the bathroom. I had someone holding my hair back, someone holding the blue vomit bag in front of my face, and I was bracing myself over the toilet. I looked up, groaning in pain, and saw my anesthesiologist, who looked at me like I was the craziest thing he had ever seen, and asked with the most serious face, "You need an epidural?" Lovely.

From 5-6am, I rested. We gave up trying to make the ipod station in the room work, so no worship music for us. Wade was able to lay down for a bit, and I think I slept. A few minutes later, Wade was in the bathroom and 3 nurses were at my bedside. I had progressed from a 2 to a 7 in under 2 hours, but the look of my nurse's face said something else was going on. They told me Wyatt had turned but they kept rubbing my tummy around. Wade came over and I told him excitedly that I was a 7 and looked at the nurse for a smile, but they quietly told us baby's heart rate had dropped and they were trying to stimulate him. This had happened earlier, before my epidural, so I didn't think much of it at first. But they were all so serious, it scared me. I remember being so concerned about him getting oxygen, so I started taking as deep, big breaths as possible. They called the on-call Dr in to check on me, and she told us Wyatt needed to come out as soon as possible.  Just typing that still makes my heart stop; Wade told me later that his hb had been down to 80. So much happened so fast. One nurse stopped my epi drip, another pulled the racks up on my bed, and another handed Wade scrubs to change into for the C-section. I couldn't speak, so I just started praying and as they wheeled me out, I told Wade to do the same.

They ran me down to a room down the hall, and started me on a spinal. I just laid there, shaking uncontrollably and stared at the ceiling, trying to ignore the Dr's concerned tone and face. Wyatt's heart beat jumped up a little by the time we got down the hall, so they decided to wait a few more minutes to see what happened. Wade was told to wait in the hallway, so it was just me and the doctors and nurses in that cold, little room. Those could have easily been the most agonizing minutes of my life, but I felt this huge wave of peace wash over me. Bible verses I had not thought of in years filled my head: "Trust in the Lord your God, and lean not on your own understanding", "Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for You are with me. " And my absolute favorite verse, "Be still, and know that I am God." This child had been God's from the very beginning, that fact became so very evident as I lay there, totally helpless, totally relying on God to help His child. Finally, the Dr told me the heart rate was back up to the 120's, and she gave the ok for me to be wheeled back to my room to have this baby! Praise God!

By this point, it was 7:30, and my nurses had to go home. My new nurse, Michelle came in, introduced herself, and told me to rest up. HA! Wade laid down to rest but didn't sleep, and all I could do was listen to the monitor for that tiny little heart beat and count my contractions. I was still numb from the waist down, so they had decided to leave me off the epidural drip so I could get total feeling back by the time it was time to push. By 9:30, I was a 10 and Michelle told me I could start pushing. I felt a rush of adrenaline, and she started my drip back at the lowest level possible.  The contractions were intense, (I was still saying my pain was a 6-7/10 because I was afraid of how much worse it could get!), and pushing felt so great, I figured this baby would be out in no time!

False! I pushed for 2 1/2 hours. It was the hardest thing I have ever done, and I remember specifically thinking about Eve, and how much nicer this would go if she hadn't eaten that stupid fruit. Towards the very end, I realized my drip was still on low so we cranked that bad boy up a notch! About 5 minutes later, the Dr  came in to help coach me along; it was then that we realized my contractions were coming in "clusters" instead of nice little waves, so there was little resting in between them to say the least! At about 12:24, Dr Rush said she thought I had a few more pushes left before he came, and said I could either wait and rest during this next contraction or I could push if I thought I had enough strength. Um, push please! And then all of a sudden, there he was!

 

Head full of hair, he peed on Dr. Rush in a gesture of thanks and was laid on my tummy. I just stared at him, it was so surreal. For 9/10 months I had been carrying him around, and to finally look at his face was incredible. Wade was totally smitten and followed him over as he was cleaned up and weighed. Mister baby was 8 lbs, 5 oz, 22 inches long, and had the sweetest little cry I had ever heard.

I don't think there are words big enough on this earth to tell God how thankful we are for this little blessing He's given us. I'm reminded every day how totally dependent he is on us, and how we rely totally on God for our every need. When I look at his little face, my heart aches with love, and I realize just how much God delights in and loves us. How much He wants to have a relationship with us, His children. To sacrifice His own Son in our place, so that we may never know eternal death but have eternal LIFE in Him. So very humbling, and so very, very awesome. 

"You are everything that is bright and clean
And You’re covering me with Your majesty
And the truest sign of grace was this
From wounded hands, redemption fell down
Liberating man...
But the harder I try, the more clearly can I
Feel the depth of our fall, and the weight of it all. 
And so this might could be the most impossible thing,
Your grandness in me making me clean"
--David Crowder Band, "Wholly Yours"