Baby Ryker's Birth Story

Life with a newborn is tough. I cannot believe how quickly the days go by! It seems like between pumping, feeding,  & changing diapers that there isn't really time for anything else. I have to remind myself to eat a lot. I've often forgotten to take my pain medicine until well after the 6 hour dosage time. I spent the first two nights not even sleeping really, but slowly things are getting better. We are just starting to form our little routine on Self Lane (right in time for J to return to work tonight.)

To be honest, the whole birth experience is kind of a blur. I feel like I've already forgotten so many details, so I'm making myself take the time togo ahead and write this out before I forget any more! (For the record, writing this post has taken about 3 days... gotta prioritize my time when R is asleep.)



R's arrival was scheduled for Thursday, 9/5/13, and we were scheduled to be at the hospital at 6 am for admittance.

And none of that happened.

I woke up around 4:30 and called L&D to make sure we were still ok to come in at 6:00 (per directions from my obgyn's office) and the lady said yes. So I went ahead & proceeded to wake J up and we both got ready. As I was packing last minute stuff in my purse I saw that I had a missed call at 5 am. Once I checked the voicemail I learned that many women went into labor overnight and they didn't have any rooms available for inductions. They were going to have to postpone my induction for a few hours. She couldn't give me an exact time, but told me to wait by the phone. So that's what I did. I still feel bad for J having to wake up so early for nothing. Around 7:30 we got the call to come in, so we left and got caught in morning rush hour traffic. After all was said and done, they ended up breaking my water & starting pitocin at 9:15 am. About 3 hours later than originally planned.

J & I originally told all family that we didn't want anyone in the room during labor. I've learned that much from reading friends' blogs. But after a few hours I was starting to get a little antsy. Apparently my stepmother was as well because she and my grandmother walked into our L&D room around 11:30! They were followed shortly after by J's parents (who were kind enough to wait in the waiting room) and other friends and family. It eventually got a little overwhelming (after my epidural) & I asked the nurse to make everyone leave (I couldn't do it because I didn't want to hurt anyone's feelings). She did. Because she's awesome like that.

Anyhow, R was progressing. But it was much slower than I wanted. The nurse was upping my pitocin as quickly as she could and around noon I was really starting to feel the contractions (I was around 4 cm at the time). I ended up asking for some medicine to help with the pain. They gave me something to ease the pain, but it wasn't the epidural (my goal was to reach 5 cm before asking for the epi). And that helped tremendously! I lasted on that medicine until about 2:30 all the while the nurse was upping my pitocin as quickly as she safely could. At that time my contractions were just so close together that I didn't really have time to recover. They were 1.5-2 minutes apart I think. And they were just so strong, that I didn't think I could handle them without a recovery period of at least 30 seconds or somethin', ya know? So I got the epidural. I was at 4 cm and a little disappointed that I didn't make my goal of 5 cm. But I was also afraid that if we waited until 5 cm then I wouldn't be able to sit still long enough to actually receive the medicine.

Right after I received the epidural & everyone was allowed back in the room my blood pressure dropped. This is a normal side effect, but it caused me to be nauseated and super hot. At one point I had the nurse giving me anti-nausea medicine in my IV and J & my friend Ami were fanning me with magazines because I was sweating profusely. It was a pretty quick episode, but one worth remembering for any future Baby Nerds.

After the epidural, the day just kind of passed. I'm not sure how, but it did. At 5:30 I was 5 cm and at 7:30 I was 7 cm. At 9:30 I was still at 7 cm and the doctor & nurse began telling me that I was a candidate for a c-section. The doctor said that the last thing he wanted to do was cut me, but that if I wasn't complete by his next check at 11:30 then we would have to make that decision. We were able to see that I was dilating, but I wasn't thinning past about 80% and Baby R would not drop past the -1 position. The doctor needed me to be at 10 cm and fully thinned and for the baby to fully drop into my pelvis. I just kind of knew that it wasn't going to happen that way so I asked the nurse to make everyone leave (not everyone got the hint...only the men left) so that J & I could talk & pray about it and make the decision that was right for us. Ultimately, the determining factor would be to see if I was complete at the next check, but truthfully, I was so tired at this point that I don't think I could've pushed. At 11:30, there was no change and we opted to go ahead and do the c-section because we didn't want to risk any infections or hurting R in any way. So the nurse got me prepped while the doctor delivered another patient's baby and I was wheeled into the OR at 12:08 am on September 6. (I distinctly remember looking at the clock when they wheeled me in. It was calming and I was panicking about having this surgery because I've never had surgery or anything like it before.) I remember telling the anesthesiologist that I was freaking out about having this procedure. He kept telling me that I shouldn't be scared because they were going to take great care of me. They made J wait outside until I was on the table & cut open. That was the scariest part of the whole experience... having to be in the room without J. (Side note: my insides felt very wiggly while the surgeons were all up in there. That's the only way I can think to describe it.)

Once J joined me, things went really quickly. I remember telling him I felt sick and he says he thought I was going to pass out. Truthfully I thought I was too. But, I was trying my best to stay conscious/awake enough to finally see Baby Nerd. They finally pulled him out at 12:22 am on 9/6/13 and turned on the tv screen above my head so that J & I could see him at the warming table. Can I just say that's an awesome touch! They called J over to the nurses who were caring for the baby and he went over there. Meanwhile I fell asleep. J woke me up when they brought him to me. I can only remember saying "Hi baby. Mommy loves you," over and over again. Then they escorted J back to the L&D room so the nurses could do whatever it was they did to R (measurements I think). J was with him the whole time I was being stitched up. I was completely out cold while they finished.

I was still pretty drowsy when they brought me to the L&D room for our 2 hour recovery. I definitely remember shaking uncontrollably. It wasn't scary because I had read about this happening to so many women, but I think J might have been a little worried when I couldn't stop shaking. The nurses were able to give R & me some skin to skin time while the grandmothers snuck back to our L&D recovery room. Part of me was a little upset that J & I weren't able to have just the two of us in there for that 2 hours, but I couldn't be mad at the family who waited around to meet this little guy. I knew that if they didn't see him now, they would have to wait until the next day (technically they would've only had to wait until later that afternoon, but it would've seemed like the next day). So, when the nurse asked if they could come in I said yes. It seemed kind of selfish for me to keep that sweet baby boy all to myself. Eventually, after J's parents & my family left the L&D recovery room we were able to just admire this amazing little creature.

We were rolled into our postpartum room around 3 am and there the nurse washed him and took care of him. I was pumped full of morphine, so I don't exactly remember the details. I know J didn't go to sleep until around 4:30, but I was on that new mom high and didn't fall asleep until around 5:30 or 6 am. Just in time for the doctors to do their morning rounds. :)

Side note: The official reason for my c-section was failure to dilate, but the doctor also informed me that R was sunnyside up, which may have contributed to him not dropping fully into my pelvis.