We are happy to finally introduce the newest member of our family:
Mason Robert
Thursday, 3 November 2016
3:42 pm
18 inches
7 pounds 3 ounces
By my 35 week check-up I was staring to get that feeling of being done with my pregnancy. I was tired, achy, and I was feeling more and more ready to have my body back and meet this baby boy. I decided to wait till I was 36 weeks to have my doctor check me so I didn't get too anxious and jump-start the waiting game.
The day before my 36 week check-up I was at Target and had about a 10 minute episode of really bad back labor. The next day I went it for my appointment and told about the back labor and she decided to go ahead and check for dilation. Much to my surprise I was already 2 cm dilated, 80% effaced and his head was at a +2 station. She told me I would probably make it to my 37 week appointment the next week, but she was 100% sure I wouldn't make it till my due date on the 17th.
Once I got home I called Robert and told him the new status; he was still in the middle of his OB rotation and wasn't set to take his exam until the 4th of November. He decided to call his OB/GYN clerkship director and tell him that I may have this baby early and they were able to work out a plan if baby decided to come before or (heaven forbid) during his exam. Once that was settled I spent the next week in full baby prep-mode. Packing bags, finishing the birth plan, finding last minute baby items, etc.
Much to my despair, at my 37 week check-up I was still at a 2, but had softened a little bit. The week between my 37 and 38 week check-up seemed to go on FOREVER. I was so convinced that he was going to come on Halloween, and I was paranoid that my water was going to break in public. The whole week I was on pins an needles, and so was Robert; everyday Robert would text me when he was going into surgery and give me an emergency number to call since he wouldn't have access to his phone. Every time I texted him or he felt his phone go off while he was scrubbed into a surgery he got more and more paranoid he was missing something or leaving me stranded without a way to get to the hospital. It was a really long week.
We finally made it to my 38 week check up. It was a Wednesday (the 2nd), two days before Robert's big OB/GYN shelf exam. We were ok if our little man came early, but we wanted him to come a week before the exam, or the afternoon after Robert finished his exam. Psych.
At my appointment I asked my doctor to go ahead and check to see if I had made any progress. That morning I did my 4 mile run and a session of Insanity to see if I could work this baby out. Apparently it helped a little bit! He said I was at a 3 1/2, and about 20 seconds later he did something slightly painful and said "and now you're at a 4". As he was leaving he concluded with a "I'd be surprised if I didn't see you tonight!". Fabulous.
About 2 hours after I left the office I started having pretty intense contractions. They weren't something I could time, nor were they so painful I couldn't breath through them so I figured we were still safe. That night I made dinner, we got the hospital bags all squared away and had a good bedtime routine with Calvin. I spent the rest of the night trying to distract myself with "This Is Us" while Robert tried to study. Right before bed Robert gave me a beautiful blessing that gave me a sense of peace and composure (which is exactly what I needed since I was feeling really nervous about this delivery). At about 2 am I woke up and realized I could start timing contractions. I timed my contractions for about 90 minutes before I decided to wake Robert up. They were consistent, coming at 4-7 minute intervals. Calvin came so fast that we were both REALLY paranoid that we wouldn't get to the hospital in time for this little man so we decided to err on the side of caution.
At 4 am we woke up my dad and mom and told them that we were off to the hospital. We got to the hospital at 4:40 and once I was in triage they checked and I was 5 cm dilated. After monitoring contractions that were about 4-5 minutes apart they decided to get the room with a birthing tub all set up for us. Everything happened so fast with Calvin I really wasn't mentally prepared for how long and boring labor can be! Once we got set up in our room I just looked at Robert and was like....."so what now?". My contractions were strong, but were still 4-5 minutes apart so I had adequate time between each contraction to rest up and lounge.
We had a nurse change at 7:30 am, and I was so sad to be losing our first nurse. She loved water births, and we just seemed to click really well; when she brought in the new nurse to meet us I was a little bit disappointed, but she ended up being JUST what we needed. At 8:30 I was feeling pretty anxious to get the ball rolling with this baby. Both Robert and I were convinced that this baby was going to be here by 9 or 10 am since Calvin had come so fast! I had the nurse check and I was only at a 6 and -1 station. The day just seemed to keep dragging on and on. The hours just seemed to tick slowly by and I honestly felt like I could have been doing this for days on end. Robert and I spent HOURS walking the hallways and the nurses at the nurses station would joke around with us trying to get us to do wind sprints. At 10:30 Dr. Harter came by to check on me; I was at a 7 but he was getting nervous because I was progressing so slowly and he had a scheduled C-Section at 4 at a different hospital, but he wanted to be there since I was planning on a water birth. He offered to break my water since my experience with Calvin was a super fast birth once my water broke.
He left the room so Robert and I could decide what to do, and our amazing nurse talked it over with us. She looked at my birth plan and encouraged us to stick to our initial "non-intervention" birth goal. She knew it's what we would be happy with in the long run. I was SO grateful that she was willing to take the time to talk everything through with us to help me make a decision that wasn't just out of pressure from our doctor. and anxiousness to meet the boy. We decided that if boy wasn't born by about 3 pm we would have my water broken so Dr. Harter could still deliver and I could do the water birth.
Time continued to tick slowly by, and I was getting more and more stressed. WHY ON EARTH WAS I PROGRESSING SO SLOWLY!?! I honestly felt like I could keep the pace I was at for a few days. The contractions were really really strong, lasting 45 seconds but still only coming every 4-5 minutes. One pm rolled around and I geared up for another check, only to disappointedly still be at a 7. Dr. Harter came by a few times during the day, anxious for this water birth to happen and always standing by for a green light to break my water. He was really good about keeping his anxiousness to himself, which I appreciated.
Finally at 2:45 our nurse rushed in and gave us the low down. She said "all hell has broken loose out there!". At this point because the L&D floor had gotten so busy we had two options, 1) we could either keep chugging away at our slow pace and not have a water birth, probably not have Dr. Harter there to deliver, but not have any intervention like we wanted, OR 2) we could have the on-call Dr. break my water, I could have a water birth, Dr. Harter could deliver, and in all likely-hood we could have this baby with-in 2 hours.
We talked about it with my nurse for about 10 minutes and we all decided to have this baby! She was the best. "Claire, I promise I will be your doula, we will get our Hypnobirthing Rainbow Relaxation room going on. Robert will be there, and we are gonna have this baby!"
Dr. Tuggle (the on-call doc) came in around 3 to break my water, and they had to monitor me until I had two contractions. While they were monitoring me they filled back up the tub (they drained it since I wasn't really going to use it till delivery); it took almost 20 minutes before I had another contraction and it hit me like a ton of bricks. They were definitely a 10 on the pain scale, and coming every 3-4 minutes. The nurse checked me at 3:20 and she said I was a 7 but closer to a stretchy 8 (whatever that means).
The contractions were noticeably switching to my back, and much to my chagrin I was having back labor, which I had which Calvin. I got in the tub right after she checked me and a few contractions later (around 3:35) my nurse came in and I told her it was definitely feeling like I was going to have to push soon. She told me that once I started feeling like that between contractions she would call Dr. Harter.
She left and the very next contraction I lost all my Hypnobirthing composure. I yelled for Robert's hand and said something like "HELP! Robert it hurts! I have to push." and then VERY loudly I yelled "HELP! HE'S COMING!" Robert looked at me and was like "Claire, no you're fine, you can do this" and then he and I both looked down as switched to laying on my back in the tub when we saw a head of hair crowning, and then a tiny body. Right at that moment 3 nurses sprinted in and yelled "NO! DON'T PUSH". Too late.
At that moment I had so many thoughts running through my head:
**In the moment of pain when I was pushing: WHERE IS ROBERT!? HE HAS TO FIX THIS!! HE CAN MAKE THIS BETTER.
**OH MY GOSH! I just delivered my own baby.
**He has hair!! I can see hair!
**AH! There are so many nurses in here right now, but they're a little late.
** Wait, I just delivered my own baby. I need to hold that baby!
Robert was bending over the tub to finish delivering the boy (he was 90% delivered at this point) when the on call Dr. ran in with one hand gloved and grabbed our boy and unwrapped the cord from around his neck. Keep in mind this all happened in about 25 seconds. He came out in one push at 3:42 pm, with no one but Robert in the room and me in the tub. I got to hold him for about 3 minutes while I was still in the tub, and then they took him to get him weighed while I got out of the tub and onto the bed.
Dr. Harter ran into the room just as I was moving from the tub to the bed, about 3 minutes after Mason was born. I can't remember what he said exactly, I just know he was slightly laughing, probably finding the whole situation humorous (which it was), and then said something like "so how'd you like THAT water birth!?". Once the placenta was delivered, I was stitched up (I hardly tore) and it was just the three of us in the room Robert and I had time to process the fact that I just delivered my own baby without any help, AND we had this new little bundle of joy, straight from heaven. So many emotions.
Although I was at the hospital for almost 11 hours before Mason joined us, I still consider Mason to have come quickly. My water was broken at 3, and I went from a 7 to having a baby in my arms in 42 minutes. Robert was again my super hero during all of this. During the earlier few hours he mostly studied while I tried to rest up between contractions to keep my energy levels high, but was always a trooper to walk semi-aimlessly around hospital hallways for hours on end, distracting me with random OB facts or stories during contractions. I loved how excited he got when he heard nurses talking and he was able to "decode" it for me, or when reading the charts, explaining the why's and what's of everything they were looking for.
I would do a water-birth again in a heart beat. It was such a cool experience, and it helped tremendously with the tearing (I tore terribly with Calvin, and I almost wept when Dr. Harter told me that I hardly tore), and it helped most with back labor. But above-all, I am just grateful for a supportive husband, a healthy baby boy, and a loving toddler who has adapted so well to being a big brother. We are just feeling beyond blessed and loved.
