Today is my youngest son’s 2nd birthday. Honestly, I cannot believe that. I regularly think about how incredible it is that I have three, beautiful little boys. But today is his day, and in honor of that, I want to share his birth story.

It’s Time To Share

I have never been someone to share the full birth story on the actual day. There’s nothing wrong with doing that, it’s a personal choice. But for me, I think I have wanted to hold onto the details, and keep them to myself for a while. I will never take my boys for granted, or the beautiful ways they each entered into our world. And when they were born, I wanted to hold onto that for a while.

Since he’s 2 today, I’m ready and excited to share his birth story.

His original due date was January 10th. While I was grateful to be pregnant, pregnancy was never the end goal. I wanted a healthy child, safe in my arms. I was eager and anxious to give birth. So, with the approval of my doctor, we scheduled an induction date about one week early, around 39 weeks pregnant.

The Induction Date

On the day of his birth, my husband and I arrived at the hospital at 6:45am, to check in by 7am. It was a slow morning, quiet in the maternity ward. At this point, there was still a ban on visitors, so the only people there were patients, one support person, or the hospital staff.

Right after 7am, our nurse walked into our room and introduced herself. She was instantly kind and full of sunshine, exactly the demeanor we were hoping for. I filled out paperwork, was given a COVID test, and got prepared for an IV. At this point, tests were mandatory for everyone’s safety. Luckily, I was negative, so we were able to stay in that room, without any additional precautions. 

I was wearing a mask, which was still mandatory at the time, something I tend to forget about. It wasn’t a big deal, and we all felt safer.

Time To Begin

Within the next hour, they placed the IV and prepared my bedside with the pitocin and anything else necessary to induce the birth. I had never been induced before, but the first time I had given birth, things had gone very quickly. That’s a story for another time (in less than 2 weeks, when my first son has his birthday), but regardless, we felt confident that this birth would go smoothly too.

Well, I wasn’t exactly confident. More like hopeful. I knew from experience that just because something goes well once, doesn’t guarantee that will happen again. But I was hopeful that day, and I was happy I was being induced. It gave me a sense of control over a very uncontrollable situation – the birth of a child.

A Slow Start

From about 8-10am, they slowly upped the pitocin levels. To be honest, it made me nervous at first. I wasn’t feeling anything at all, and I was worried it wasn’t going to work. I had gone into labor on my own with my first son, so I didn’t know what it felt like to get there from nothing.

Luckily, as they slowly increased the medications, I began to feel the contractions. I can’t remember the exact timing, but the doctor broke my water pretty early on. This made me nervous because I knew that the umbilical cord has to be in a safe spot for this to be okay. I shared my concerns, and she assured me that she wouldn’t break the waters without checking his location.

Baby boy was low enough down that she could break the waters, and since I was still only around 3 cm, she wanted to move things along. It sounds like a big ordeal, but it’s very simple. The doctor took what I can only describe as a long wooden stick. This is definitely not the technical term, and I’m sure it’s not wood, but that’s still what I see in my mind. She gently pokes the amniotic sack, and as it breaks, the water is released.

Feeling The Pain

And then we wait. About an hour after she did this, I was still only measuring around 3 cm, but I was feeling very intense contractions. And then I remembered the pain. It is actually impossible for me to describe after the fact because I think your body purposefully forgets. But I’ll try my best.

It felt like someone was squeezing my uterus to the point of bursting, while kicking me very hard in the back. And also punching me in the vagina, and knocking the wind out of me. That doesn’t even really get it right, but that’s about as well as I can describe a contraction. It knocked the wind out of me, and I did not want to be touched. My husband learned this quickly, and stood by, feeling helpless, but listening to my needs.

The Best Invention Ever

At this point, I wanted the epidural, so I let the nurse know. It probably took another hour before the anesthesiologist arrived, but it felt like a day. I was very ready. Epidurals can sound scary. It is a giant needle going directly into your spine. But it’s not scary when you’re in active labor. It’s a relief.

The anesthesiologist had me sit up on the bed, and lean over towards my husband, with him behind me to prep my back. I held onto my husband’s hands and grabbed his shirt, squeezing as the contractions came and went. When the anesthesiologist was ready, he gave me a warning, and at the peak of a contraction, he put the needle in. This may sound counterintuitive to add pain on top of pain, but it actually distracted me from the giant needle.

It felt like a lot of pressure in my spine, all at once, but I knew it was going to be worth it. Once the medicine kicked in, I could relax before giving birth. When he was done, I was able to lay back onto my side carefully, as the medicine flowed into my spine.

A Little Scare

The anesthesiologist was amazing and thoughtful. He started off with a large dose straight away, to immediately decrease the pain. I was very grateful. However, this also caused my blood pressure to plummet.

Within about 15 minutes, I laid back, and felt the room start to disappear. I felt like I was melting into the bed, as if I was about to pass out. I have a history of low blood pressure and fainting, so I immediately told my husband, who called the nurse in. She checked my blood pressure, saw that I was extremely pale, and urgently but quietly called the anesthesiologist back in.

He was immediately back at my bedside, putting a shot of something into my IV. He said he had to give me epinephrine, the same medicine that’s used in epi-pens, to quickly increase my blood pressure. Mine had dropped to something like 80/50, which is dangerously low. Luckily, the shot of epinephrine quickly brought it back up to normal, and I felt much better.

I absolutely loathe the fainting feeling, and it terrified me when I was about to give birth. I am very glad the nurse and anesthesiologist acted quickly, and that I spoke up right away.

Feeling Stuck

After that, she checked me again. I was still 3 cm, but she said “I think this is a fake 3”. I asked her what she meant by this. She said “I don’t think it’s a true 3, I think you’ll shoot up to 10 quickly.” She was right.

At this point, it was about 11:15am. When my doctor scheduled my 8am appointment, he said that I would give birth by 12pm. That seemed pretty aggressive, but I was hopeful. However, by 11:30am, I thought there was absolutely no way I would give birth soon since I was still measuring at 3 cm.

Since I had the epidural, and my blood pressure had stabilized, I closed my eyes to rest. Yes, I was able to start to fall asleep – that’s how wonderful the epidural is! And I have absolutely no shame in choosing to use medicine to give birth. It doesn’t make it any less natural. It worked for me, and I’m glad it exists. In fact, I remember telling my husband that the person who invented the epidural deserved a nobel prize. Maybe that sounds dramatic, but I am eternally grateful to the creator of the epidural.

A Quick Change of Pace

Just as I started to drift off, I felt an intense pressure in my butt area. There’s really no other way to say that, so I apologize if it’s too much. But you’re reading a birth story – the word butt is the least of your worries.

When the body is ready to give birth, it feels like you have to poop really badly. Again, it sounds like TMI – but that’s what it feels like. And that’s how the nurses describe it. But they also say, if you feel like that, DO NOT PUSH. Resist the urge to push, and call them in.

So I did. This was around 11:55am. That’s right, 30 minutes after she measured me at 3 cm. The nurse checked me again, and sure enough, I was at 10 cm. “I knew it was a fake 3!”, said our nurse. She told us that the woman in the next room over was also getting ready to push, and the doctor was already with her. Once she gave birth, the doctor would come to me.

It’s Go Time

Well, about 5 minutes later, it was clear I couldn’t wait. So the nurses quickly prepped the room, and called the doctor in. The nurse told me that the other woman would likely push for a while, so they wanted the doctor to get me started.

The doctor came in right about 12pm. “Let’s just get this done quickly, right?”. Okay, here we go.

The first time I gave birth, my husband had read something about the best position for giving birth. He said “act like a shrimp, be in the shrimp position.” And it sounds crazy, but it works! Because I had the epidural and could only feel a slight pressure, the doctors and nurses had to tell me when to push. You push when you’re at the height of a contraction.

Time To Push

As the first contraction came, they yelled “PUSH!!!!” And I did. I folded myself into the shrimp position, held my own legs right behind the knees, and PUSHED. After one push, the doctor said “wonderful! I can see his brown hair!”.

This shocked me – my first two were born blonde. My husband was blonde as a kid. I have dark hair. So I said “brown?? I got one like me? It’s brown”. And she said “Alex! Focus, you’re currently in the middle of giving birth, we can talk about his hair color later!” We all laughed, and I focused again.

The second contraction came quickly after, and again, she yelled PUSH. But this time, she was going “push push push go go go go go go okay come on almost there almost there… Oh wow we have a sunny side up baby here ANDDDDD give me your hands so you can help pull him out”!!!! A lot of information in less than a minute.

He Is Here!

At 12:10pm, he was born. Two pushes in less than 5 minutes, and he was screaming his little head off, shocked to be in the world of fresh air. Looks like my doctor was pretty spot on with his guess. My third little love was here. I was instantly relieved, overjoyed, and probably took one of the deepest breaths of my life.

I pulled him towards me for instant skin-to-skin contact, and soaked in every second of our new baby boy. Down below, the doctor was delivering the placenta and stitching me up from the slight tear I got. But I couldn’t feel it, and I wasn’t paying attention to that. I was holding my baby boy. Our family was finally complete.

He weighed in at a whopping 8 pounds 12 ounces, a week early. The following morning my OB came to check on me. He wasn’t the one that actually delivered my baby, which is surprisingly common, and something I never cared about. The first thing he said was “wow! Almost a nine pound baby! Good thing you gave birth early, otherwise he would have torn you right in half!” Thanks doc. But seriously this made me laugh, I loved his sense of humor, plus, he brought me a giant donut, so he clearly knows his audience.

My Birth Plan

One of the most common questions I received while I was pregnant was “what is your birth plan?” And I know that a birth plan gives a lot of people peace of mind. But I am also a realistic person. Births don’t tend to go according to any plan, and they are definitely not predictable. So this was always my plan: have a healthy baby. That’s it. Ideally vaginally, but if I needed a c-section, that was okay too. Just get him out safely. And they did. And I’m eternally grateful.

Happy Birthday baby boy. Today is your day. I am so incredibly honored to be your mom.