A Birth Story

As you know, I was feeling quite ready for Grady to make his appearance!  After a few long days and nights with plenty of irregular contractions and lower back aches after Monday's appointment, I called the clinic to check in.  Thankfully, they squeezed me in right away on Thursday morning...I was happy to hear that my uncomfortableness was justified - I had dilated to 4cm and was 70% effaced - Dr. Menke also said my bag of water was "bulging" and that if we had been in OB he would have gone ahead and broke it.  After some discussion of the day's events, we decided I would report back to OB at 5:00.

So report we did...I was a little more dilated and a little more effaced after a day full of contractions about 10 minutes apart or so. At approximately 5:45, Dr. Menke broke my water; this was painless for all involved.  It took maybe 15 minutes or so for my contractions to really get a move on - very similar to how it was with Grace.  At 6:40 the nurse decided to check me again as the contractions were extremely regular and getting pretty intense (this was definitely freaking Brian out - he asked me a number of times if he should get the nurse before I actually let him!).  I was only at 5cm but was 100% effaced.  I feel like overall, I handled the pain of everything well; I did a better job breathing through contractions instead of holding my breath which I struggled with with Grace.  I think I'll thank two years of yoga and some mental toughness from running the half last fall for that!  :)

Back to the story...the nurse, who was there for Grace's birth as well, was very supportive.  She said, "You can do this...after seeing how things went last time, you can make it; you're going to have a baby by 7:00."  She left the room for a few minutes after that, and Brian said, "Amanda, it's 6:50 - we could have a baby in 10 minutes."  What!?!

After that, everything got pretty intense. The room filled with my doctor and 4 nurses (as they were in the middle of a schedule switch).  The contractions continued intensely - basically I dilated almost a centimeter a contraction.  When it came time to push, I ended up having to role a little bit onto my left side - Grady was doing great overall, but being on my left side at a 45 degree angle seemed to make him happiest.  Thankfully there were four nurses to help out as there's no way I could have kept myself in that position without them.

Pushing started shortly, and, needless to say, that was intense.  Unlike with the girls, this time I could tell that Grady moved back when I stopped pushing after a contraction was over.  This did encourage me to take advantage of the contractions though!  Brian stayed right by my shoulder and let me give his hand some serious squeezing through the pushing process, and the doctors and nurses were so encouraging telling me about the type of progress being made with each push.  My doctor even made me laugh a few times in between contractions, and I remember hearing everyone laugh when Brian told them I had driven us over the the hospital myself - my response to that was that we knew who the real "man of the house" was!  :)

A difference from the girls was that once Grady's head was out, he didn't just come out smoothly with no effort like the girls.  This time more pushing was required to get shoulders and a body out!  :)  Wonder why...thank you 8 pounds 9 ounces!  Something I loved about having a bigger baby who wasn't so traumatized by the whole delivery thing...he got put on my chest after being born and got to stay there!  Both the girls were quickly taken to their little beds to be monitored by the respiratory doctor, but Grady and I just got to hang out.  I may have shed a couple of tears.

After delivery, it took a while for me to get cleaned up...I had a number of stitches placed in addition to just needing time to breath and relax.  After Grady nursed a little, Brian was able to bring the girls in; they were so sweet; they'd been anxiously waiting since Grandma and Grandpa had picked them up from daycare and told them that the baby was on his way!  They each took a turn holding him and were excited to open their present from the baby which included new pajamas, new "big sister" shirts, and some other goodies.  I will write more about their reactions to our new addition soon. Pat, Roger, and my mom, were also able to come in and see Grady - it was really special sharing his name with everyone:  Grady - Pat's maiden name...Brian had told his grandma Grady that this would be the name of our boy (if we were every to have one) before she passed away, and Lawrence - my grandpa's Hanz's name.

How to conclude...I think I'll keep it simple:  I'm happy with my story.