How it Happened

On Friday, June 1st, J and I went to what would be our last ultrasound. My 38 week ultrasound. The main purpose of this ultrasound was to get an idea of the fluid level in my uterus. It was one that the doctors would not think I’d even make it to since I had been on the verge of going into labor for weeks.

At the ultrasound, everything looked great except for the fluid. It was a bit low. This did not have any effect on the baby that could be seen but it was a cause for concern for the ultrasound doctors. They called my doctors to inform them of the details. My doctor then got on the phone with me to tell me to go ahead and come down to labor and delivery right now.

J and I weren’t sure what they were going to do. If they would induce me or just monitor me. We were ready for the induction but it was still kind of an odd feeling. It was happening.

When we got to L&D, we met with the new doctor in the office that was on call that weekend. She tells me they decided to go ahead and induce me while everything looked good. I was in good health and so was the baby. There was no point in waiting for something to happen before making the decision. So here I was, going to the doctor’s office every week and seeing every OB/GYN and I’m going to have my baby on the weekend where the new doctor was on call. Don’t get me wrong, she was wonderful. But she was still not one I had ever met before.

They start me on the pitocin (labor inducing hormone) and break my water. And there it began.

Now, I’m all for people’s right to choose the type of childbirth they want. I’m also human and have my opinions. I will say that being induced was tough. Especially since my natural labor kicked in. I was at the point where I was having contractions on top of each other. I totally called in for the epidural at that point.

I now understand why modern medicine is so beautiful. I was able to SLEEP through contractions. Though you don’t feel the actual pain of them, your body does react to them by exhausting you. I basically spent most of my 16 hours of labor dozing. The other times I was talking to my mom or the nurses. Josh and my mom spent the entire night trying to take naps in chairs.

What I didn’t realize fully is that even with the epidural, childbirth is work. Especially the delivery part. Apparently, the baby and I did well together. For a first time mom, delivery took about an hour and Z was born.

Unfortunately I had the shakes after the birth. I could not stop trembling. A common side effect of the hormones in your body. I held the baby for a bit but mainly it was J. It was so wonderful to see them together. J fell hard for his son and vice versa. It makes me so happy to see Z’s eyes start searching around when he hears J’s voice in the room.

Overall, the labor and delivery went smoothly and I couldn’t have asked for a better experience. I was able to avoid a c-section (and the recovery time with it) and am almost back to feeling completely normal (not including lack of sleep…feeding babies is hard work).

Not sure how often I’ll have time to update but I will when I can. Thank you so much for all the well wishes. Z, J, and I are doing well and learning to become a new family together.