Barrett will be five months old in just a few days.
This the Bear a few hours after being born. His Daddy helped the nurses snuggle him up and dress him in his first Fighting Texas Aggie outfit.
He weighed a whopping 8lbs 13 oz and was 22 1/2 inches long.
I am sure most of you thought I would never blog again. Especially since it has been nearly half a year since my last post, but I am back to follow up on my last post :) and let you know that I in fact did go into labor the day before they were going to induce me.
I went into labor Sunday morning February 26th at 3:00AM. After taking every homeopathic thing I could to go into labor, walking 30+ miles in 14 days, and praying my little heart out I finally started having real contractions. It is funny thing because I was always scared I was not going to be sure when labor started but man was I SURE!
The night before I went to labor I had pretty much decided to be ok with whatever happened, so we stayed up late watching a movie and eating Mexican food. Which means we went to bed at 12:00AM and I went into labor at 3:00AM. I laid in bed for the first hour of contractions texting my midwife who desperately wanted me to try to go back to sleep. Man, did I try. I was excited and my contractions went from 16 minutes to 10 minutes to 5 minutes apart in about an hour. At 4:00 in the morning I got Chris up out of bed and told him the time had come and I needed a protein shake! I walked around the house for a little bit and then decided to get in the shower. It was in the shower when my contractions started to get intense and close together. At this point it was about 5:30 and I told Chris to call Cathy the midwife and tell her that were going to go ahead and get ready to come to the birth center.
I naturally blew my hair dry and put on a full face of make up because that is normal when you are about to go get in a birthing pool and get wet all over again. We called our parents, texted who we needed to text, kissed the puppy good bye and told her that we would come back with a baby. I think we got into my car and made the 20 minute drive to Katy having some pretty awesome contractions all the way there.
My parents met us at the birth center at 7 in the morning and we got the party started.
Chris was a huge support during labor. He was always calm and reassuring and he was always there. I progressed well until about 12:00PM and I was thinking I am going to have this baby by 3:00 in the afternoon and we will all get to go home and all would be well. I was so, so wrong about that. I would not have that baby until 3:00PM the NEXT day.
From about 2 in the afternoon on the 26th until about 2 in the morning on the 27th I was dilated at about a 7 and barely moved from that. I had level 7 contractions for 12 hours with no progress. We did everything we possibly could to get me to progress. The midwives determined that Barrett's chin was turned up instead of tucked down on his chest causing him to get caught on my pelvic bone. I proceeded to have to lunge, rock, and sway during really intense contractions in order to get my baby to move so he could slide down my birth canal. Nothing worked.
Thank God for the birthing pool. When you do not have drugs to help with the pain the hot water does amazing things for you. It allows you to feel weightless and lay on your tummy, both of which seriously help you in labor.
Chris's Mom drove from Childress, Texas that Sunday and made it with plenty of time to the birth center. She was a tremendous help in labor and gave Chris a much needed break. She must have rubbed my back for two hours.
At 2:00 in the morning we made a group decision that it was time to go to the hospital and get an epidural to see if that would help relax my muscles enough for the baby to get in a better position so he could slip right on out. At this point my fear of going to the hospital had subsided. I knew that I had done absolutely everything in my power to have my baby as naturally as possible and I was at complete peace with getting transported. Chris helped me get into the back seat of my Dad's suburban and my Dad drove us to the hospital with our midwife leading the way. Did you know that midwives have the same clearance as an ambulance to speed in order to get to the hospital? Yeah, so we sped going about 80 miles per hour to West Houston Hospital. I had 5 contractions in the back of that suburban. I will remember each one for a long time. I was praying hard in that back seat, praying that I could get that epidural fast.
We got to the hospital and they wheeled me up to labor and delivery to one of the rooms I had stayed in when I had kidney stones. My nurse's name was Mercy. Within 30 minutes of arriving at the hospital, just when I thought I could not take it anymore, I leaned over on Mercy and got an epidural. With that I looked at my parents and Chris's Mom and told them to go home to our house and sleep. Chris and my Midwife Cathy stayed with me and we all slept for about 2-3 hours. I was in desperate need of sleep having been up for 24 hours in full on labor. I was so thankful for that epidural. About 5 in the morning Mercy came in an administered pitocin to help me along since the epidural had not really sped anything up. I barely remember this because I think I was still asleep. Usually when birth center girls get transported and get an epidural they have their babies fast because it allows their bodies to relax. Unfortunately that did not happen for me.
At 7 in the morning the door to our room busted open with screaming nurses who started pulling cords out of me. Barrett's heart rate a dropped because they had given me too much pitocin too fast. As soon as they reduced it our Bear was fine again. That was one things that I had prayed for my whole pregnancy that my baby's heart rate would be strong during the whole labor, and it was except for the pitocin scare. That was how I met my new nurse Tracy who would help me deliver Barrett without getting a C-Section, which was the miracle of the entire event. Tracy rolled me over 3/4 the way onto my belly and that was finally made Barrett progress.
Cathy stayed with me and Chris the whole time leading us through a hospital birth with great peace. At 10:30 in the morning Tracy checked me and I had dilated to a 9. For the first time during the entire labor process I cried. I cried because I was so happy that I had progressed and might actually have this baby without a C-Section.
At 11:30 Tracy came in and told us that if I did not progress all the way by 1:30 when the Doctor was coming to check me that they were going to have to schedule me for a c-section. In order for me to push more effectively and so they could move me around a little to help Barrett get in a better position they took my epidural out. Before it totally wore off I got my make-up out and applied a full face of war paint for the pushing process. My hair was matted in a knot of a mess on my head and I was swollen from all the fluids they had me on at the hospital. I was determined to at least try and look somewhat like a human being.
Thirty minutes after they pulled the epidural out they got me on my hands and knees and rocked me to try and get Barrett's head dislodged from my pelvic bone. They lifted the back of the bed up and leaned me up against it. They rolled me over on my tummy. It was an entire gymnastic session 42 weeks pregnant and in labor with the epidural slowly losing its effect.
Some time after that it was time to start pushing. Pushing is the hardest thing I have ever done in my life. The first hour of pushing was AWFUL. I was pretty sure I was going to die, but I kept telling everyone that I was going to do it. It was like in the movies with my nurse yelling at me and counting and me breathing and sweating. About an hour into it I got hot and irritated and just ripped my gown off and threw it across the room. Not too long after that my Doctor came in. He looked at me and was like lift your arms up and push. Doing that changed everything and I went from non-productive pushing to productive pushing. Every 10 minutes I would look at my midwife and ask if I could do it and she always said yes. I would then look at the doctor and the nurses and tell them that I was going to do it all the while thinking that I was completely unsure about the entire situation. I refused to utter a negative word. I refused to say out loud that I did not think I could do it.
I had complete peace. I never panicked. I was determined. I could feel the prayer surrounding me. I could feel my family in the waiting room fighting for me.
An hour and half after the doctor got there he looked me and said, "You could push for another hour and half or we could use forceps and get the baby out now". My midwife looked and me and said let's do it. Unfortunately we had to use the vacuum first, for liability purposes, which was definitely the WORST part of the ENTIRE birthing process. With great finess my Dr. Toress inserted the forceps and my baby came out in one big push. He had a huge booboo on his head from getting stuck on my pelvic bone but he was happy, healthy, and hungry. I could not have been more grateful!
I have never felt so relieved and full of emotion in my life. I heard Barrett cry and then I caught sight of Chris. I will never forget that moment. Chris got me through the 36 hours of labor and he worked just as hard as I did. I am so thankful to be married to him. He never wavered, complained, or panicked. As soon as Barrett was born Chris was involved in every process of taking care of him. Barrett continually had his Daddy by his side.
You would think the drama would have subsided post birth. But I then had to be sewn up for an entire hour after having a 36 hour labor. Thankfully my OBGYN was a plastic surgeon specialist baby doctor. That is all I will say about that :)
Barrett, Chris, and I were greeted by family and friends and my brother's homemade enchiladas.
Chris's Dad came later that night. He drove all day in order to get there. Thankfully he was fairly well rested and was able to take care of Chris and I in the hospital since everyone else had been up for basically two days.
Here Barrett is catching some sun rays with his Grandpa while simultaneously stealing some his body warmth.
Two weeks late. Thirty Six hours of labor. Delivered by forceps. Barrett had the EXACT same birth as his Daddy did and was born the day before Chris's 27th birthday.
A few days later when I was finally able to be alone I asked Jesus what that was all about. I felt His peace come over me and He said that He never left me during the entire experience, but we just all had to fight for Barrett to be born. Our miracle is that we did not have to have a C-Section and we were all healthy.
