Welcoming Judah {his birth story}

We made it to 39 weeks, but my body was done.  Although I had hoped to go into labor naturally I was completely willing to be induced.  My back felt like it was going to break, and I was just physically done and ready to meet Judah.  So at 6:30 a.m. on September 19^th we checked into Wesley.

The Lord really gave us some sweet nurses.  I was a mess of emotions going into the hospital, mostly nervous and praying that Judah would be safe, questioning my request for doing a VBAC rather just doing the more known option of a c-section. 

The nurse who checked us in and went through all the initial questions was a gift.  She had lost a baby as well and her daughter had lost a baby due to hydrops, so when my blood pressure was a tad high she knew it was only due to stress, and glossed over the experienced any sadness after the birth of your children question and added only grief sadness.  She got it.

Then we met our amazing nurse who would basically deliver Judah.  She had been working in labor and delivery for 33 years now and she knew her stuff.  That day there was a nursing student shadowing her, which was such a blessing because we were able to hear and learn what all the lines on the monitor were indicating.  It helped in labor tremendously, because she could predict how soon he’d be there based on the monitor.  She also kept reassuring us that Judah was doing awesome, which helped me to focus on the whole labor thing and not to worry about his safety.

We got checked in, my iv in, fluids started and they checked me and with all the walking I did I was still stuck hadn’t dilated anymore and was still 50% effaced.  I was bummed and wondered how this labor would go and wondering if I could really endure labor naturally.

About 9:00 they put in a foley ball in hopes that it would get something started.  My contractions were about 8 minutes apart at this point and by the time they took it out had increased to 5 minutes apart.  The next time they checked me I was 4 cm. dilated, everything was nice and soft and my bag of water was bulging.  After the resident checked with my doctor he decided to go ahead and break my water, since it was about to break anyway and try not to use as much Pitocin.  Per my request I finished my ice chips then at 11:15 they broke my water and started me on a tiny drip of Pitocin.  Labor started off slow, not raging like it was with Micah after my water broke.  The contractions picked up for a bit, then they slowed down.  When I was checked at noon by my doctor I hadn’t progressed at all.  So they upped the Pitocin a tiny bit to see if it would increase the contractions and get them regular again.  We started some music and it was good to relax a bit in between contractions.

About this time our nurse Audrey returned from lunch 12:30 and things were starting to pick up and I was having to breathe through the contractions.  I decided to try the birthing ball for a bit and see if it helped progress anything.  It was great, but I was experiencing a lot of back labor.  Audrey figured that Judah’s head was turned and that was part of the back pain.  Marvin was great about applying counter pressure to my back and did a great job helping me through each contraction.

We decided to check and see if this had helped and I was sad to see that I was only 6 cm.  I was hoping to be at least 7 cm by this point.  So we decided to change positions a bit and try a couple of things to see if it would help him turn his little head.  The best position was being on my knees with the bed straight up, I could put my arms over the top and use the bed to help with each contraction and squeeze the dickens out of Marvin’s hand. 

It was at this point where I just didn’t think I could do it anymore.  Thankfully Audrey was great about just talking me through each contraction and helping me breath through each one. Marvin was great about reminding me it was almost over, and that I was doing great, although in my head I questioned his ability to know if that was in fact true.  I was feeling very nauseous and decided to sit up in bed, in case I got sick.  After a few contractions that rocked my whole body, I was feeling a lot of pressure, and the only thing I could say was get him out.  Audrey decided to check me and surprise there was a head.  She had called my doctor when she thought I was in transition and told him it would be any time.  So he obviously didn’t make it, Audrey called for the resident to come quickly and she came into the door got some gloves on and caught Judah with zero seconds to spare. My doctor got there about 5 minutes after Judah arrived.

He came quickly and I was so relieved he was here, healthy and crying.  The best part was the skin to skin time after his birth and being able to hold him right away.  It was such a sweet time.  I am thankful for a sweet delivery and for the Lord helping us bring another sweet little boy into the world.  What a gift!