Cooper’s Birth Story

I wanted to go ahead and share Cooper’s birth story before I completely forget…..or maybe intentionally forget certain parts 🙁 .  When I was pregnant I loved reading about different birth experiences mainly to try to get a sense for what I might experience and all the possible scenarios.  During those last few weeks of pregnancy all I could think about was when I would go into labor (felt like a ticking time bomb) and how the delivery would go.  I was just so curious if it would be hard or easy, if I would go early or late, and whether I would have him naturally or via c-section.  I had it in my mind that I would likely have a C-Section given my family history of them and knowing I have very narrow hips.  I imagined the worst in that I would end up laboring and pushing a very long time and then ultimately have a c-section which really scared me. The idea of a C-section really terrified me for some reason.  I know women have them all the time and recover just fine but something about it being a surgery made me feel so uneasy.

This is going to be a long post so bear with me.  I didn’t put together an official birth plan beforehand and believe it or not Michael and I actually skipped our labor and delivery class (it was a beautiful day in CLT) but I did write down a few things to remember like being open to an epidural, preferring a vaginal delivery, and wanting to avoid narcotic pain meds.  Otherwise, my plan was for the safest delivery however that might end up looking.  If you know me, I am a huge planner, so the fact that I was so laid back and didn’t over-analyze/plan for the birth is very uncharacteristic for me….however, with my very long labor I wish I had done a bit more research.  So here is how Cooper made his appearance into the world:

This photo above is my very last bump photo taken on Tuesday, July 19th which was my last day at work.  I had already planned for that Friday to be my last day in the office but clearly didn’t make it to that day.  On that Tuesday I knew in my heart that I didn’t have much more time.  I was almost 39 weeks and felt so uncomfortable, crampy, had more braxton hicks contractions and just felt a little off.  However, I kept reminding myself that most women go over 40 weeks with their first and tried not to get my hopes up.  I was honestly so ready to deliver at this point.  Being just 5ft tall my stomach was huge (and people kept reminding me of this), and I felt all the normal discomforts there at the end ( I will talk more about that in a pregnancy post later) so I was really ready.

That night I ended up waking up around 3am with some mild contractions and noticed some blood when I went to the bathroom.  This made me feel very uneasy but I was so tired that I decided to just go back to sleep.  The contractions continued through the night but nothing very painful.  Then at 5am I woke up again and got out of bed and that is when the big “event” happened.  My water broke big time!  Everything I read said it wouldn’t be like the movies where it’s a big gush and I guess many women never have their water break but I actually had that movie moment.  I started yelling for Michael to wake him and said “I think it might be time”.  He responded with “how do you know?”.  I then had another huge gush which you could actually hear, so my response was “that is how I know!”

The next hour was exactly how I imagined it…we were in a panic trying to call the doctor, check our hospital bags, take quick showers, and get to the hospital.  The doctor ended up telling me I needed to get to the hospital within two hours since my water had broken so we had time but we were also so nervous and were running around like crazy people.  The ride to the hospital was hilarious as we were running behind and rushing but don’t worry we stopped to get starbucks 🙂

The next part of the process was very long and I’ll begin to summarize in hopes of this post not being too incredibly long.  When I arrived I was only two centimeters so I had a long way to go before I’d be ready to deliver. We were checked in and taken to a labor and delivery room and the hope was that I would begin progressing (dialing and contracting) more soon.    They also realized I had meconium in my fluid which means the baby pooped recently and it’s in the fluid.  This can cause complications if the baby breaths it in during delivery so they would need to keep a close eye on him and ideally I wouldn’t labor too long which can increase the chances of complications.  Speaking of fluid I never realized that your water keeps coming out after it “breaks”.  I promised to be honest and here it is….you basically leak fluid the entire labor which for me was a very long time.  Not gonna lie it was gross!

The contractions did eventually begin to get worse and closer together and I decided to wait as long as I could before getting the epidural so it hopefully wouldn’t stall my progress.  To get through it Michael and I roamed the hallways, and I tried to sit on a ball and keep moving around in the room (see photos below).  Notice my face while sitting on the ball.  That was during a contraction…..

Several hours went by and I still wasn’t progressing so the doctor decided to strip my membrane in hopes that things would begin to progress.  I’m not gonna lie this was a very uncomfortable procedure in general but extra painful for me because Cooper was so low and putting so much pressure on my cervix.  Once the doctor did this I almost immediately began having more intense and frequent contractions.  To the point where in about an hour I could hardly stand them and was in a lot of pain.   I just knew I must be progressing quickly but after getting checked I had only progressed to 2.5 🙁  This was frustrating because we were already 8-9 hours into labor at this point.  After trying to deal with them for about 30 more minutes I eventually asked for the epidural.  Honestly these contractions were much more intense than I had imagined and I was so happy to get “the juice”.  The epidural I found to be a pretty easy process and the doctor got it in fairly quickly without any pain on my part (keep reading and you’ll see I got a round two).  The epidural was amazing and I’ve never felt so great after feeling so terrible.  Here is what an epidural face looks like :

By this point we are now getting into the evening hours and I still wasn’t progressing very much.  That is when we decided to start trying pitocin which induces labor.  The next several hours were a waiting game where we gradually kept increasing the pitocin to see if it would work……and then the worst thing happened……I suddenly started to regain feeling quickly.  It was like my epidural completely stopped working even though I kept pushing the button to give me more.  Several nurses tried to figure out what was happening but nothing made sense.  I then experienced the worst two hours of my life…..fully feeling intense induced contractions that were about 45 sec. to 1 min. apart.  Pitocin contractors are much more intense than regular contractors so the pain absolutely took my breath away and I thought I was going to pass out.  Michael was my absolute savior in that he held my hand through it all and kept telling me it was going to be okay.  I was so frustrated in why no one could figure out what was wrong and eventually the  anesthesiologist left a c-section to come check on me and realized the first epidural had fallen out.

Putting it back in was terrible because my contractions were so intense and frequent that I couldn’t sit still while he did it.  I finally just grabbed Michael and my nurses hands incredibly hard while screaming and they got the epidural back in.   Honestly I wouldn’t wish that two hours on my worst enemy and my body really took a beating.  Unfortunately we never got the epidural back to a great place after that as it kept wearing off a bit in certain areas but in general it was better than before.

The overnight hours were tough in that we had a couple of shift changes between nurses and doctors and the idea of a c-section started to get brought up but they all had different opinions on whether we were to  that point.  It was difficult for Michael and I because we knew we could pull the plug at any point because I had been in labor so long (probably about 18 hours at this point) but we also felt like we had come so far and they were willing to wait until morning to see if I made more progress ( I was maybe to a 4 at this point).  This is where I wish I had been a bit more educated on what to do.

Finally morning came and with morning came progress!  Now 24 hours into labor I was almost fully dilated and it was only going to be a few hours before I could start pushing.  My doctor and nurse were so funny when they checked me that morning and I finally progressed.  They literally high-fived while she was still checking because they were so excited we finally get to the home stretch.  It was so great to see how invested they were in getting me to that point and ensuring I had a vaginal delivery.  Family and friends were so worried about us as it had been so long since we updated everyone that I was in labor so we spent some time that morning checking in with everyone.  I was so exhausted at this point but also so ready to meet our little guy.

By 10:45am I was ready to push and the nurse grabbed a leg and then asked Michael to grab the other.  No stirrups just holding my legs up.  Notice the part about Michael grabbing a leg…..our plan was always for him to remain away from the “action” as I am normally a pretty modest person and didn’t want to traumatize him.  However, that wasn’t really an option with this and I decided to just let it happen.  She told me I was a strong pusher (thank you Flybarre Charlotte!) and then things proceeded from there.  Michael stayed right there the whole time and was way more involved that I imagined he would be.  He did everything the nurse did and was such a great coach for me.

My epidural had started to wear off a bit by this point and I was honestly okay with it.  I couldn’t fell everything but could feel enough to know how hard I was pushing and feel somewhat in control.  I pushed for about an hour and a half and then finally at 12:07pm we welcomed our beautiful baby boy Cooper into the world!  Michael was able to watch him come out and says it was one of the best experiences of his life.  It wasn’t in the plan for him to watch but seeing how much it affected him in a positive way made me so happy he got that experience.  So if you are wondering whether to let your husband see, I say do it!

Honestly pushing him out felt just like I thought it would.  It felt like a watermelon needing to come out of a small space and I felt so uncomfortable wanting it out immediately.  Cooper ended up being face up during delivery which isn’t the ideal scenario (and likely caused a lot of the delay in progress) so we had a pediatric team waiting to grab him when he arrived to make sure he was okay and didn’t swallow the fluid.  He didn’t cry immediately and was taken away quickly so I was terrified for a few minutes but eventually put at ease once I heard those cries.

The next hour was the most amazing of my life.  Meeting our little guy after almost 10 months made the 32 hours worth it and we were just in awe of the miracle that this whole experience is.  When they laid him on my chest I just cried uncontrollably and felt so overwhelmed by the love I felt for him.  It’s a feeling that is almost impossible to describe and I hope I never forget what it felt like.

Overall, the labor was much longer and harder than I imagined but I know so many people go through much worse.  I can’t thank Michael, our families, and some of my closest friends for being my biggest supporters through it all.  I had a big text chain going with some of my best friends and they were my cheerleaders throughout it all.  It was great keeping them so in the loop and reading all of their encouraging words.  What an amazing miracle and blessing from the Lord.  We are so thankful!

I’ll stop there as this post is already incredibly long.  I’m going to write a post soon that is all about my tips and thoughts on the experience in hopes of helping others which will include a few more details on the experience not mentioned here.  Thanks for reading all of this 🙂