une petite aventure: Holt's Birth Story

I am so excited to share with y'all the story of my son's birth. It truly was one of the best days of my entire life! Let me start with the days leading up to Thursday, August 7th.

Monday, August 4th: We had my last doctor's appointment (see that post here) and decided to induce me bright and early on Thursday, August 7th.

Tuesday, August 5th: I rested ALL day. Literally. I think I maybe got out of bed to eat and go to the bathroom, but other than that I lounged around, watching TV and reading books. Plus, Daniel and I had our last date night to celebrate the final days of being a family of 2.

Wednesday, August 6th: At this point, I'm starting to get anxious and nervous with anticipation of the next day. My mom and dad, my grandmother (mom's mom), and my grandpa (dad's dad) all drove up to meet us for dinner. My other grandmother and my aunt (who took pictures for us!) also drove up later that night and stayed at a hotel close to the hospital. I maybe slept 2 or 3 hours.

Thursday, August 7th: Daniel and I woke up at 4 AM in order to be at the hospital by 5 AM. It was so surreal waking up that morning, knowing it was my last time to wake up pregnant.

5:00 AM--arrive at Labor and Delivery, get checked in, sign paperwork, etc.
5:30 AM--the nurse I LOVE starts my IV. We discuss how sad we are that her shift is almost over and she won't get to see my baby being born.
6:00 AM--she checks me and I've had no change since my last dr. appt (2.5 cm and 75% effaced). Then she starts the Pitocin to get my contractions going.
6:45 AM--my Dr. comes in and breaks my water. Y'all. I seriously disliked the feeling of my water breaking. TMI, but it felt like I was peeing myself over and over and over. Ew. The contractions really start to pick up at this point. Think of the most intense cramp you've ever had and then multiply that by at least 10. That's where my labor pains were centered and they were coming every 2-3 minutes. Luckily, my mom and Daniel were in there helping me breathe through them. They were so intense, I felt nauseous and I didn't really say a word for about an hour and a half.
8:20 AM--the nurse comes in to check me and I am a 4 cm--yay! I immediately request an epidural.
9:10 AM--I FINALLY receive it! I completely understand now why women say they want to marry their anesthesiologist. The epidural seriously changed my life.
9:30 AM--I feel the full effect of the epidural and my mom and Daniel tell me I'm a completely different and happy person!
10:50 AM--I very suddenly got nauseous and ended up being sick. It hit me like a ton of bricks. No fun.
11:30 AM--I get checked again and am still a 4 cm. So, I send Daniel and my dad to Chick-fil-A right across the street for them to eat some lunch. My mom and I reassure them that nothing will happen while they are gone--I mean, I've been at a 4 for three hours now.
12:00 PM--Holt's heart rate starts dropping. I can't personally see the monitor because it's behind a cabinet. BUT, I can see my mom's face. I can tell she is trying to be calm, but that something is seriously wrong. Three nurses come into the room, check me (still a 4 cm), put me on oxygen, and start flipping me from side to side, trying to move him around and get his heart rate back up. I start FREAKING out--in my head I'm imagining the worst possible situation and that we are going to have to do an emergency c-section to get him out. Plus, my husband isn't in the room!
12:20 PM--The nurse decides to check me because she thinks the monitor is indicating that his head is getting compressed during contractions (this indicates he has moved lower into the birth canal). She tells me I am an 8 CM and COMPLETELY EFFACED! She calls my doctor to let him know. Mom calls my dad and Daniel and tells them to get back to the hospital ASAP.
12:35 PM--Daniel makes it back into the room!
12:45 PM--My doctor comes in to check me and see what's going on. As he is checking me, he asks if I feel any pressure or an urge to push, to which I respond "No." THEN, he says, well that probably means you won't feel it, so let's start pushing. I am shocked and say, "You mean right now?!" He says, "Yep. You're complete. Let's get this baby out." WHOA. They start disassembling the bed and getting everything ready for Holt when he arrives. So, with my mom and Daniel's help, I start pushing! They lowered the dose of medicine in my epidural so that by the time I actually pushed him out, I didn't feel any pain, but I felt the pressure. I pushed for exactly 32 minutes.
1:17 PM--I'M A MOM! As soon as I saw him, I started bawling. They put him on my chest and I just looked wide-eyed at Daniel and said, "I just had a baby!" He was the most beautiful baby I had ever seen. And I was completely shocked that he had my blonde hair!

My doctor starts sewing me up (I got a 2nd degree tear---not bad for how big of a baby I just birthed) and they take Holt over to clean him up and weigh him. We asked my doctor how much he thought he weighed and he guessed 8 1/2 pounds. You'd think he had done this before because Holt weighed 8 lbs. 5 oz and was 21 inches long! We knew he was measuring to be a bigger baby, but whoa! I am SO thankful we did not wait another day (can you imagine??). After the doctor finished with me, we tried breastfeeding and he instantly latched on! So a HUGE thank you to all my prayer warriors out there---this was so important to me and I am happy to report we have been extremely successful.

The labor and delivery experience I had was truly amazing and if I had to do it all over again, I would do it the exact same way. Overall, I labored for 7 hours from start to finish. Can't beat that--especially with a first baby. The Lord definitely had His hand over all the events of that day and I am so incredibly grateful for this blessing He has bestowed upon us. It truly is the most amazing miracle I have ever experienced.

My Aunt Linda had the opportunity to capture the whole day on camera! So, OF COURSE I want to share a few of the moments with you (any excuse I have to share photos of my adorable little family, right?).