The Annie Diaries: William's Birth Story

So finally William's birth story. I found this email I wrote to a friend just days after William was born. First, I'm not sure how I had time to write this long email that first week. Second, I'm not sure why I was waking the baby up. What was I thinking? Third, apparently we were calling William "Will" but now Matt and I prefer "William," and only occasionally "Will." Fourth, why as a 30-year old do I still use OMG. Remind me to never use that again...anyways, this captures William's birth pretty well:

OMG, I really don't think I was prepared for this first week. It has been quite overwhelming and I think I'm still in awe/denial that I'm a mom to baby Will.

So here's Will's birth story. On Monday (Columbus Day, October 13), Matt and I both went to my last high-risk doctor's appointment. Matt almost didn't come since we were both tired from being gone all day on Sunday down in Fredericksburg and my appointment was at 9 a.m. (I think) Monday morning. But I convinced Matt to go since it would be the last time we got to see the baby in the womb. I am so glad Matt came to the appointment!

At the appointment the doctor said my amniotic fluid was too low and we needed to go to the hospital immediately to be induced (I couldn't even go home!). Luckily, my doctor's office is part of the hospital so we just shuttled on over to the other wing. I'm not sure why immediately was necessary because once we got there, we had to wait a few hours for my regular OB's office to get my records to the hospital before we could start anything (other than getting a room).

So they started me on cervidil (I think that's what it's called) sometime in the afternoon. They said at first I couldn't eat, but the cervidil would be in for 12 hours and they would check me again in the middle of the night. I was not looking forward to really starting labor in the middle of the night! Luckily, they eventually let me eat until midnight since nothing was really happening and wouldn't happen until pitocin started.

My family came and spent some time with us since everyone was home for the holiday. It was nice to have company since we were just waiting and nothing was happening. Well as soon as they went home after dinner, I started having what I thought were contractions and couldn't sleep. I turned down ambien and got so little sleep because of the pain. It wasn't bad, just uncomfortable and I'm not a good sleeper anyway.

They waited until the morning to check me after all, which was nice. I got to shower at 5 a.m. then probably around 7 a.m. they started pitocin. That's when I was only 1 cm and 60% effaced, which was disappointing. When the doctor came to check me on her morning rounds around maybe 9:30-10 a.m., I was 2-3 cm and she broke my water. After that, contractions so really bad and I got really nauseous and started throwing up. I opted to get the epidural then, which Matt thought was too early, but I didn't care! I did not want to be nauseous and in pain. It was the best decision ever because by 12:30-1 p.m. I was at 8 cm! Everyone was shocked.

Those last few centimeters thought took forever and Matt was getting impatient. He thought the nurses/doctors didn't check me enough since I was so close. I knew it was better to make sure the baby dropped to make pushing easier and faster.

So probably around that 8 cm mark, I started having pain on the right side. The nurse tried to get me to move on my right side, but it was so painful that I couldn't stand it and the baby must not have either because as I tried to get comfortable the nurse had to put in an internal heart monitor for Will. I got another dose of epidural meds and that didn't take so for about an hour-hour and a half I was in a lot of pain. That was probably the worst part of the whole labor. Finally another nurse came and helped me shift to my right side and I just took the pain for a bit and eventually the epidural started taking effect more on the right side. Thank goodness! I remember at one point, my sister, Jenna, had to go to work and she wanted to hug me good-bye...during a contraction. At that point, I was just annoyed and wanted no hug.

So somewhere around 3:30-3:45 p.m. they said I was ready to push. I remember my mom and Matt talking about Ellen being on and would I still be pushing before Ellen was over or maybe Dr. Phil. Well, I guess it didn't take as long as the nurse thought and she had to call in the other nurses and doctor immediately. Pushing really wasn't bad because my epidural was still working really well. Everyone was shocked by that too (that I didn't feel anything). So I was waiting for the doctor and couldn't push, which wasn't too bad until I must have had one big contraction and even though I wasn't pushing, Will was coming. The nurse then had to deliver him!! (He was born shortly after 4 p.m.).

I ended up having a small, tier two tear that needed stitching up. The doctor eventually made it and did that. The nurse tech and the nurse that delivered the baby both said my placenta and cord were really healthy. Oh and apparently I had horrible swelling. I had to have a cathedur (spelling?) for another day. :( When the doctor was fixing me up, my epidural started to wear off so I felt some tugging, but it wasn't too bad.

I haven't needed any pain medication, which everyone seems shocked by. Day 3 and 4 afterward have been slightly more uncomfortable I think due to the healing, but really not bad. I just have to be careful how much I do and when I don't, I have a little more uncomfortableness sitting.

At the hospital, Will pretty much cried non-stop. I think the nurses felt bad for us. The second day, he didn't eat much and wouldn't latch, even though he'd been great for the first 24-hours.We had a good appointment with the lactation specialist and he latched and ate really well for a while, but still just cried non-stop when he was up! And he didn't sleep much, so we didn't sleep much. It was really overwhelming.

Well once we got home, that first night around 11 he fed for like 40 minutes, but then at midnight was hungry again and refused to eat. He would latch and then cry and push away. I had a bit of a meltdown then and Matt would barely wake up himself to help. I eventually ran to the store to get some formula (it's right across the street so I didn't feel bad breaking the no driving rule, plus I needed to get away from the baby). Once I got back and he's been eating formula since, he's been so much happier and actually sleeps more than an hour at a time! Now we actually have to wake him up to make sure he is eating.

I've been pumping to be able to try to use my breast milk eventually. It's slowly coming in and the doctor yesterday said formula for now is fine and even if we do a combo later if I still don't have enough, that's fine. I feel so much better and less stressed now that I'm not the only one feeding him. It really has made a difference for my stress level. My milk supply finally came in yesterday (October 17) and I've been slowly increasing the amount already! I'm hopeful that we will at least have some breast milk for Will.

Will has been so amazing since going on formula. He doesn't cry as much when we move him and let people hold him. I was the only one that could soothe him for a while. Matt still gets nervous about changing, feeding and rocking him to sleep on his own. I have to learn to just let him do it though so that Matt does get comfortable. haha.

I feel like I've been so focused on not having a fussy, hungry baby that we haven't let him be awake much. Hopefully we'll get into a routine of some sort and work in bath time, maybe story time eventually. :) I'm just glad with the progress we've made because I was so overwhelmed at first thinking we would have a colicky baby. I'll take the sleeping now!

It's hard to believe we've been home for two days now. I'm sure the time will fly by. Ok, that's probably more than you wanted to know, and I know I left a lot out, but that's the basic birth story. Oh, I forgot to mention that my mom was in the delivery room with Matt and I. Up until I pushed, my sister and her husband were around too (after work for my brother-in-law) because I didn't feel too bad. Once I started pushing, my mom held my leg and Matt was behind my mom and tasked himself with providing me a cool washcloth for my face (haha) so he didn't see too much, which was of course unavoidable. haha. Once my mom said Will had hair though, Matt came down to see and then about 30 seconds later Will was born so Matt did end up seeing everything!

Ok, off to wake Will up now. :)

That about sums up William's birth story. All in all, labor and delivery really was not that bad for me. Even just days after I had William, I'd tell people it wasn't bad so I know it's not just me looking back now and forgetting the hard parts. My mom even comments still about how easy I made it all look.

The hard part was taking care of a newborn! My mom was crucial during delivery and those first few months of having William. During labor, Matt would wonder off between contractions doing who knows what (talking to my family, watching TV...I honestly don't remember) and so those few hours that I was in pain, mom would hold my hand as I yelled at Matt to stay focused. haha.

After William was born and I was all cleaned up, my sisters and Ryan came in to see William. Apparently Jenna got impatient waiting to see him (it's a long process to get the baby checked out and me all cleaned up) so she went to visit with her friend who had just had a baby too at the same hospital. Sandra and Ryan came in and then Jenna joined later at some point. I remember mom didn't hold William initially for some reason so once she came back in the room (she had gone out to tell Sandra and Ryan after William was born), she got to finally hold William. I don't think I knew she hadn't held him. Once we were settled upstairs in the recovery floor, Dad brought Grandma and they got to meet William. Dad didn't want to hold William because he had just got his vaccines and was afraid William might catch something! Grandma loved William from the minute she saw him. I still miss her to this day, but think of how much she loved William. I am so thankful I had four months of her and William. I know he brought her such joy in those last few months.

This email makes it sound like things got better with the crying...not so much. William was a fussy baby for about four and half months! The colic was rough!

Oh and the day we got home from the hospital, Matt's dad and step-mom came to visit. They were at our house probably within a half hour of us getting home. They stayed the night at a hotel nearby and stopped by the next day as well to visit. What a special time it was to have them see William so little. They both to this day are in such awe of William. He's one lucky kid to have so many loving grandparents!

So many details that I want to capture! Sorry this is so long.

And now, some photos from William's birth and first few days. :)