Owen's Birth story: June 7th, 2014

Here is Owen's birth story! It is going to be very descriptive and  super lengthy with a kajillion pictures. Beware!

On Thursday June 5th, I had my 39.5 week doctor appointment. I hadn't progressed past a 3 and 80-90% effaced so I suddenly felt like I was not going to have this baby by my due date (June 8th) and I was so sad. Dr. Berry scheduled me for an induction and a NST for the next week just in case I didn't go into labour naturally. I asked if I could get my membranes stripped and he was like sure let's do it right now. Then I panicked.. and was like am I ready for a baby right now! Will getting my membranes stripped hurt?! Dr. Berry was like,  just keep in mind this feels like a feather compared to labour. But yes it hurts, and it might just make you cramp and not put you in labour. Ya, that really made me feel better. But it was actually not that bad. Just like a more aggressive dilation check.  I didn't want to be induced so I'm glad I did it! Saturday I decided to go on a little walk to help get things moving. I walked slowly for like an hour while talking to my little sister on the phone. Looking back, I think I started contracting on Friday, but I thought they were just cramps or more pregnancy symptoms. 

Labour at home:

We went to sleep early Friday night. Except around 3am Brian still hadn't fallen asleep so he took a sleeping pill. About 3:30am I woke up with contractions.... except I wasn't sure if they were contractions or not. Everyone kept telling me, you will know! But I wasn't so sure. I tried to sleep for the next hour and then decided to see if they were timeable. The maybe contractions were 30-45 seconds long and 10 minutes apart. I didn't want to wake up Brian since I knew he had just fallen asleep so I went and got in the bath to try and ease the pain. By 5:00am the contractions were hurting so bad and I was pretty convinced I was in the first part of labour. By this point I was so nauseous! I got back in bed with some gingerale and a heat pack.  One bad contraction came and it sent me to the bathroom to throw up. This woke up Brian and he came in totally confused. I looked at him in tears and was like Brian I might maybe be in labour. Of course I didn't want to admit it just in case I was wrong or got sent away from the hospital. That was my worst fear! Brian was convinced we would have a few false alarms and I was planning on proving him wrong! We sat in bed a little longer and I squeezed his hand through contractions. He was so sleepy and trying so hard to stay awake through his sleeping pill. At about 7:00am I told him he should probably shower because I didn't think I was going to make it too much longer. They were 5 min apart and 45 seconds - 1 minute long. Brian showered, cleaned up the apartment, and finished packing my hospital bag and then it was time to go! I was mostly just on my hands and knees trying to get through the contraction pain. I could hardly make it to the car those contractions hurt so bad! I was crying by this point mostly because I was so scared the hospital wouldn't admit me. If this wasn't real labour... what does real labour feel like? It's funny because a few days before I was so worried I would be starving through my labour since you can't eat once you have an epidural. Brian asked if I could eat anything before I left the house and I was like ya right. I was so nauseous! I had a bite of a fruit snack but that was all I could muster.

*I had my camera all charged and memory card empty.. I was so prepared! BUT I had the setting on manual, and forgot to change it to automatic for Brian :( Since I am terrible at photoshop, I couldn't really fix the pictures and they are pretty poor quality... but I'm posting them anyways!

Admitted to hospital:

We had pre-registered at the hospital so it was pretty easy to check in. I was stubborn and said I could walk to my room rather than a wheel chair. But it was a slow and painful walk. They got me in an exam room and a kind nurse came to see how dilated I was. This was the moment of truth!!! She said I was 4-5cm! Since I had progressed since my last appointment and my contractions were coming every 5 minutes for a minute long I was in! They moved me to my room  (in a wheel chair this time) and asked me if I wanted an epidural.  I said please as soon as possible and then they told me the anesthesiologist would take about 30 minutes to get there, but it was ok because I needed 1awhole bag of IV fluid first.  I remember thinking holy crap how am I supposed to go through another 30 minutes of these contractions! My nurse showed Brian how to push on my legs and that really helped the contraction pain.

IV and Epidural:
It took 5 tries from 3 different nurses them to get my IV in! I had massive veins when I was pregnant (Brian kept referring to me as the hulk.) but Orem Community had just got these new butterfly needles and I don't think they had a lot of practice. Brian was dying because that is the IV needle he had learned on. The student nurse tried twice, then my nurse, then the called in the specialist and she didn't get it until her second try. I was so bruised! I tried to be so brave, but holding still during contractions while they fished through my veins was honestly one of the worst parts of labour! The anesthesiologist was just sitting there waiting while they tried. The anesthesiologist was like, some say IV's are worse than epidural's so you will have to tell me what you think. I got like 1/8 bag of fluid and then  it was epidural time. I was nervous about the epidural hurting, but it went so smoothly. I hardly felt a thing. I even had to hold still through a contraction or two while he was putting in the needle and it wasn't too bad! Thank goodness for epidurals. Holy cow. The IV's hurt more than the epidural for sure!

Side note: I told my doctor I wanted an epidural and he was like ok you can have one as soon as you are admitted to the hospital. No need to wait to see how long you can make it. I was like thank goodness! He gave the best analogy in my opinion. He was like, no one goes to the dentist and says go ahead and drill I want to know what the pain feels like, then I will get the numbing after I can't stand the pain anymore. It was the best example I had heard of! I decided I loved my doctor that day. I was so grateful I wouldn't have to wait until I was like an 8 or something! I seriously love modern medicine and the epidural was amazing! One nurse told me she would mortgage her house if she had to so she could get an epidural. It was seriously that worth it. Props to those who can do it naturally, but that is just not me.

Me post epidural :)

I didn't even feel those contractions!

Honestly once I got my epidural.. smooth sailing. I felt great. Brian kept telling me I was acting funny like I was just too relaxed and too happy. I could see contractions on the screen, but felt nothing but some pressure on my stomach! I could hear my little babies heart beat and I was more comfortable in that hospital bed then I had been in months in my own bed! I just can't even fathom how people go through the entire labour without an epidural. I don't get it!! I took a nap, chatted with Brian, ate a popcicle, called my mom and dad... I felt so good! Around 11-2ish I got stuck at 7cm. The nurses gave me a little pitocin to keep things moving. Around 3:00 the nurses called Dr. Berry and he decided to come break my water. He broke my water which also didn't hurt at all. And then I felt the weirdest feeling of just constantly peeing your pants and just gushing. So weird. Next thing I knew I was at an 8. Dr. Berry said he lived just 8 blocks away so he was going to go home for the next hour and come back when I was ready. As Brian and him were chatting about dirt biking.. I suddenly got very chattery. I started feeling the contractions again and just felt uncomfortable. I wasn't in pain necessarily, but I just felt so weird. Dr. Berry checked me again, and in like 15 minutes I went from 8cm - 10cm! He was like well do you want to push or do you want to wait an hour and do 'rest and descend?' This was at 4:00 and suddenly again I was so nervous and scared for pushing! Rest and descend I guess is where they let you sit a 10cm for a full hour. As long as the baby is healthy and the heartbeat doesn't drop, then your uterus just keeps moving the baby down the birth canal. He said new moms can push up to 2 hours or more, and this can cut pushing time down by half. I was sold! The next hour was pretty uncomfortable though. My contractions just felt so much pressure. The anesthesiologist came in and gave me more medication through my epidural (I was also too stubborn to push my up button on my epidural because I found out there was Fentanyl in there and narcotics scare me from working at the pain clinic)   

Pushing:

Suddenly it was 5:00pm and time to push. We didn't take a birthing class, but luckily my nurses were so amazing and really good coaches. I kept saying I don't know if I am doing it right. And they kept yelling back.. you ARE! They were so impressed with my pushing! We could see the head almost instantly. (they set up a mirror for me, which was actually kinda cool).  Brian told me this next part, cause I hardly remember much past this.. 

After a few pushes the head was almost there, so the nurses were like go find Dr. Berry! They couldn't find him and so the nurses were like maybe you should stop pushing for a bit and take a break. Finally Dr. Berry walked in all casually and then glanced over at me and saw where the head was at.  He suddenly was like Uh, we need to have her stop pushing! He got his gown on and it was go time again. I had to have a small cut and then head was ready to come. Up to this point, Brian had been by my side helping me count and push. We had asked Dr. Berry ahead of time, and the plan had been all along for Brian to deliver the baby. Dr. Berry was fine with it, but he made sure Brian knew if I needed him then he had to stay by my side. When it came time, Dr. Berry said ok Brian are you ready? Brian looked at me and was like it's ok, I'll just stay here with you. But I had 2 nurses and I really wanted Brian to be able to deliver. So he did! He pulled out the head, rotated the shoulders through, and out came my baby! He cut the umbilical cord and placed him on my chest. What a crazy feeling. He was so grey, and I couldn't believe I suddenly had a baby! It was 5:36pm when Owen was born, so I had only pushed 36 min! Brian and the nurses were so impressed! I was too, because I really couldn't tell what muscles I was supposed to be using!

At first it felt strange to have this little baby that I didn't know on me. And then I saw his little ears, which are identical to my folded over ears and that's what got me crying! He was my baby! The minute they placed him on my chest he lifted up his head and started looking to eat! The nurses started laughing and couldn't believe he was looking to eat so soon. They were like usually a newborn just snuggles for a bit! His head was so strong. I love this little guy!

Then they took him away to clean him up while I was stitched up and delivered the placenta (I don't even remember this hapening). I had a second degree tear, and then a small cut. Brian went over with the baby to watch him get his tests and be cleaned up and take pictures. 

Ok here is a million pictures of our little baby!

 

  Our first family picture!

Dr. Berry was so kind and offered to take these pictures for us. These were some of the ruined pictures but Kelsey Pankhurst is AMAZING and edited them for us!

Owen's first bath. 

He pretty much still acts like this for all his baths. So far, he hates them.

The only hiccup in the whole process was naming him. We finally both agreed on the name Owen, but I wanted to make sure I felt like he looked like an Owen. Luckily, he did because we didn't agree on ONE other name! I guess we can never have another baby! Ha. But the middle name was a whole other story. I wanted Owen Brian Van Blerkom and Brian wanted Owen Neal Van Blerkom. I had to agree that Owen Neal sounded better, but the middle name on the birth certificate form was crossed out 2 different times before it was final! Not an easy process! Naming a baby is HUGE responsibility.

We checked out of the hospital Monday June 9th. I stayed as many hours as my insurance would let me because I loved it there! I was terrified to come home and take care of the baby all by ourselves.

I would have to say that giving birth was an amazing experience. Even though it was hard and painful, every step of the process was easier and went better and smoother than I could have possibly imagined! And it was so empowering! Seriously anybody can do it and I should have been more excited than scared!  I feel so lucky that everything went so well and like Brian said 'text-book'. We love love loved Orem Community hospital too. My nurses were amazing, and I would go back to have all my babies there if I could! And just like everyone says, everything is worth it to have this little baby in our lives!