l&d of ezra j (extremely long and detailed)

For the last weeks of my pregnancy the hubby was convinced I would have the baby on August 31st. His reasoning was that it was the night of the full moon and it would send me into labor. (According to our birth class instructor, this theory is true and the maternity unit is always at max capacity when there is a full moon or storm.) I thought that he could be right, but I really didn't want to get my hopes up that the little man would arrive early. I kept having signs of labor for two weeks and every day hour I was telling myself "this is it, this is it!" So on Friday (8/31) morning, I decided I would stop waiting around and just surrender. I finally mailed out my thank you cards and did some other errands. Around 4:30 pm it started to rain really hard. The hubby texted me from work asking if I was going into true labor. I wasn't. At the dinner table I said, "I don't usually wish to be in pain, but it would be nice if these braxton hicks would turn painful, then I would know we're in business." We relaxed on the swing outside and gazed at the looming storm clouds. My friend, Kaitlin, texted me and we decided to go up and visit her at her aunt's house. Around 11 pm I felt the pain I was wishing for. I was sitting on the floor looking through a West High yearbook from the 80s when it hit. I told both the hubby and Kaitlin that this contraction was different-painful. They were both excited, but we didn't think too much of it. Then about 10 minutes later it happened again. And then again, so I decided to start timing them. We finally left at midnight with them still occurring. When we got home I showered and tried going to bed. The hubby fell right asleep and I was tossing and turning to get comfortable during the contractions. They were now about 6-7 minutes apart. The contractions themselves weren't awful, it was the constant pain in my lower back that was miserable. It wouldn't let up and lying down was the worst position. I woke up the hubby and said to him, "Hey, I think we're gonna be going to the hospital." He got up and packed his own hospital bag and suggested we eat something just in case we wouldn't be sleeping for a long time (how smart of him, because we didn't sleep for a long time from this point on.) It was now about 2am and we went upstairs to wake up my dad and Debbie. I told them I was in labor and Debbie (the saint!) got up and got ready herself. She pulled out her essential oils and got straight to work on helping me manage the pain. We found the best position to labor in was sitting up straight on the couch with counter pressure being applied to my knees. The hubby and Debbie took turns doing this and timing the contractions. During each one I practiced my rhythmic breathing, "Breathe in energy, breathe out pain." It really helped a lot to have something else to focus on. The hours went by really fast. There was rain, thunder and lightning happening right outside the window. I won't ever forget watching and listening to it during labor. Before I knew it we had reached 5 am. The contractions were now 5 minutes apart and lasting over a minute long. I called the midwife and she said to keep laboring at home until they were 3 minutes apart. At 8 am they were 3-4 minutes apart and getting really intense. It was difficult to talk, breathe and think. I called the midwife again and she said it was definitely time to come to the hospital. I don't remember being excited, just really focused. The three of us got into the car and made it to the University of Utah hospital. Contractions in the car were awful. I was exhausted and each one just drained me a little bit more of energy. I had to stop for contractions in the parking lot, right inside the hospital lobby, in the elevator, and then at the triage desk. They checked my cervix and said I was dilated to a 4 and definitely in active labor. After that I remember asking them when I could get into the tub. They got my antibiotics going through an IV and started filling the bath. My sister got there and shortly after so did my mother in law. The water was amazing, it didn't take away all the pain but it definitely relieved a lot of it. I sat upright and labored there for about two hours I think. Occasionally I would sniff some oils and with every contraction I was squeezing someone's hand. They all took shifts being my slave through the contractions-they were awesome. The midwife had a student with her and she was outstanding. She spoke to me softly and encouraged me every contraction. After a while of being in the tub I felt like I should get up and move in order to help things progress a little faster. It was suggested that I get on the bed on my left side to relieve some of the back labor. This lasted all of two contractions before I couldn't take it anymore. The nurses and midwives suggested I get onto the birthing ball and rest my head on the edge of the bed. The hubby applied pressure to my hips and lower back through this. I'm still squeezing the life out of somebody's poor hands and moaning deeply. I looked up at the clock and noted that it was about 11:30 am, and said out loud, "I am sooooo exhausted...I don't think I can do this anymore." My sister reminded me that I wanted her to tell me to wait an hour if I got to this point. I felt like I couldn't do it for another hour, I wanted some rest and some relief from the pain. I was so tired and couldn't keep my eyes open. I was asking for the epidural without asking for it. Everyone in the room knew of my intent to go through this unmedicated and just kept telling me that I was doing so good. I didn't want to hear that, I wanted to hear "Yeah, you're right...you need your rest so let's get the anesthesiologist in here." I said I couldn't go for another hour, so the hubby convinced me to push through another 30 minutes. I was whining and complaining and basically felt defeated. I finally spoke up and said what I was thinking, "I want the epidural." The midwife came over really close to me and whispered, "Why?" With eyes closed I just pouted and said, "Because I'm so exhausted." She said she would call the anesthesiologist. Even though someone finally gave in to me, I didn't really feel like the epidural would actually happen. Sometime later she came back and reported that he was in the operating room and wouldn't be available for a while. My response, a sarcastic "of course." It was at that moment I finally gave in to the inevitable pain and surrendered my body and mind to going naturally. I didn't ask for pain relief again. I got in the zone and really started focusing on the moment instead of thinking about the next contraction. I got into a new position standing up with my head resting on the raised edge of the bed. This was so far the most comfortable besides the tub and it's where I started to feel like I needed to poop. I told this to the student midwife and she and the attending midwife simply said, "Okay, so push during the contraction if it helps." I remember thinking, "for reeeeal?? But I'm standing up." But I trusted them, and ultimately I trusted my body. So I pushed. And then I peed. Well, I thought I was peeing. But it was actually my water leaking. After that the nurses started setting up the baby station and prepping for his arrival. The hubby was amazing, he moaned and groaned through every contraction with me, holding my hand and telling me how amazing I was doing. He reassured me over and over again that we were getting so close. The midwife asked if I wanted to change positions since we were getting closer. She pointed to the birth stool and asked if I wanted to try sitting on it with the hubby sitting behind me offering support. It did look more comfortable than standing so I plopped on to it and fell back into the hubby's chest. It was comfortable and I felt a ton of relief. They dimmed the lights in the room very low and everyone started to whisper. They had me positioned facing the baby station so in between contractions I focused on it and pictured Ezra being here. The midwives were sitting indian style on the floor below me doing their job and talking me through everything. It was now to the point that contractions were being replaced by the urgency to push. So I pushed and my water finally broke completely. There was some meconium in it and they called the peds in to be ready when he was delivered. I wasn't worried though. I was faithful that everything was fine. Baby's heart rate was not abnormal and he was doing great. The pressure that built in my body during a contraction was so intense that I couldn't stop my body from pushing with it. This must have been right though because when I did that, the midwives would get really excited and say, "yes yes yes!" They got the mirror out for me and let me watch my progress. It was exciting when I saw his head and saw that he had hair. I was so excited about this that I just started pushing even when there wasn't a contraction. I was reminded to stop and breathe and relax, but I just couldn't when I could now see how close we were. With one final (and painful) push, I felt the biggest relief- Ezra J was born and I was no longer pregnant. My words upon seeing him were, "oh.my.gosh" because I couldn't believe I had just done that. I couldn't believe it was over and I was looking at my baby. Because of the meconium the midwife cut the cord immediately and he was over at the baby station getting assessed. He was perfect though, and they brought him back over to me. They placed him on my chest and me and the hubby just cried and cried as we adored our beautiful baby. 



Ezra's stats at birth, September 1st, 2012 at 2:09pm:
Weight: 7 lbs 14 oz. (and they told me he would be over 8 lbs!)
Height: 19.25 in.
Blood Sugar: 57 (needs to be above 40, this was definitely a huge win for me!)
Apgar: 9 both times taken

How did we get so lucky to have such a healthy baby boy? All of my fears and worries about this experience were proven wrong with the best birth outcome I could have asked for. I'm so incredibly grateful for having the support team I did. If it weren't for all of them being there the entire time (the hubby, Debbie, my sister and my mother in law) I don't think I would have been able to believe in myself to go naturally. It also helped that I had two of the most amazing midwives and great nurses. I have so many more thoughts running through my mind about this, but I'll spare those who are still reading and made it this far :) We are so lucky to have Ezra in our family, the hubby and I just can't get enough of him and we're definitely on cloud nine.

*A post on the first week with Ezra will be coming soon*