McAllister Clan: Here Comes Baby: The Birth Story

As I said in the previous post, I went to bed Thursday night at about 11:30 pm wondering how many more times I would go to bed still pregnant. Little did I know that would be my last time. I was surprised at how quickly I fell asleep that night, I was clearly exhausted and I fell quickly into a deep sleep. Just after 2:00 am I woke up needing to go to the bathroom (very normal) so in I went. While in the bathroom I noticed some very strong pain in my back (also very normal for me at this point) so I decided I would soak in a nice warm tub for a while before getting back in bed. I filled the tub and noticed the pain getting strong again. I waited through it and when I felt it again a few minutes later I thought to myself "I think I might be in labor". The next pain came and I realized I had to really breathe to get through. I realized I didn't have a clock in the bathroom or anyway to really know how far apart my pains were or how long they were lasting. I thought, "If I have another one soon I'll go get the timer." Minutes later another pain started, I closed my eyes and began to breathe. While breathing I felt a warm gush between my legs (remember, I'm in the tub) and I thought "Did I just pee again?" Sorry if that was TMI, but once the contraction was over I opened my eyes and realized I hadn't peed, my water had broke. All I could do was smile and think "MY BABY IS COMING!!!"

I tried calling to Mike to get him to wake up and help me out of the tub, but he didn't hear me. Another pain came very quickly and I realized that it was even stronger than the one before. I knew things were happening fast. I climbed out of the tub, wrapped myself in a towel and went out of the bathroom. I looked at the clock and it said 2:28. That meant I had had 6 contractions in less that a half hour. I woke up Mike and told him my water had broken and I was contracting really close. As I was telling him on came another one. He ran to get the timer out of the kitchen and I began getting dressed and pulling the last of my stuff together while trying to make phone calls to my mom and my sister Heidi. I was noticing that the contractions were getting more and more painful and they were coming every 3 minutes and lasting 45-60 seconds. I just kept thinking this is really fast, this is really fast. It was hard to get everything pulled together and get Alena up and in the car with me only having about 2 minutes at a time that I could try to accomplish anything. Finally at 3:30 am we had everything together and we were in the car on the way to the hospital.

The drive to the hospital felt longer than I expected it too. I was feeling so much pressure and feeling like I needed to push. That made me start worrying because I really didn't want to have my baby in our car (Eewww). We were going to drop Alena off at Mike's mom's house but I asked him to call her and ask if she could meet us at the hospital. I really felt like we needed to get to the hospital fast. Another thing that was really worrying me was how localized the pain was to my c-section scar. I was really worried that something was going to go wrong. The amount of pain I was feeling in my scar caught me off guard. I hadn't planned for the worry that would cause me and it made it nearly impossible for me to relax. The thought that kept coming to mind was, "I need my mom, I need my mom". I hadn't realized until that moment how much I was grieving the delivery I had hoped to have with my first baby.

When we lived so close to all of my family in Arizona, I was fortunate enough to have been present for many of the births of my nieces and nephews. Natural childbirth is a difficult thing and it was always a great support to have all the sisters close by to offer encouragement and be there for that special time as a new little spirit entered the world. The plan for Alena's delivery was that I would have my mom, my 4 older sisters, and my younger sister Heidi there with me for the delivery. I had planned to do it without an epidural and that strong support system was going to be very necessary. Little did we know that she would come 6 weeks early and they would have to rush me in for an emergency c-section before anyone was able to get there to be with me other than Mike. Don't get me wrong, I could never have gotten through any of it without Mike, but the support of a woman, especially a sister that has experienced the same thing, is invaluable. I realized at that point as we were driving to the hospital that I was embarking on unknown territory and I didn't have that strong support that I had always envisioned because all but one of them were in a different state. I was lucky enough that my sister Heidi was living up here in Utah in Provo and was able to come up to be with me during my labor and delivery.

With every contraction I was getting more and more tense and more and more emotionally worked up. Every time I just thought, "How can I do this without my mom? I'm not strong enough to do this without all my sisters." We got to the hospital and got up to the triage. They checked me and found that I was at 4 cm, nearly 90% effaced and that my water had indeed broken. It was time to settle in and have this baby. Mike and I were both very excited can you tell?

They checked me in and got me moved to a labor/delivery room. Heidi got to the hospital just as they were moving me, and I was so relieved to see her. Through all this time my contractions came consistently every 3 minutes and they were each lasting about a minute. They got me to my room at about 4:45 am and asked me if I would like an epidural. My plan had been to do the delivery without one but I already wasn't coping well and Mike could tell. I caved and asked for one. I had too much pent up stress to have been able to handle it on my own. We had to wait while 2 other ladies got their epidurals before me, but at 6:00 am the anesthesiologist came in and inserted the epidural. The nurse checked me when they put it in and I was at 6 cm and almost fully effaced. The epidural didn't work on my left side at first so they had to give me an extra dose of medication and after about an hour I was fully numb. I could still move my legs around a little and feel a little of the tightening of the contractions, but I wasn't hurting anymore. Now it was just time to sit back and let the contractions do their thing while I tried to get a little rest.

We watched a movie and visited and listened to the "labor music" I had brought with me. It was nice to feel so relaxed and comfortable at the hospital. The nurses and doctors I had were all wonderful and we were so happy Bryson was on his way. At 9:00 am they started me on a level 1 pitocin drip to up my contraction strength just a little bit. At 10:00 am they upped the drip to a level 3. The contractions didn't get any closer together but they got stronger and I was able to feel them just a little more, but they weren't uncomfortable. After they upped me to a level 3 (which is still very very low, they usually up you till you are at 20) Bryson's heart rate started dropping with each of my contractions. They tried having me lay in different positions and they had me go on oxygen to see if it would help his rate stay stable. Don't I look attractive :-)

They put me on internal monitors for his heart rate and my contractions. They wanted the readings to be as accurate as possible, but they still saw too much fluctuation. They stopped the pitocin at 11:00 am and I was at almost 9 cm and fully effaced. I knew that meant that I probably could have started pushing with in the hour, but they wanted to make sure that Bryson's heart rate stayed stable before we started trying to deliver him. We popped in another movie and watched the monitors and anticipated his entry into the world. At 1:00 pm the doctor came back in and said that they felt his heart rate was looking really good and they wanted to see where I was at. She checked and I was a full 10 cm and 100% effaced. She asked me if I was feeling like I needed to push yet. I said I wasn't really feeling anything and she said if it was ok with me we would wait about another hour and let the contractions bring Bryson a little further down the birth canal. I said that was fine. The less work I had to do the better right. Mike started getting really antsy and I finally had to tell him that he had to sit down and relax because he was making me nervous.

The team came back in at 1:45 pm and prepped everything. My nurse started telling me that with a first time vaginal delivery it was normal for it to take 90 minutes to 2 hours of pushing. I was confident I could do it faster than that. I was having this baby now and nothing was going to get in my way :-) I started pushing at 1:55 pm and our sweet little boy was born at 2:25 pm. 30 Minutes, Boo-ya!

Our little Bryson Michael weighed in at 7 lbs 1 oz and was 21 inches long. He was the most beautiful little boy it was wonderful!

Proud daddy with our little guy.

I was so happy to have my baby in my arms. Disregard how haggard I look, I just went through 12 hours of labor :-)

We were both just so happy to have him with us.

I love his puffy face in this one. He was just starting to open his eyes for me. He has the greatest blue eyes you ever saw.

I felt so blessed to have such an amazing team of doctors and nurses there for me. They were all so sweet and supportive. This is Dr. Clark, she was the attending physician from our practice. She came in to supervise the delivery.

Then this is the group that was with me through the majority of the labor and all the delivery. On the left is Dr Hilary Conway. She is the resident that actually delivered Bryson. Next to Mike on the other side is Christine one of my WONDERFUL nurses and then Anne the intern that assisted Dr Conway through the delivery.

Then my fabulous sister Heidi who I could not have done it without! She was a trooper and stayed with me through the whole Labor and Delivery even though she was nearly 37 weeks pregnant herself.

I love that you can just see how much Mike adores his little boy. He is such a good daddy, I'm so blessed to have him.

I love this picture because the puffiness is starting to go down and you can just see how sweet his little face is.

One of the best parts of the day was when Alena got to come to the hospital to meet her new baby brother. She was so excited to hold the baby.

Bryson started to fuss a little bit and you can see that she was concerned by that.

But once he calmed down you can see that she adores him just as much as mommy and daddy do.

Bryson had a bath and Alena still just couldn't get enough of him.

She is such a wonderful, helpful big sister.

We attempted a family picture, but it didn't work out too well. As you can see, I look possessed, Alena was being a stinker, and Bryson was all fussy. Life with little kids I guess.