He came to us on September 4th, 2016. He was ready to be here and came out pretty quick.
On Saturday September 3rd, my mom and I took the
day to go shopping. We got some last minute things for Dexter’s room. I felt so tired after a full day of
walking. Even more than usual. We went to church that evening. By the time we were watching a show before
bed, I was feeling some irregular contractions, but didn’t know what to think
of it.
The next morning I woke up leaking fluids. I was guessing my water broke, and was slowly
leaking, but it would start and stop, so I didn’t get too panicked. But we went ahead and packed our hospital
bag, changed the sheets on our bed so my mom could sleep there, and loaded up
the carseat. Then, we went to the Sunday
market and walked around a bit. The
leaking increased, so I decided to call the doctor’s office once we got
home. She said I should come in. My mom made us waffles for lunch and then we
headed to Swedish first hill. We got
there around 1pm. The nurse, Deirdre,
verified I was leaking amniotic fluid.
She also noticed my Magnificent medals I was wearing and we talked about
how the canonization of Mother Teresa was that day. She said her sister was in Rome now for it
and got to be inches from the pope! A
good connection right from the get-go.
She administered the antibiotics since I’m group strep B
positive. She checked us into a labor
and delivery room so we could drop off our stuff. By around 2:30 we were off to walk! We walked and walked and walked. We listened to the Adnan Syed book as we
walked. It was actually quite nice. It was a beautiful sunny warm day, so it was
nice to be outside. We walked around the
Seattle U campus a few times, doing some laps.
We came and went from the hospital to get a bite to eat, go to the
bathroom, and have the nurse check the baby’s vitals. I also made sure to apply Clary Sage each
chance I got on my pinky toe nail bed and on the inside of my ankles. This was to create stronger
contractions. I got into my hospital
gown around 4pm, but my contractions had slowed down since coming back inside,
so we went off to walk some more. This
time I looked like a mental patient in my hospital gown and robe circling
around the block time after time. We were out there until about 5:30pm. My contractions were getting really
strong. I had to really slow down when
one would hit. I wanted to wait as long
as I could before going back inside so that things wouldn’t slow down.
By the time we went back in, she checked and I was 6
cm. Yay!
I worked through some contractions on the bed and rested my legs a
bit. I got up to pee, and the
contractions hit even stronger. I leaned
over the bed as I breathed through them.
Around 6:30 they were intense and painful and I felt ready to push. It was very painful and for my own sanity, I
set a time. I said I would have the baby
by 7pm. They checked my cervix and I was
at 8 cm. The feeling to push continued
to increase. A few mins later, they
checked again and said I could push!
Thank God! I pushed for only about
10 minutes before Dexter came out at 6:50pm!
It took about 4 strong contractions.
It hurt like hell. I was
screaming a lot. But fortunately it was
a short time of intense pain. I could
handle that! He came out and they put
him right on my chest. He was
beautiful. SO perfect!!!!
My doctor – Dr. Okorn – tries to be at all her patient’s
births, but she was at the State Fair that day.
She had her husband drop her off at the hospital on the way home, and
she literally walked in about 5 minutes before I pushed him out. I was glad she made it, even if it was just
for the ending. She helped the resident
sew me up while still in her street cloths, LOL.
I had a second degree tear, but I didn’t bleed nearly as
much as I had with Anora. By the time they
finished sewing me up, Dexter was ready to nurse. He latched on right away! I couldn’t have felt more at peace or
relieved in that 1-2 hours after his birth.
It was a really nice time.
We were able to go back to an overnight room by about 9pm
and get settled in. We stayed the night
– getting no sleep since they came in about every 2 hours to check vitals and
my pee. But we made it through. Dex is a pretty mellow baby and didn’t cry
too much as long as I held him close.
The next morning (Monday, Labor Day) he got to meet his big
sis, Anora for the first time. Anora
loved seeing baby. Unfortunately she’s
been sick, so we were a little worried about her touching him too much and coughing
on him.
He was also able to get all his checks in – hearing screen,
heart screen, heel sticks, and jaundice – so we were lucky to
be discharged a day early. He even had a little newborn photo session. He’s such a good boy, but just like Anora,
was wide awake for the photos! Can’t
sleep through the action. We were able
to leave the hospital around 5:30pm and be home shortly after 6pm. Anora was glad to see us. She had a tough time with us gone over
night. It was the first time neither of
us were there. She slept with Gammy for
most of the night.
All in all, I feel so fortunate that I was
able to have my natural birth and that is was so much quicker! It feels like such a relief to have that
behind me and to know that it can be quicker and less traumatic. We were all less exhausted after this
labor.
We are now 2 months out and honestly – he fits
right in with the rest of our family. I
already feel like someone is missing if he’s not around. He’s my special baby boy <3
Birth Stats: Weight: 6 lbs, 9 oz, 18.5 inches long
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