Two weeks ago we welcomed a precious little boy, Brecken Robert, into our family. It has been a pretty easy transition into being a family of four, even when those sleepless nights get a little long.
I have always used this blog to keep track of things since we got pregnant with Camber. I get on my blog often to look back at pictures or look up what we were up to. This post is going to be about my labor and delivery with Brecken and may not be something you're interested in.
On Thursday, March 23rd at 2:20 I woke up with some cramping. I wasn't sure if it was a contraction or not, so I just waited. A few minutes later I had another one. I stayed in bed and just tried to rest, but couldn't go back to sleep. After about an hour I texted my doula to tell her that I had been having contractions for about an hour. She suggested trying to rest, but if I couldn't go to sleep to start timing my contractions to see where I was at. Of course, I couldn't go back to sleep but I did rest in bed between contractions. I texted my doula again about 4:30 and my contractions were coming every 6-7 minutes and lasting 30-45 seconds long. She suggested I have my mom come on in, but try to rest as much as possible.
I went ahead and texted my mom and told her to take her time. I think she was out the door before she even got done reading the text. I tried to explain that I wasn't going that quickly, but I think she just wanted to be here so that we wouldn't be waiting on her. I decided to wait until 5 a.m. to wake Doug up. Our last labor was so long and draining and I wanted Doug to be as fully rested as possible.
At 5 I went into Camber's room (where Doug was sleeping) and woke him up. I told him that we would be meeting our little baby today and he was so excited. I told him that I was going to go eat some breakfast and that he should go back to sleep. He really wanted to "help." I told him there wasn't anything he could do and that he should rest as much as possible. He went back to bed, but was up 10 minutes later -too excited to sleep. He did some work so that his guys would be ready for the next few days without him while I ate some breakfast and labored through my contractions.
My mindset this time around was so different. I was so ready for each contraction; welcoming each and every one. I would breathe through each contraction and relax into each one, letting it do it's job. When I was in labor with Camber I was so tense through the contractions. I even remember telling Doug that the contractions felt good, because I knew they were doing work, not necessarily because they didn't "hurt."
After checking in with Emily (doula) again I knew I needed my contractions to pick up intensity. They were still every 5-7 minutes, but only lasting 30-45 seconds and I knew they weren't as intense as they needed to be. We decided that since I wasn't going to go back to sleep and because I was kind of on a time line, because I was positive for Group B Strep and my water had broken that I needed to get this labor moving sooner rather than later. If you're positive for Group B Strep you only have 18 hours from when your water breaks to have the baby. We also knew I would be receiving antibiotics when I got to the hospital for the Group B Strep, so we knew we would be heading in a little early because you have to have the antibiotics every 4 hours (and at least 4 hours before delivery).
My mom got to our house and Camber woke up. We told Camber that he would be meeting his baby today. He wanted to "right now." Camber played with my mom while Doug and I labored upstairs. We finished packing our bags and I took a shower and got ready. It was such a relaxing time and I truly enjoyed this experience with my husband. He always knows exactly what I need-whether that's just standing and being present or offering a back rub or shoulder to lean on.
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| This was me in between contractions. My last belly picture at 38 weeks 6 days. |
To get my contractions really moving I decided to walk the stairs, do lunges and squats, and lots of walking. I definitely did more squats and lunges the day Brecken was born than the entire 9 months previous to his birth. :-)
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| Snuggling my little guy before he becomes my big guy! |
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| Loving on Camber before he becomes a big brother! |
Around 9:30 we decided to head to the hospital. I knew that my contractions still weren't intense enough, but they were getting a little longer and still happening ever 5-7 minutes. We decided it would be best to just get checked in, get my antibiotics started, and get comfortable in our room. I had really prepared mentally for this birth and I had thought a lot about my environment down at the hospital. I had made a positive birth affirmation banner to hang, I had music planned out that I would listen to, I had my diffuser with oils that I wanted.
The car ride to the hospital wasn't much fun. I hate not being able to stand and move during contractions. I had 4 contractions on the way to the hospital which were miserable. When we go there we got put in triage for way too long. They make you just sit there in bed while they ask you a ton of questions and get a monitor on the baby. I could tell that my contractions were getting weak and I asked if I could get up and move around. I had to sit while they finished checking me in. I was checked at this point, but I asked to not be told my number. Our nurse, Heather was amazing! She got us checked into a room and got my IV and antibiotics going. After this the doctor on-call came in and talked with us.
All along I have seen Dr. Amy Bingaman and absolutely loved her. She was always on my side to have a natural, vaginal birth even though Camber had shoulder dystocia and was a really tough labor and delivery. We had seen Amy on Tuesday and she had told us that she wouldn't be able to deliver my unless I had the baby on Tuesday or Saturday. She did tell us to call/text her when we were going to the hospital though so she could call the Dr. on call to discuss our plan. The Dr. on-call said that she had talked to Amy, she read through our birth plan, and then asked how I felt about starting pitocin. I instantly knew that meant that I wasn't very dilated. I told her that I didn't want to start pitocin right away and that I knew if I could just get out of that damn bed and start moving that I could get my contractions back going again. She agreed to give me an hour to see where I was and then get checked again. At that point I made them tell me what I was checked at. I was only a 1. I knew in my mind that I was further along at home, but my labor had stalled during the car ride/waiting in triage. My (amazing) nurse reassured me that labor is always the longest from 1-4 cm. and once you get to a 5 it'll go fast.
Doug and I were both thinking the same thing, that this labor was going to be the same as Camber. It was going to take forever and end in lots of interventions. We knew if we started pitocin that we wouldn't get the experience we wanted. So we started walking and moving. I texted Emily to update her and asked her to head to the hospital as I wanted her there by the time we were checked again. Doug and I walked laps around the maternity floor. I would stop twice during that lap to do squats. I would try to get 10 in before a contraction would hit and then they started getting faster and harder. I would only do 7 or 5 squats before getting a contraction. I was having 3-4 contractions on each lap.
At 12:30 I was checked again and was a 3. My nurse was very optimistic about my progress and said I could keep doing what I was doing. Emily put some Cleary Sage essential oil on my feet (which is supposed to intensify contractions) and we started walking again. I would do squats and was only getting 3-5 in before sending myself into a contraction. They were getting stronger and longer. I was having them consistently enough that I had them at the exact same spots on our lap around the maternity floor.
After a few laps we went into the room to labor. Doug decided he was going to get some lunch around 2 that way he wouldn't have to eat again for dinner and could make it through until evening if needed. I told him that he should just go now (around 1:15 or so). He decided to go and Emily stayed with me. While he was gone I got on the bed and faced backward. I had some incredibly intense contractions. Emily and I were talking between contractions, but while Doug was gone I stopped talking between contractions because they were so intense. I was still doing a great job of breathing and relaxing through each contraction just letting them do their job. It was starting to get harder to relax during each one. At the peak of the contraction I really wanted to tense up and Emily explained that they might get to the point where I couldn't relax all the way through them and that it was ok to tense at the peak, but to try to relax and let go as soon as I could. This definitely felt like relief as I entered into some really tough contractions.
Doug walked back in from getting food and told me later he could instantly tell something was very different. He knew things had changed and things were much more intense. I continued to labor through contractions that were literally on top of each other and lasting for 60-90 seconds each. At one point I remember saying that I felt like I hadn't had a contraction in a long time and Doug replied that it had only been a minute and a half.
I was having a hard time finding a position that was the least bit comfortable for those tough contractions. I was squatting, hands and knees on the floor, standing and leaning on Doug, and on the birth ball, but nothing was offering much relief. Around 2:45 I said I needed to use the restroom and Doug came in with me. My Doula could tell that things were changing and called the nurse to have her come check me. The plan was to get checked again at 3:00 p.m. when I was due for another round of antibiotics.
My nurse came in and I got into the bed to get my antibiotics and get checked. At 2:54 I was checked and as a 7-8 cm. My nurse then started to get my IV set up for my antibiotics and I started saying that I was going to push. She kept telling me that I couldn't because I wasn't fully dilated. I kept saying this baby was coming. She checked me again 4 minutes later (at 2:58) and said that I was fully dilated. She tried calling the Dr. on call, but the shift change is at 3:00 so she couldn't get ahold of the Dr. going off or the new Dr coming on-call. She started to get really nervous because of my previous birth they were prepared for another should dystocia.
I started pushing and kept saying this baby was coming. Doug was right next to me helping me through each really intense contraction. Emily was telling me to try not to push, but to breathe through each contraction. She knew we needed to wait for the doctor.
At that minute Dr. Amy Bingaman walks in. She had been in surgery and her last two patients didn't show up for surgery so she was just coming to check on me, to tell me that she would deliver my baby if I was ready to deliver before she needed to leave in the next few minutes to go pick up her daughter from school (it was her daughter's birthday that day as well). She walked in about the same time the other two doctors (both the one going off on-call and the one coming on) came in and said, "I'll take this one over." I didn't cry at any other point, but started bawling when I saw Amy. It was so amazing. She had me start pushing. The Baby's heart rate dropped for a second and Amy rubbed his head and got it going again. I pushed a couple more times and my baby was born 7 minutes later at 3:05 p.m.
They put the baby on me and I looked at his face and instantly knew its as a boy without even looking down. I also instantly noticed how small he was compared to Camber. I just kept saying he was so small. It felt like heaven: having my baby on my tummy and able to cuddle him for as long as I wanted. They had to take Camber right away which was one of the worst feelings in the world.
This labor in total lasted about 13 hours, but the majority of my labor happened in 4 hours from when I was checked in triage at 1 cm at 11 a.m. to fully dilated and pushing (and then delivery) at 3:05.
Brecken Robert weighed in at 7 lbs 14 oz (a full pound lighter than Camber) and 19 inches long.
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| I love this picture because it shows so much emotion (except my smudged mascara-ha!) |
We called my mom right away so she could get Camber down to the hospital. We had said we wanted time just as a family of four so my mom waited in the waiting room while we introduced Brecken to his awesome Big Brother. Camber was a little overwhelmed with the weird room and environment, but loved seeing "his baby." He warmed up quick!
We were blessed with lots of family to come see our new little guy.
I should probably wrap up this post as it is seriously becoming book-length. I'll update about our first few weeks at home later.
Dr. Amy Bingaman-thank you for being such a welcomed surprise. You were an unexpected bright spot in my day and I truly appreciate your relaxed attitude and confidence in my skills.
Our Doula, Emily was amazing. She always had oils for me to breathe in to give me strength and keep me calm. She rubbed my back when contractions were intense. She looked me in the eyes and got me to focus on what I needed to do. She helped me feel powerful and strong and trust my body to do exactly what it was made to do.
Doug: thank you to my incredible husband who without his support I couldn't have had the experience and birth that I wanted. I can't even say in words how grateful I am for his relaxed personality and for the bond we shared during this experience. He was so supportive through the entire thing. He always knows exactly what I need without having to ask. He got pushed, pulled, and pinched through every contraction when things got tough and he never complained. He is a quiet "rock" for me and is exactly what I need. He knows I need him close, but doesn't overwhelm me as I labor and do my job.
I couldn't have asked for anything better and know that I am truly blessed with two amazing sons and one amazing husband.
