Oliver's Birth Story

I debated sharing the Oliver's birth story, but when I was pregnant I would scour mom blogs for birth stories feeling it would prepare me for labor and delivery so I figured it is only fair for me to share mine.  Just to be clear, reading others birth stories will in no way prepare you for your own, only scare the bejesus out of you.  After birth you'll trade labor stories and gross details with other moms like war stories.

I was scheduled to be induced on Tuesday morning because of my autoimmune blood disorder - it has a weird name and I never remember it correctly and really can't spell correctly.  There is a very high risk of clotting in the fetus leading to miscarry or stillbirth and increased blood clotting risk in me.  The daily blood thinner shots reduce these risks and have helped me carry to 39 weeks with both pregnancies.  I can only be off the blood thinners for a certain amount of time to prior to labor to keep the baby safe and to keep me from bleeding too much during birth...it is a great balancing act.  Much like Zach, Oliver did not want to wait to be induced, and came the day before I was scheduled to go in for induction.

I had light contractions here and there starting Wednesday.  Sunday they started to gain some strength.  Sunday at 10pm I decided I better wake up Matt since they were 5 minutes apart for over an hour and getting worse....and I have a history of fast deliveries...I was not having this kid in the car.  I woke up Matt, called my parents to come over and stay with Zach and we were on the way to the hospital.

I think I was still in denial, I kept telling Matt they may send me home even though contractions were getting closer together the entire drive.  We arrived at the hospital around midnight and contractions were 2 minutes apart and I was 5cm dilated.  The nurse was surprised and so was I.

I am strep B positive so I needed to get antibiotics through my IV asap and needed to have them in my system for 4 hours to avoid increased risk of infection in the baby.  She told me to hang on until 5am and she would get me an epidural as quick as possible to slow things down.  Music to my ears, I'm all about the pain management m

I got my epidural and it was magical.  It took the guy 45 minutes and 3 tries and I would still do it again in a heart beat.  I did not have any medicine with Zach.  After going both routes I think you're crazy if you do not opt for the medicine.  After the epidural Matt and I slept until the nurse woke us up to tell us it was time....yes, slept right through labor....did I mention I think I'm in love with epidurals?

I couldn't feel anything still from the amazing unicorn magic that is the epidural, so once the doctor got there they told me when to push.  After about 4 pushes Oliver was here.  They immediately took out my epidural so I could get up and walk around faster.  I was tired since it was 5am, but overall I would say I wasn't more groggy than when I went the natural route.  The chord was wrapped once around Oliver's neck so Matt had to cut the chord before he was all the way out.  I made it just past the 4 hour goal and Oliver was born at 5:37am.

I do not know if I pooped on the table and Matt swears he does not know either.  I choose to believe no.  Why yes boys and girls this happens a lot.  They straight up told me 'push like you're having the biggest bowel movement of your life'.  There is so much going on I would have no idea either way so we're going with no.  There is way more poop, tearing, fluids, and general weird/grossness to the miracle of life, than I knew about before Zach came along.

I am very fortunate to have quick births.  This one would have been fast too if we had not been trying to slow it down because of the antibiotics.  Although I have uncomplicated births, never tell a woman she is so lucky to have an easy labor and delivery.  The only time that is possibly acceptable is if you have also pushed a kid out your lady parts.  If you have not experienced labor and delivery and make this comment on it being so easy, you are likely to get kicked in the baby making parts while I tell you 'don't worry, this will be an easy kick to the groin'.

We have been blessed with 2 healthy boys to make our little family of 4 and we could not be happier.  If you want me to go into gory details or list the pros and cons of natural birth feel free to ask.