Ezra’s birth story

I am hoping to remember as many of the details as I can – even though this was almost a month ago!

On Wednesday September 29, I woke up feeling grumpy and just not right.  I just figured it was because I was ready to not be pregnant anymore. 🙂  I worked the whole day and left like I had every day for the last month – hoping to not be back the next day.  Jim and I took a long walk that night and got a good night’s sleep.  I wasn’t feeling anything other than grumpy and large.

I woke up the next morning at 7 to get ready for work.  I went to the bathroom first and it felt a little strange, but I didn’t think too much of it.  So, I went to the kitchen to get some breakfast and then realized that my water had broken.  It was more of a trickle than anything, but I could tell what it was.  So, I waited until the doctor’s office opened at 7:30 and called.  She said to come in and she would check to make sure it really was my water and to see if I was dilated.  I wasn’t having contractions at that time.  So, I took a shower, packed our bags in case, and headed to the doctor’s office around 9.  By then I had some small contractions.  While we were waiting for the doctor, I had some larger contractions and my water really started gushing.  Let me tell you, that is the strangest thing.  I really felt like I had no control over my body.  By the time we got to the room, I had officially “wet” my pants and had made a nice mess of the exam table.  Ha.  I was starting to get embarrassed, but realized that in a few hours I was going to be in a position that involved no privacy or self respect, so I had better get used to it.  The doctor verified that it was my water, but I was only dilated to 2 cm.  Since my contractions weren’t consistent yet, she sent us home to progress.

So, at home I put a towel on the birthing ball and worked through the contractions.  They were coming faster and harder and I was only feeling them in my back.  So, the ball or bending over were my best friends.  Also, more water would gush out every time I had a contraction.  Seriously gross, but seriously strange too.  By 11:30, I had a couple 2 minute long contractions a few minutes apart.  Jim didn’t want to deliver our baby at home, so he made the executive decision to go to the hospital.  I think I would have stayed at home longer, but since this was my first labor experience I didn’t know how fast or slow it would go.  We got to the hospital at noon.

We went up to the birthing center and got into our room.  I was the only woman in labor, so I got undivided attention.  The contractions continued to come close together.  The nurse checked me at 2:20ish and I was up to 5 cm.  For the next few hours, the contractions kept coming harder and closer together and they were all in my back.  Not cool.  I walked around the floor, used the ball and also got to use the jet tub in the room.  I finally got to 8 cm around 6.  Then the transition stage of labor came.  Not pretty.  Hard core contractions and I lost everything I had eaten that day.  I was a sweaty stinky mess at this point. 🙂  I was definitely thinking about some medication at this point, but didn’t want anything that would effect the baby or slow down the progress, so we just kept going.

I finally was fully dilated at 7 PM and could start pushing.  His head started to come out at around 7:50, but my doctor hadn’t made it in yet, so I had to stop pushing and breathe through the next 4 contractions.  Oh. my. gosh.  Hardest thing ever.  The doctor finally got there around 8:10.  She did notice that I was probably going to tear pretty badly, so she went ahead and gave me an episiotomy.  His head came out and the doctor called him a “her” because of all the hair.  She told me one more big push and “she” will be out.  I was like what?  How do you know it’s a girl already?  Well, one more big push and out he came at 8:34.  The doctor showed him to Jim and asked him what it was.  And I can remember Jim saying, “It’s a BOY!!”  Then he cut the cord and the doctor fixed me up.  After that my family came in from the waiting room and we made our phone calls.

I fed Ezra for the first time at 10 and he latched right on.  Well, he was 9 lbs 6 oz, so he obviously knew how to eat!  Jim’s family came after that and met the newest Braam.  The first night didn’t include much sleep, but we did send Ezra to the nursery and got a few hours.  Those hospital beds are not comfortable by the way!

We went home on Saturday and started life as our family of three.  It’s  been a hard, but rewarding time and are definitely enjoying our little “big” Ezra.