Welcoming Baby Red
I cannot tell you how many birth stories I read throughout my
pregnancy. I always wondered if mine would be similar. I sometimes
received peace of mind from reading other people's experiences, other
times I just freaked myself out. Hopefully by posting my birth
story I can share my experience and not freak anyone out. I really did
have a wonderful labor and delivery.
Just so everyone knows, I am posting this story with a large
"disclaimer" attached. I
am going
to talk about lady parts and terminology that might not be appropriate
for the faint of heart. This post is also going to probably going to be
insanely long and detailed. This is my journal and I don't want to
forget anything! If you stick it out until the end I will try to add
photos throughout to keep it interesting. Reader's discretion is advised!
On June 25th my husband Sequoyah and I celebrated our third wedding anniversary.
On June 26th we welcomed our sweet baby boy into the world.
I
went to bed on the 25th with some "untimeable" contractions. I figured these were just some more Braxton Hicks. I had been having
these for the previous two weeks pretty regularly. At 7:30 am Friday
morning I was woken up by a sharp, very strong pain in my lower belly. My very
first thought was actually, "oh my goodness. We are having a baby
today!" I then convinced myself that that was a crazy thing to think and
I probably just had to pee. (That's totally a thing by the way. I would
get mad contractions if I allowed my bladder to get too full.) When going to the bathroom didn't
work and the contractions kept coming, I decided to take a warm bath to
try and slow things down a little. By 8:00 am the contractions were just
as strong and actually "timeable." I had a hard time breathing with
them coming every 5 minutes or so. At this point it was time to
wake The Hubs. Sequoyah and were still in denial that "this was it." We took a walk around the block to see if the contractions faded. No luck. I must have looked like a crazy person walking around our neighborhood. Every few minutes we were stopping to lean through a contraction on the neighbor's trees, on their cars, I think I even leaned against a little kids' bike at one point. I bet they loved that! With the contractions just getting worse, we dropped Toby off at our friend's house and headed to the hospital!
You know, I had a lot of expectations for what my labor would look like. We would have a perfectly packed hospital bag with the perfect "going home" outfit. I would have my hair and make-up done perfectly. Shane would even have
his hair done and I would have the perfect pedicure with smooth shaved legs...yeah right! How vain could I have been?! In the moment we were driving to the hospital I could not have cared less about
any of those things. I just wanted the pain to stop!
We got to the labor and delivery unit around 10:00 am. I was super embarrassed to be there in the first place. I didn't want to be that silly first time mom who runs to L&D the second there's a weird twinge or pain. The nurses who checked me in were very sweet and helpful. I was put in a triage room where I was strapped to all sorts of monitors that measured heart rate, blood pressure and contractions for me and the baby. A nurse checked my cervix- 1cm dilated (ugh) and 50% effaced. Every few minutes we watched the little lines go up and down on the computer screen. Well, Shane watched. My eyes were shut most of the time trying to get through those little pain mountains. Swearing also helped. My mom arrived a few minutes later (the swearing stopped). I was monitored for an hour and then checked. Still 1 cm dilated (ugh, again) and 90% effaced. At least omething was working!
The nurses sent me to walk the hospital for an hour to see if I dilated any more on my own. I walked up and down a hallway pausing every 2 minutes for an increasingly more painful contraction. Walking back and forth was hard but I was motivated by my super excited husband sitting at the end of the hall. I knew he was there waiting for me with a loud high-five and a "good job Knobs!" He was my motivation and my cheerleader, I could not have delivered this baby without my amazing hubby coaching me along. He keeps me focused on what's important.
When the hour of walking was over I was checked again. 2 cm dilated and 100% effaced. This worried the nurses; my contractions were 2 minutes apart and maaaan was I hurtin'. My cervix just was not wanting to cooperate. By 1:00 pm we were admitted and set up in a room, room 6. I was offered an epidural. Yes, please! I was actually pretty nervous for this part after hearing so many horror stories from friends. To tell you the truth, I did not feel a thing. Nope. Nada. All I felt was warm, numb and tingly. I remember feeling so much relief I kept telling Sequoyah to go buy everyone presents. I was so grateful the pain was gone! I also remember telling my mom over and over that my legs had gone to the dentist. That's what it feels like folks, I'm not crazy, I swear.
With the epidural in, it was just a waiting game from then on. I felt awesome and we just kept hoping for more dilation. Sequoyah set up his playstation so we could play games and watch Netflix. My mom went and bought a plethora of snacks for everyone that I wasn't even allowed to eat! My best-friend-sister-wife Brandee quoted Baby Mama with me for hours.
This is where the timing and details get a little fuzzy. Here's what I remember: I was given Pitocin to help my cranky, slow cervix dilate some more. After a few cervical checks a doctor came in to break my water. I never felt a thing, hallelujah! I don't remember how long it was but my next check had me at 5 cm dilated. Around that time was the nurse shift change. So it was probably 7:00 pm-ish. The new nurse had to check me again even though it had only been 30 minutes since my last one. This check had me at 7 cm! Whoa, Bessie! They turned my Pitocin down, let me know it was almost "baby time" and we just let my body to the rest of the work by itself.
The adrenaline and drugs had me extremely shaky. I am so grateful my husband was there to hold my hand the whole time- and my barf bag. I was put on oxygen as RJ moved lower into the birth canal. This scared me a little, but Shane made sure I kept focusing on my breathing to make sure our baby was okay. My sister Chloe arrived around this time (from France, mind you) just in time to braid my hair and be there for the delivery. I hadn't seen her in three months, it was really nice having her there. I had an amazing support system!
A nurse came, checked me, announced 10 cm and left to get my doctor. At this point I started to get extremely nervous! I might have even cried a little and asked Shane to take me home. He began telling me how strong I am and how beautiful our little boy would be. He brought me back and refocused me. Oh how I love this man!
Pushing was a huge blur. I know I started at 10:30 pm. I know it hurt. My epidural had started to wear off and I wasn't given more in order for me to be able to feel how I was pushing. The pain was not terrible; just an immense amount of pressure that I would not call "comfortable". I know I was really focused on getting Red here. My mom held one leg, Chloe held the other and my husband stayed right by me to hold my head and tell me how awesome I was doing. I needed that, it helped so much; I wanted to make him and Red proud. After an hour of pushing I heard my sister yell "he has hair! And ears!" I looked down for a split second and saw my son enter this world. His cord was around his neck and across his body like a seat belt. This didn't phase my Dr. at all. He carefully unwrapped the cord and my boy was immediately placed on my chest. The most indescribable moment of my entire life. I could not stop crying and kissing my sweet, slimy new baby. Sequoyah cut the cord (very brave of him by the way) and I held my son skin-to-skin for about 30 minutes before he was taken to be weighed and tested. He was wide awake and alert. He made sure to show me his deep blue eyes that looked just like his Daddy's. Redfeather John Rainer was born at 11:26 pm, weighing 8lbs 2 oz.
They always say you will see your husband differently when you have a baby. Boy, are they right! I never knew my heart could love so deeply until I watched my husband with RJ. I watched him ever so carefully and nervously hold his son for the first time. With tears in his eyes he stared at Red with so much love and pride. This is when my heart burst. I love Redfeather and Sequoyah with all of my heart, mind and strength. They are all that matters.
Sadly, shortly after, my heart broke. My little Red was taken away from me. He apparently was born with a fever and low blood sugar. They found a high white blood cell count in his blood test and decided the best plan of action was 48 hours of antibiotics. This meant he was in a different room than mine and a different floor. I walked up to RJ's room every three hours to feed him. Shane stayed in RJ's room. I could have stayed every second if they would have let me, but apparently I was a patient too and needed to recover. All I cared about was my sweet boy in the incubator upstairs. The next 48 hours were so emotionally and physically painful. It was full of heel pricks, cords, wires and just not knowing what was happening.
On Monday morning when he got the "okay" to go home we cried happy tears of pure joy and gratitude. I had never been more scared, I had never prayed so hard in my entire life. We were finally able to hold him comfortably and snuggle our baby like we had been aching to do for so long. Prayers answered. Here's a photo of the moment right after they took all of his tubes out and disconnected him from his monitors. Pure bliss. We could then take our baby home!
Being Red's mom has taught me more than I could ever write in a blog post. I am so insanely grateful for everything I have been given, the blessings I have received and the miracles I have witnessed. This experience has strengthened my belief in God more than I could ever describe. I cannot wait to share with you the things I have learned and continue to learn every day.
Now that I have written the longest blog post ever and probably bored all my readers, I am off to snuggle my sweet baby boy. Stay tuned for more updates from the Rainer family and to see how our first few days have been with RJ at home. Thank you so much for reading and supporting us. We love you all.
