Ashton's Birth Story

Forgive me I LOVE birth stories and I thrived on them while I was pregnant. So mine is long... but I included pictures .

Thursday we had a lovely Thanksgiving and I was in bed around 11:30. Around 12:40 I felt back pain which wasn’t an uncommon occurrence so I thought nothing of it and tried to go back to sleep. I woke up off and on with the cramping until 1:40 when I couldn’t take it anymore laying down. I still didn’t think they were contractions or that I was in labor. Everyone always said you’ll know when you feel a contraction I didn’t at first I just felt the cramping. David was up playing on the computer trying to maximize his Thanksgiving break and I told him I was having contractions & I wasn’t sure if they were the real deal but that he had better get some sleep just in case. I went to the bathroom and saw blood and it hit me that this was definitely the real deal. I told David about the bloody show and he told me I should go sleep through my contractions b/c this was the early stage of labor. I laughed because I knew there was no way I could sleep through anymore of these contractions and I had gone through a very fast early stage.
I started to clean up around the house and decided a warm bath was probably the only thing that was going to make these go away or feel better. He went to bed and I hopped in a warm bath tub. While I was sitting in the bath the contractions seemed a little bit less intense but my back was still hurting pretty bad. In the bath around 2:40 I made the goal not to call Lindsay until 5 am. Just so when I called it would be considered morning instead of the middle of the night. Don’t ask me why that was important to me but I’ve always hated to be *that* person that calls after hours.
I can’t remember what I did to pass the next two hours I think it was a combo of in and out of the warm bath trying to clean and sitting on the toilet. It’s true when they say just take them one at a time because there will always be that break in between. I never timed the contractions I didn’t have enough energy to waste on staring at a clock. It was about 4:40 when I couldn’t handle it any more and I knew we had to get to the hospital.
David called Lindsay and she talked with me through a couple contractions and said she’d meet us at the hospital. It seemed as though soon as I hung up the phone the contractions doubled in length and intensity. Sometimes I wouldn’t get a break in between them. Just walking out to the car I had to stop twice and I was already starting to squeal through the contractions. David was so good dropping everything in his hands to let me wrap my arms around his neck to hang on him through each contraction. We drove the two blocks to Baylor and David got to run two red lights he was thrilled.
Just walking into the hospital to the check in desk I had three contractions and my mind still couldn’t even wrap around the idea that today was the day. I signed a paper and got a wristband and went straight to a room to put on a gown. As I was changing the nurse watched me through a contraction and asked if she could check me because she was worried that I was further along than Lindsay had thought and that she was pretty sure she needed to call Lindsay to tell her to drive faster. All I remember is her checking me and saying “yep, I don’t feel any cervix” I don’t remember anything else but I know Lindsay was called and told to come fast.
I thought there was going to be this awful monitoring where I’d be strapped to a bed but Jonna (the nurse) faithfully let me labor however I wanted as she held those monitors to my belly. I mostly just hung on David next to the machine. It was comforting for him to just be there holding me and telling me to breathe and to try and relax my face. The minutes went by faster than I thought standing by the monitor somewhere in the middle of them Lindsay walked in and dimmed the lights right away. She checked me in between contractions. I don’t ever remember hearing this but David said I was at a 9 and fully effaced. I then labored on the toilet for a little while and David sat by my side and Lindsay squatted right next to me as I went through contractions. I kept thinking how wonderful it was that no one was telling me what to do. Lindsay was there just waiting on me to tell me what my body said and David was sitting there doing anything I asked rubbing my back or giving me water. I was amazed at how my body knew exactly what to do to feel the most comfortable.
I started to feel myself pushing on the toilet and Lindsay asked if I wanted to try hands and knees on the bed to relieve some of the pressure. As soon as I was on my hands and knees I started bearing down and pushing. What a relief that was compared to trying to just breathe through contractions. I can’t remember how long I pushed on hands and knees but it was quite awhile. David at one point said I was clutching his index finger so tight and pushing it the wrong way he had to pull it out because he thought I might break it.
Lindsay checked me again and said, “His head is right here can I break your water?” I said yes she broke it and I guess only a little bit of fluid dribbled out. After being on my hands and knees pushing for so long my forearms were exhausted so I tried to lie on my back. OUCH! That was the most uncomfortable two seconds I immediately started to roll around to try and get comfortable. Lindsay helped me on to my side and I put my right leg up resting on her shoulder. I remember the feeling of his little head working his way down and thinking what a miracle it was but he wasn’t coming fast enough! His little head started to crown and everyone said “He has hair but he has a bald spot!” I thought that was weird and kept pushing it seemed like quite awhile and then as more of his head started to show they all said “That’s his forehead he’s posterior!”
I have heard horror stories of back labor and posterior babies and how painful it was but at that point I was just so grateful I didn’t know any better. I felt burning and knew he was coming even further out so I had more a drive to push. It was weird but I stopped “feeling” contractions to push with. I remember waiting for a couple of minutes and not feeling one so I just talked myself into pushing b/c I was afraid my body had stopped. It was with one of those pushes that I felt his head come all the way out. I curled my body around and looked at his little head and immediately pushed the rest of his little pink body out. His cord was around his neck and he was holding on to it with one hand. He was soo cute and he peed on everyone right away! He was born at 6:55am. Just over 6 hours from my 1st contraction. His poor little head was terribly cone shaped and bruised even worse the 2^nd day because of how long he was stuck with just part of his forehead showing.
They handed Ashton to David to hand to me and he sat on my chest and we snuggled as he cried and practiced using his lungs. They let him stay with me for a long while and only took him when I said I was ready. David cut the cord and a little bit later they took him to be weighed. 7 lbs 11 ounces and 19 inches long.
Then Lindsay told me we were going to push out the placenta she had this little medal bowl underneath me ready to catch it. Well when she said push I pushed as hard as I had been pushing to get Ashton’s head out – bad idea. Blood squirted 4 feet across the room and off the bed. Poor David was in the line of fire. From his thigh down his jeans were covered in blood and I even got his shoes. I remember looking up and saying “Oh sick!” I was pretty sure it wasn’t supposed to happen like that. Lindsay and all the nurses just started laughing and saying “awesome” I hadn’t gotten any of them very bloody just David and all over the floor. She said I should have figured that would happen b/c you were such an awesome pusher.
There is a great shot of his jeans. This doesn't compare to the mess I made all over the floor. David took it like a champ and they give him some scrubs to wear shortly after. It's one of my favorite things to tell people.
Anyway David, my nurses and Lindsay were all amazing! It was everything I had imagined.
Childbirth was amazing and euphoric I would do it over again and again - spaced apart by years in between of course. It will never cease to amaze me how my body knew what to do the whole time.
When a mom says “you can’t imagine the love you will feel right away for this little baby” you can’t even comprehend what it might be like. Now I know and it is so true the instant overwhelming amount of love you feel for your child.