My Birth Story

My official due date from the beginning was July 19^th based upon my last cycle, the date on the first ultrasound based on size was July 16^th, from then on my date fluctuated between those dates.  Unfortunately for me, due dates mean nothing for me, my babies do not like to come without a little “encouragement” and I knew that, no matter how many Braxton-hicks contractions I have, my babies do not like to come out. 

My "birth plan" for this one was to labor at home as long as possible in hopes of a delivery without pitocin for once and check into the hospital for a nice easy natural delivery.  Unfortunatly, things do not always go as plannned.  Especially something as unpredictable as Childbirth.

On July 12^th, I had my weekly doctor’s appointment…still not dilated at all.  Since this was not an unusual state for me to be in, my doctor suggested we set an induction date.  Friday, July 20^th was set as the day.  One week later I had another appointment, July 19^th, the last due date.  I was still only dilated to 1 cm, so the induction was on.

July 15th, 1day before my 1st due date

On Friday morning while Scott went to the gym at 5:00 am, I got up, showered, got dressed and called the hospital to confirm they were ready for me.  We checked into the hospital at 7:00 am.  The staff got me all checked in changed, monitors connected and IV in.  I was checked out…although I had begun contracting on my own…I was still only dilated to 1 cm. 

At 9:30 am I received my first dose of Cytotec to speed up labor, I was then to wait 4 hours until they would check me again.  After 4 hours there was not change, still not dilated.  At this time I was moved from the spacious labor/delivery room in order to make room for patients who were actually doing something.  The new room we were moved to was so small, there was no chair for Scott only a skinny bench for him to sit/sleep on. Doctor ordered another Cytotec was and we waited another 4 hours with still no prevail.  After three doses of Cytotec I was done being in that hospital bed and was ready to go home.  I was tired and uncomfortable, I wanted to call it quits and tell them I would be back on Monday to try again.  But my doctor wanted to go ahead and keep things going since I was contracting. 

At 7:00 we said goodbye to our nurse and waited for the next set of nurses to come.  To my surprise in walks Brittany.  I woman I went to college with, attends our church and a friend of my sisters.  She asked if it would be okay if she was my nurse.  It was so nice to have a familiar face during the stressful time.  She was such a support to both Scott and myself.

At about 1:00 am they started the Pitocin, moved me to a large labor/delivery room, and we waited while Scott tried to get some sleep.  Brittany, my nurse, checked me about every half hour to an hour and I was finally progressing.  Although I was only 6 cm dilated at 3:00 am, I knew baby was coming not soon.  At about 3:45 I told Brittany it was time to call the doctor and they started prepping the room.  One of the nice things about not getting an epidural is that labor goes faster, not slowed down by the medication, Unfortunately, even with the warning, we still didn’t give my doctor enough time to come and deliver my baby.  My first push came with a gush as my water broke, by push 3 baby’s head was almost out.  After push 5 I had a beautiful baby, Scott leaned over with the biggest grin on his face and said “We got our boy!” 

At 4:17 am, July 21^st they laid my third boy on my chest while they finished cleaning up and there he stayed for his first hour of life.  The nurse assigned to the baby asks, “Does he have a name?” Austin William.  From the very beginning he was sucking on his hands looking for his thumb and would stick his little tongue out while looking for food. 

After an hour they took him to get bathed and measured.  I was shocked when he weighed in at over 8 pounds!  8 pounds, 2.5 ounces, 20 inches long, my biggest baby. 

Scott was then able to hold Austin for the first time, so happy to have three beautiful boys.  After my doctor finished checking me out and stitching me up, we were moved to our recovery room.  Brittany tried to get us a private recovery room, but all rooms were full.  Luckily, she was able to get us into a room with a patient that was checking out that morning.

After we were settled in our recovery room, and I had my pain medication.  We started letting everyone know the news and my mom got to hold her 4^th grandchild.  Bekah came with Brendan and Caleb at 8:00 to meet the new baby.  We had to teach Brendan to call him Austin, and not “the new baby” but both boys just loved Austin from the beginning.

Our family of 5 is not complete.  Three wonderful boys, who could ask for anything better!  I love being a mom of all boys!