William's Birth Story

William's birth story really begins on Wednesday October 12th. I went for my weekly prenatal checkup and the midwife told me that I would be an excellent candidate for an induction. I was having a pretty rough time at that point- lots of contractions, bleeding, elevated blood pressure, so I decided to take her up on the offer! I knew I would be going into the hospital last Thursday night so I spent the rest of Wednesday cleaning the house and buying any last minute things. On Thursday, Matt took most of the day off work and we had a special "Ollie Day." We took her out for pizza, to the mall to ride the carousel, did pretty much whatever she wanted to do before dropping her off at Matt's parents' house to spend the night. It was really sad leaving her knowing that the next time I see her, she won't be an only child any more!

Matt and I had a really nice dinner at a mexican restaurant where we just sat and talked for a long, long time. We knew that our lives were about to dramatically change and it was so nice to be able to just sit and reflect on how far we've come on the past 5 years together as well as our plans for the future. I will never ever forget that dinner for the rest of my life.

We went home to wait for the call from the hospital to tell us when to come in for the induction. I went to bed around 9:00, didn't fall asleep until around 10:00, and woke up again at 11:00 when Matt came to bed. I tossed and turned for hours until the hospital finally called at 1:30am and we agreed to a 5:00am arrival time! At 2:30 I was contracting, nauseated, and tore up with heartburn (from the mexican food!) so I got up and took a long shower, shaved my legs (not an easy task), dried my hair, put on makeup, and watched a recorded episode of Jersey Shore. Matt woke up at 3:45 and we went to Waffle House for breakfast. Too bad we had the most annoying waitress ever or we would have had a really nice time, but oh well.

We arrived at the hospital around 4:45am and were in the room ready by 5:00am. I had been contracting all night and by the time they hooked me up to the monitors, the contractions were coming every 4 mins! I was already in labor! They started me on pitocin at 11:00am and broke my water around 12:00pm. That was so strange! I thought I was peeing all over the midwife's hand but it was just the water breaking! After the water broke, the contractions started coming really strong so we knew it was only a matter of hours now. I decided to get the epidural before things progressed too far. I gotta say. I still don't like getting an epidural. It feels like I am being prodded into the inside of my body, but in reality it is only about 2 inches. The anesthesiologist talked to me about the owl costume she was making her son for Halloween (and I just happened to know something about owl costumes!) and when that wasn't distracting me enough, I went to my "happy place" playing in the ocean in the Bahamas with Matt and Ollie. After what seemed like hours, it was over! I wasn't completely numb, like with Ollie, I just felt like someone rubbed novacane (?) all over my lower body. I could still move my legs!

By that time, my parents, my brother and his girlfriend, and my Paw Paw (William!) had come so I just relaxed and talked to them until I started feeling like I was going to poop everywhere! I called the nurse to come check me but I was only 6cm dilated! That may have been true but I knew he was coming, and FAST. At that point everyone left except Matt. The next contraction I felt like I had to push! I called the nurse but she didn't come fast enough. Finally Matt went into the hall to get someone, I had another contraction and freaked out because it felt like the baby was coming out. I couldn't stop my body from pushing! I was like "Oh my goodness! I'm going to have this baby laying here all by myself!" Matt and the nurse arrived in time! Nurse took one look and said "Looks like we're having a baby!" The midwife was there in the next minute, my mom came to check on me and decided to stay (in the corner where she didn't have to "see anything"- she can't even take the sight of a bleeding paper cut.. lol!).

The midwife looked and said "You are probably going to have him in 2 pushes!" So I pushed and it felt so good! Like a release of pressure or something. She told me to stop- which was SO hard to do, then push about 5 more times really really hard. I am SO glad I kept exercising and even worked out my abs until I was 36 weeks because it took every thread of abdominal muscle I had! (Matt later told me that Will's shoulders were stuck and I was having to work really hard to get them out!) He finally came out and the first thing I said was "He's so cute!" The midwife tried to hand him to me but the umbilical cord was so short that she had to hold him close while Matt cut the cord. When I finally got a good look at him I thought he looked just like Ollie, but with a tan! He sort of fussed a little but he never even cried! They let me hold him for a while instead of whisking him away for a bath, etc. I even got him to breast feed within 10 minutes of being born! After I got cleaned up, my family came in to see him. It was so sweet to see my Paw Paw, who William is named after, take pictures of him. He was SO prideful. My dad was there too. He didn't get to be there when Ollie was born so this was special for him too. We all sat around and held him and talked about who he looked like for about an hour until they moved me up to the mom and baby floor (and laughed at me trying to walk to the bathroom after the epidural!). It was a priceless hour! Oh! And I can't forget the saltine crackers and apple juice the nurse brought me! It was one of the tastiest snacks I've ever eaten in my entire life!

Matt's parents brought Ollie to visit when we were going to the new room and she got to visit for about an hour. However she lost interest after about 15 minutes! But it was sweet and I knew there were be plenty of time for making friends later!

Matt, Will, and I settled in for the night and Will was the only one who really slept! We were too busy talking, being excited, and checking to make sure he was ok all night long! It really couldn't have been any better! Praise God for miracles!!!