The birth of baby G is something that I’ve wanted to
share, an experience that I found humbling, stressful, exciting, and
just about every other emotion you can come up with in the book.
I found out I was pregnant after my older sister had her first son and while my oldest sister was pregnant with her second child, but first son. We couldn’t be more excited as we had been praying for and waiting for God’s perfect timing in giving us a child (albeit not as patiently as I should have been). After my sister Lisa’s birth, I knew the kind of birth I wanted. We weren’t able to take classes, and was told that our hospital class wouldn’t do much for us. But I read, Joel read, we talked, we watched youtube videos. We knew what we wanted in birth.
Fast forward. I was 40 weeks. Leading up to 40 weeks I knew I wasn’t going to be giving birth anytime soon. I let Joel go hunting away from the home. I walked, I ate Chinese, spicy food, drank cumin tea, bounced on my yoga ball. Nothing was going to make baby G (as we referred to him until he was born) budge from his comfortable place nowhere near my birth canal! I was never uncomfortable; in fact pregnancy was amazing (I really can’t wait to do it again).
The day of my 40 week appointment (40+3 days), I knew induction would come up. I never wanted to be induced, in fact there were instructions in my birth plan otherwise. My dr was on call for the whole weekend, and I was having less fetal movement. Everything looked great on the ultrasound, the NST, and at my appointment. I still hadn’t budged past a “Debikey 1,” which if you knew my dr, is not even a centimeter. I had been in early labor for at least a few days, without knowing it until my NST. I was having regular contractions 6-7 minutes apart, and when I was told they were real and not BH, I said, "Oh it’s been like this for 2 days!" We were set to induce that night at 6. Had I known what was ahead of me, I would have gone home and slept. Instead we went home and enjoyed our last moments as only husband and wife. We ate dinner at my favorite Mexican restaurant on the way to the hospital.
We were checked in, contractions every 5-6 minutes (I had noticed them getting a little closer). I had an intern look for Baby G’s head before induction started. She couldn’t find it. I told her to look higher as he wasn’t in my birth canal or anywhere near it, but she still couldn’t’ find it. I suggested that we had already had an ultrasound 3 hours earlier and that he was certainly head down. She finally got the okay to continue. Dr. Debikey said we could skip the cervadil since I was having consistent contractions. I was asked my birth plan, it was to get my baby here safely, with as little intervention as possible (aside from the obvious augmentation of labor)
Pitocin was started. Progression was slow. 12 hours later I was at a 2. I had no desire for pain medication. I had never wanted to be hooked up to IV, machines, or anything to induce or help labor progress. My husband and I labored together. He rubbed my back, got me dum dums, ice, encouraged me, took me to the bathroom, and was wonderful all together. I tried to listen to relaxation music, but all that worked was Dave Matthews (which was actually just fine with me!). I bounced and rolled and swayed on my yoga ball. The nurse brought me lavender, every single nurse I had was all for me going natural. Nothing was getting Baby G to move.
21 hours in: I thought to myself, will I be able to push this baby out at this rate? I took an epidural. Looking back I wouldn’t have done it. The pain wasn’t bad. Contractions weren’t what people described them to be, but I was exhausted. I need to sleep (I didn’t). Dr tried to break my water, didn’t work. At one point I was sure I was having a heart attack, but the nurse assured me it was just Baby G's feet right underneath my breasts pushing back every contraction. At 1:45, about 31 or so hours into labor, I needed to push. I looked over at Joel, he was sleeping (at least one of us was going to need strength and rest) and my nurse said she’d be in at 2:15 to check me. I thought, I’ll just wait, I’m sure I can. Nope, I started pushing on my own, then I thought I should call the nurse. She came in, Dr. Debikey who had just gone to sleep in the on call room came in.
My epidural was turned off (not like it worked anyway!). I pushed and pushed, threw up in between contractions, was on oxygen. At one point I begged Baby G to make his entrance. I said I couldn’t do it, my dr told me to get mad at her. I played tug of war with the nurse, anything to get Baby G to budge. Dr. Debikey called in the NICU team, and finally, 33+ hours after entering the hospital, baby G made his entrance. There must have been something wrong that I didn’t realize because my dr at one point asked me, forceps or episiotomy. I said episiotomy (hurt me, not the baby please). She never let me know anything was wrong, she encouraged me through the whole thing. Baby G didn’t get to come to my chest, we didn’t get to wait to cut the cord, he was immediately handed over to the NICU team. Joel said he saw the clock they set on his breathing, and while it only said a minute when he finally took his first breath, it felt like forever. After his two APGAR scores, he was finally given to Joel (as I was shaking and being stitched). He finally came to me, again felt like forever, although I’m sure it wasn’t long at all. We nursed right away. He was so alert and attentive. The most beautiful little baby I’ve ever seen. Baby G was finally named, Ezra Dean.
I don’t regret how Ezra came into the world, I am thankful he arrived safely and with the immediate attention of amazing doctors. I look back and would of course not have gotten the epidural, but everything else I certainly would have done again. I was glad it was turned off so I knew exactly what to do, how to do it and felt Ezra enter the world. My dr was amazed we didn’t end up in the OR since Ezra was never engaged until I physically pushed him down and out. In the end we have a healthy, beautiful baby boy, and that was all I could ask for!
I found out I was pregnant after my older sister had her first son and while my oldest sister was pregnant with her second child, but first son. We couldn’t be more excited as we had been praying for and waiting for God’s perfect timing in giving us a child (albeit not as patiently as I should have been). After my sister Lisa’s birth, I knew the kind of birth I wanted. We weren’t able to take classes, and was told that our hospital class wouldn’t do much for us. But I read, Joel read, we talked, we watched youtube videos. We knew what we wanted in birth.
Fast forward. I was 40 weeks. Leading up to 40 weeks I knew I wasn’t going to be giving birth anytime soon. I let Joel go hunting away from the home. I walked, I ate Chinese, spicy food, drank cumin tea, bounced on my yoga ball. Nothing was going to make baby G (as we referred to him until he was born) budge from his comfortable place nowhere near my birth canal! I was never uncomfortable; in fact pregnancy was amazing (I really can’t wait to do it again).
The day of my 40 week appointment (40+3 days), I knew induction would come up. I never wanted to be induced, in fact there were instructions in my birth plan otherwise. My dr was on call for the whole weekend, and I was having less fetal movement. Everything looked great on the ultrasound, the NST, and at my appointment. I still hadn’t budged past a “Debikey 1,” which if you knew my dr, is not even a centimeter. I had been in early labor for at least a few days, without knowing it until my NST. I was having regular contractions 6-7 minutes apart, and when I was told they were real and not BH, I said, "Oh it’s been like this for 2 days!" We were set to induce that night at 6. Had I known what was ahead of me, I would have gone home and slept. Instead we went home and enjoyed our last moments as only husband and wife. We ate dinner at my favorite Mexican restaurant on the way to the hospital.
We were checked in, contractions every 5-6 minutes (I had noticed them getting a little closer). I had an intern look for Baby G’s head before induction started. She couldn’t find it. I told her to look higher as he wasn’t in my birth canal or anywhere near it, but she still couldn’t’ find it. I suggested that we had already had an ultrasound 3 hours earlier and that he was certainly head down. She finally got the okay to continue. Dr. Debikey said we could skip the cervadil since I was having consistent contractions. I was asked my birth plan, it was to get my baby here safely, with as little intervention as possible (aside from the obvious augmentation of labor)
Pitocin was started. Progression was slow. 12 hours later I was at a 2. I had no desire for pain medication. I had never wanted to be hooked up to IV, machines, or anything to induce or help labor progress. My husband and I labored together. He rubbed my back, got me dum dums, ice, encouraged me, took me to the bathroom, and was wonderful all together. I tried to listen to relaxation music, but all that worked was Dave Matthews (which was actually just fine with me!). I bounced and rolled and swayed on my yoga ball. The nurse brought me lavender, every single nurse I had was all for me going natural. Nothing was getting Baby G to move.
21 hours in: I thought to myself, will I be able to push this baby out at this rate? I took an epidural. Looking back I wouldn’t have done it. The pain wasn’t bad. Contractions weren’t what people described them to be, but I was exhausted. I need to sleep (I didn’t). Dr tried to break my water, didn’t work. At one point I was sure I was having a heart attack, but the nurse assured me it was just Baby G's feet right underneath my breasts pushing back every contraction. At 1:45, about 31 or so hours into labor, I needed to push. I looked over at Joel, he was sleeping (at least one of us was going to need strength and rest) and my nurse said she’d be in at 2:15 to check me. I thought, I’ll just wait, I’m sure I can. Nope, I started pushing on my own, then I thought I should call the nurse. She came in, Dr. Debikey who had just gone to sleep in the on call room came in.
My epidural was turned off (not like it worked anyway!). I pushed and pushed, threw up in between contractions, was on oxygen. At one point I begged Baby G to make his entrance. I said I couldn’t do it, my dr told me to get mad at her. I played tug of war with the nurse, anything to get Baby G to budge. Dr. Debikey called in the NICU team, and finally, 33+ hours after entering the hospital, baby G made his entrance. There must have been something wrong that I didn’t realize because my dr at one point asked me, forceps or episiotomy. I said episiotomy (hurt me, not the baby please). She never let me know anything was wrong, she encouraged me through the whole thing. Baby G didn’t get to come to my chest, we didn’t get to wait to cut the cord, he was immediately handed over to the NICU team. Joel said he saw the clock they set on his breathing, and while it only said a minute when he finally took his first breath, it felt like forever. After his two APGAR scores, he was finally given to Joel (as I was shaking and being stitched). He finally came to me, again felt like forever, although I’m sure it wasn’t long at all. We nursed right away. He was so alert and attentive. The most beautiful little baby I’ve ever seen. Baby G was finally named, Ezra Dean.
I don’t regret how Ezra came into the world, I am thankful he arrived safely and with the immediate attention of amazing doctors. I look back and would of course not have gotten the epidural, but everything else I certainly would have done again. I was glad it was turned off so I knew exactly what to do, how to do it and felt Ezra enter the world. My dr was amazed we didn’t end up in the OR since Ezra was never engaged until I physically pushed him down and out. In the end we have a healthy, beautiful baby boy, and that was all I could ask for!
What a BEAUTIFUL story!
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