The Story

Ryland's Birth Story

 

I can't believe Ryland is 17 days old.  Time is passing far too quickly already.  I have never posted a birth story before.  Our first child was born before I started blogging and I guess it never occurred to me to be so public with the second and third births.  Looking back, I wish I had written about them here to have their births documented.  I thought I had them all written elsewhere, but recently discovered I have no record of Caden's birth.  That makes me sad.  So, I am recording Ryland's birth before I forget the details.

 

My actual due date was September 14th, 2012.  Mercifully, I had an induction date set for September 7th.  After Luke's traumatic birth experience, all of my OB doctors have been on board to induce a week early (Luke came 5 days late) to prevent the problems experienced with Luke.  Luke's story is LONG so I won't include it here, but he had great difficulty wanting to be born.  Caden and Porter came 9-10 days early on their own.  I was hoping for the same with this one, but he waited until induction day. 

 

It was a different experience laying down to bed on September 6th knowing that the following day we would have our sweet baby in our arms.  I thought about it so much that night that I didn't get a lot of sleep.  

 

On September 7th, after dropping our kids off at our neighbor's house (what a good friend), we headed to the hospital and were there by 6:30am.  With paperwork, IV, shift change, waiting on doctor's orders, waiting on the Pitocin from the pharmacy, it was 8:30am before the induction began.  I started off the morning at 2cm (where I had been for the past 3 weeks).  Things progressed slowly as the Pitocin was started at a very low rate and was gradually (very gradually) bumped up throughout the morning.  I am no stranger to Pitocin.  My water broke with my first two babies and I didn't progress as quickly as the doctor's wanted (ideally they want the baby delivered 24 hours after the water breaking) and was put on Pitocin to speed things up.  This Pitocin experience was much different than the first two.  My first two labors were very difficult once the Pitocin began.  I know contractions hurt either way, but I just couldn't seem to catch a break between contractions...at most I would get one minute of relief before the next beastly contraction began.  This time around, the dose was increased so gradually that I was only moderately uncomfortable, not in agony, for the first 3 hours.  The painful contractions began at 11:30am and were coming about every 3 minutes.  By 12:30pm I was only 3 cm.  I assumed I hadn't progressed much since you need good contractions to get things moving.  Still, I didn't mind the slow start.

With this being my fourth baby, they wasted no time getting me an epidural. It was in by 12:55pm.  Hallelujah!  I tried to go natural with Luke, but ended up with an epidural 11 hours into labor.  With what was to follow during Luke's birth, it was the best decision I could have made.  With subsequent births I have been terrified of not getting an epidural.  It gives me nightmares.  I start fretting about it from the time I find out I'm pregnant!  This epidural was the strongest one I have had.  Usually, my epidurals are what they call "light" epidurals, meaning I can move my own legs freely and I still have quite a bit of feeling.  They cut the worst of the pain and it's great to have some feeling come pushing time.  The issue is that I typically have problems with it only working on one side.  I end up continuing to suffer until the anesthesiologist can get it working as it should.  When this happened during Luke's delivery, I began having shooting nerve pain, from hip to toe (as Luke dropped), that was far worse than any contraction up to that point.  I was climbing the ceiling with pain.  I told the Nurse Anesthetist of my previous epidural problems and he said, "That won't happen here."  And he was right.  It worked so good that I had no control over my left leg and minimal control over my right leg (the side that usually doesn't take).  I'll gladly take floppy legs over nerve and labor pain! 

During this time of peace, I tried to nap, but had as difficult a time as I had the previous night.  I did get a little reading in.  I look forward to having more time to continue reading that great book I started.  Don't know when that will be, though!

At 2:00pm I was only 3.5cm.  Talk about slow progress.  The doctor then broke my water, knowing that would help.  At 4:20pm I was 4cm.  David was beginning to wonder how long this was going to take, but I knew that at some point soon things were going to speed up.
And they sure did.

By 4:45pm I was feeling some pretty good contractions.  By 5:15pm I was to 7cm and also discovered that my epidural had somehow become dis-connected, which was why I was feeling all the contractions for the previous 30 minutes.  It was connected again and I was drugged back up!  At 5:50pm I was feeling a lot of pressure and thought it was pushing time.  I called for the nurse and sure enough, the head was right there.  The doctor arrived, I was prepped, and began pushing at 6:05pm.  By 6:11pm we had a baby!  I can hardly believe the pushing time was a mere 6 minutes!  So much different (and so much better) than baby #1.  Because I went from 4 to 10 cm in an hour and a half, this poor baby came down fast and got all bruised up.

It was quite the emotional experience when they placed him on my belly right after delivery.  The last 9 difficult months were over.  And I was holding this sweet angel who was just sent to us from Heaven.  I was doing my best to hold back my tears while looking at this new little babe of ours.

We are so loving the little guy!


The Pictures

Waiting for the arrival of our little boy.
(Before Induction)

 

 Right after birth.

 

Still a little upset at his fast entry into this world.

He came in at 7 lbs. 5 oz. (our biggest baby) and 18.5 inches long (our shortest baby).

 

Getting to hold and talk to this new babe for the first time.

 

 

 Bruised and swollen little face.

Birth is rough.

 

 David holding the little one for the first time.

 

Our Ryland

(Day after birth and still quite a bit swollen) 

 

 The big boys checking out their little brother.

 

Brothers.

 

 

 Daddy and the little guy.

 

Porter loves to rub Ryland's head and give him kisses and hugs.

He has struggled with a decrease in attention, but at least he hasn't taken it out on his little brother (just his parents!).

 

The Crew.

 

Sleepy, sleepy baby.

(I wish they slept as good at home as they do that first day in the hospital!)

 

The friend who watched our boys during delivery gave the boys a very large lamb.  They had the opportunity to name him (they decided it was a "him") while mom and dad were at the hospital.  They landed on "Pinky" for his name because of his pink nose.

 

Every time I look at this adorable, super soft and cuddly lamb I think of this dear friend who was kind enough to watch our boys for us.  She actually begged me to be able to do it!  What a woman!  I also think of the other service she and others have rendered during my pregnancy, delivery, and the days that have followed.  I think of the good people who have brought meals (while so sick early on and also after delivery), watched our children during doctor appointments (and while sick), taken Luke to school, taken Caden to preschool and picked him up, and more.

 

It is a daily reminder to me to "give back" what has been given to me over the past 9+ months.

 

What a gift this little boy is to our family.

We can't get enough of him.

In addition to the great joy of having Ryland in our home, great joy has also come from
NO LONGER BEING PREGNANT!
I am amazed at how awful I felt one day and how that changed to feeling so great the next day.  I had a friend recently tell me (she had a baby not too long ago herself) it was a euphoric feeling to no longer be pregnant.
I wholeheartedly agree.