Rebeckann's Random Thoughts: Ryder's Birth Story

Why, hello there!

Remember me?

I used to be a blogger.

Then I went and did this thing.

I had a baby.

And time has suddenly slipped away from me. One minute I have a day ahead filled with promise, and the next thing I know, it's night time and nothing got accomplished.

Right now, I sit on my bed with a 3 month old asleep in his pack 'n' play at its foot, and I thought, I think I'll finally take some time to share the story of how this little boy was born.

So here goes...

Back in December, I shared the news that we were expecting. Then in January, I was able to share that Baby was going to be a boy! Then the wait for his arrival on May 25th began, but as always, things do not go as we planned.

On May 19th, my cousin, Tori was getting married. Originally, I was supposed to be in the wedding, but due to a HUGE error by David's Bridal, I was not able to exchange my bridesmaid's dress for a larger size to accommodate my pregnant belly. Tori still wanted me to be a part of some picture taking and asked if I could be at the venue early. I readily agreed, glad that I could still have a special part in her day.

On Friday, May 19th in the very wee hours of the morning, I woke up with some cramp-like feelings. It was a little annoying but nothing major, so I went back to bed. Around 10 AM, I was having the same feelings, and I called my doctor's office to be sure this was normal. I told them that I thought I was having Braxton Hicks contractions. I was instructed that all was in fact normal, and that if I got to a place where I couldn't walk or talk through the contractions to call back.

Scott and I got ready and headed out to the wedding venue in order to arrive by 2 P.M. I was still dealing with cramping every now and then, but it was nothing I couldn't handle. I took a few pictures with Tori and sat through a very lovely (and very HOT ceremony*).

*Seriously. Earlier in the week, it had been in the 60s. On this day, it was near 80 degrees. My pregnant self nearly melted.

I was progressively feeling worse, but this was my cousin's wedding, and there was free food to be had! ;) So I pressed on.

Helping Tori bustle her gown after the ceremony, and looking MUCH happier than I felt.

We had dinner, and Scott and I left pretty soon after (around 8:30 P.M). I just felt so awful. Since he had been drinking, I drove home, and we went to bed.

Around midnight, I woke up from the cramping. I thought if I changed positions I would be more comfortable so I went downstairs to try to arrange myself on the couch. Scott came down a little later wondering where I was. By this point, I had been tracking the contractions on my pregnancy app trying to make sense of it all. They weren't coming at regular intervals. Sometimes, I would go 10 minutes, and sometimes, only one or two in between. Everything I read stated that they should come more often, get progressively stronger, and be relatively the same time apart. When Scott had enough of me grabbing his ankle when one would come on, we called the doctor.

The doctor on call said to come in to the hospital to get checked out. Of course, I hadn't had my hospital bag packed (though I had been planning to do it for weeks....). Fortunately, most of my daily toiletries were in a backpack in our bedroom because we were remodeling our bathroom and I had been getting ready over the tub or at the kitchen sink while our other sink was out of commission. So Scott gathered up a few things with the promise to come back for more later if we needed it.

On the way to the hospital, I was so worried that they would tell me to suck it up and stop being a wuss and send me home. At this point, I was looking for relief from the pain, and I knew that if it wasn't time there wasn't anything they would do for me. We arrived at the hospital around 2 A.M.

I was taken to a room, and they came in to examine me.

I was between 6 and 7 cm dilated.

Turns out, I am NOT a wuss.

And then I promptly requested my epidural.

I was definitely not a person who had a specific birth plan in mind. My mindset was to deliver a healthy baby in any way necessary. I was open to whatever needed to be done to ensure we were both happy and healthy. The only thing Scott and I were not open to was the use of forceps to get him out. I wanted to wait as long as I could before getting an epidural, and I was pretty proud of myself.

When they admitted me and got things started for pain relief, Scott called my parents. My mom answered, and he told her I was in the hospital and the baby was on the way. She said, "Ok," and hung up the phone on him. A moment later, she called him right back. In the surprise of a phone call in the middle of the night, things didn't quite register with her right away! She, my dad, and my brother got ready and arrived at the hospital.

My mom and Scott were able to stay with me as the time came to get down to business. It didn't take too long to get to 10 cm dilated and begin pushing. I pushed for awhile, and though I was doing a good job (their words, not mine! haha), we weren't getting anywhere. We agreed to let the doctor try to suction him out, which she tried twice. That wasn't successful, and so I was taken to have a C-Section.

They got everything ready, and we got down to business (again) to deliver our baby boy. Scott was able to be in the room, and very quickly, a beautiful baby boy was born!