Hank’s Birth Story

Disclaimer: This is a birth story and words like membranes & dilated may be used. Proceed with caution.

Disclaimer 2: I’m sleep deprived so I am telling the story how my brain remembers it today. I’m writing this instead of taking a nap. You’re welcome.

I was starting to become really uncomfortable with Hank’s pregnancy.

I was having a shooting bolt of lightning pain down my right leg and Charlie horses in my stomach.

I felt like if my skin stretched anymore it was going to pop.

And even though I ended up gaining the same amount of weight as I did with Luke I felt heavy, really heavy.

Not to mention the Bell’s Palsy just about sent me over the edge.

I was done.

When I had my 36 week appointment they did a group B strep test so I had her check my progress at the same time.

I was dilated to a one.

At my 37 week appointment I decided against checking my progress since I knew it would probably still be awhile before I went into labor.

My 38 week appointment was on July 2nd around 2:30pm and I wanted them to strip my membranes at this point.

I was quite surprised when my midwife checked me and I was dilated to a 5.

I think it shocked her too. She asked me why I wasn’t in labor yet.

I was wondering the same thing.

She told me I was making her nervous and to stick close by and to go to the hospital if I started having any contractions even if they weren’t regular.

She wasn’t the midwife on call that day but she was going to be on call the following day and told me that if I wanted to go to the hospital tomorrow she would keep me since I was so far dilated.

Leaving the appointment I was in shock thinking that this baby would probably be coming in the next few days, the next day if I really wanted.

I had a lot to do before he was going to make his appearance.

Pack my hospital bag for one.

After my appointment I went to the grocery store to get a few last minute things and I started to few pretty awful while at the store.

Once I was home I started to feel even worse.

I was having contractions at this point, but nothing regular yet.

My sister called to check in and decided to come get Luke just in case I needed to go to the hospital.

I started packing my bag in between the contractions when I got a text from Jared saying he was going to be late getting home from work.

I told him he actually better get home right now because we needed to go to the hospital.

He rushed home and we rushed around the house grabbing everything we thought we would need.

Once we got in the car we started timing the contractions which were 2 minutes apart.

The contractions were bearable, but it was definitely baby time.

We got to the hospital around 6:30pm.

The midwife on call (Dena) was at another hospital delivering so the midwife (Sue) that was at my appointment that day came right over for my delivery.

Even though I really like all the midwives I was so happy that Sue was going to be delivering Hank. She was the midwife that followed me through my whole pregnancy with Ruby and is just amazing.

We got checked in and settled in and around 8:30pm I got my epidural.

I was hoping for a VBAC (vaginal birth after cesarean) and was advised to have an epidural just in case I needed a c-section in the end.

I was completely okay with that.

After the epidural it just became a waiting game.

The epidural worked great except for one spot on my left side, I kept feeling the pain but it was manageable.

I also got the cold shakes for quite awhile even though I wasn’t cold and was hoping they would stop when it was time to deliver.

We watched TV for a little bit while I snacked on Tiger’s Blood covered ice chips.

I was progressing steady but slow and Jared and I tried to sleep a little in between checks.

When it started to get late my midwife decided that I might need pitocin to get my contractions a little stronger.

They usually stay away from pitocin during a VBAC but decided I needed just a little to get me fully dilated.

Within the hour of getting pitocin I was ready to push.

It was about 1:15am and I pushed for three sets.

Hank was here at 1:32am on July 3rd.

He weighed 8 lbs 1 ounce and was 19.5 inches long.

He is quite the chunky boy.

I can’t imagine how much he would have weighed if I went till my due date.

The cord was wrapped around his neck twice and under his underarm, but he was quite the trooper and had no problems coming out.

 

He immediately starting sucking on his hand.

He also had a good grasp on my Ruby necklace for quite some time too.

It was such a good delivery and I’m so glad I didn’t have to have another c-section.

I couldn’t have asked for a smoother delivery.

I also had a really good experience at Utah Valley hospital.

I was a little bummed out I couldn’t deliver at Orem Community, but overall Utah Valley was really good.

I even got to watch the 4th of July fireworks from my hospital room.

This has been by far my easiest recovery.

Besides still having Bell’s Palsy I have been feeling really good.

It’s amazing how quickly my body stopped having all the aches and pains associated with pregnancy.

I am slowly getting my body back and it feels so good to bend over again.

I am just so grateful with how smoothly everything has gone and we feel truly blessed to have another angel in our lives.