Having Miles: My Baby Story

I'm glad Hailey posted her baby story!  She asked me to add mine because she didn't remember a whole lot about it.

My story is a little different than hers.  But no birthing experience is the same as another!

So, here we go!

My due date was February 5th.  I went into my regular appointment on Wednesday, January 22nd.  They'd just been measuring me and asking if I had any questions, and Chris was working so I went by myself, not thinking anything was going to happen.

Of course, I would be alone when everything went down.  I had been struggling with my blood pressure for a few weeks, and I was retaining water like crazy.  Looking back at my pregnant self, I can see how hugely puffy I was.  Not fun.  

Anyway, my blood pressure was high enough that they wanted to do an ultrasound and make sure everything with baby was okay.  So I got to see my baby all big and wonderful.  Everything was fine with him, which I was grateful for.  They had me stay and took my blood pressure every 10 minutes, and it just kept going up...because I was freaking out.  

So, the doctor came in and told me that I needed to go to the hospital, because my baby needed to come out.  I was dilated to a 1, but baby hadn't descended and my cervix wasn't ripe at all.

I freaked out.  I went out to my car and bawled for like 10 minutes.  Then I text Chris to call me.  He did and I just cried into the phone at him.  He started freaking out too, and said he'd be there as soon as he could.  He was in Ashton, so it was like a half hour away!  Then I called my mom, and she said she'd be there as soon as she could too, since Chris wouldn't for a while.  

So I drove down the road to the hospital, and then sat in my car and cried some more.  I think I was more in shock than anything.  I wasn't due for another 2 weeks, I was all alone, and I didn't feel like it was the right time!  I wasn't prepared for this!

My mom showed up, and we checked into the hospital.  The admitting nurse actually ended up being Makayla Hathaway...you can imagine how thrilled I was with that.  I was glad her shift ended like 10 minutes after she got me all set up.

They hooked me and baby up to monitors and said they would monitor me until the doctor decided what to do.  Chris showed up, my in-laws visited. They were all eating McDonalds, and I was sad because I couldn't have any food, just in case I delivered that night. Then the doctor called me.  

Basically, he said they were worried about pre-eclampsia and they wanted to do a 24 hour urine collection to check for protein, and to monitor my blood pressure.  So, even though I wasn't having my baby that night, I was still going to stay in the hospital.

So 24 hours, a thousand potty trips and blood pressure checks, and hours of the food network channel later, they determined I was pre-eclamptic and that they were going to induce me.  My blood pressure had stabilized, but they were worried enough to want my baby out!

So it was Thursday night.  They gave me a pill to 'ripen my cervix' and get my body ready to deliver.  They gave me sleeping medicine and told me the doctor would be there in the morning to break my water.

I took the pills, and woke up the next morning to a super delicious (not!) hospital breakfast, that would be my last meal until Miles was born!

The doctor broke my water (everyone commented on how much there was!) and my labor officially began.

I went a few hours without an epidural.  The contractions were HORRIBLE!  It's the most intense amount of pain I have ever been in!   It was getting to be every few minutes I'd have a contraction, and they kept getting longer and more intense.  Chris and I were talking about baby names, since we didn't have one yet, and I couldn't even talk with him anymore.  So I finally called the nurse in and asked for an epidural.

Let me just say that I had AWESOME nurses!  I was so thankful.

At this point I had been in the hospital for Wednesday night, Thursday all day, and now Friday morning.  The last thing I wanted to do was sit in that hospital bed, but when you get an epidural, you can't move your legs.  I wanted the pain relief more than I wanted to walk around.  

I kept getting checked and I didn't dilate very quickly.  But then I reached a 6 and then BAM was at a 10.  

The nurse told me that they would have me 'labor down' which is a fancy way of saying, sit there fully dilated and wait until I got the urge to push.  I did that for about an hour, and then was ready to see my baby!  The epidural made the pain go away, but I could still feel the pressure of my contractions.

I pushed for about an hour.  Apparently, I am a really good pusher!  The nurse was amazed at how well I did for never having had a baby before.  She actually had to tell me to stop pushing until the doctor could get there because I was doing so well the baby was going to get here before he did! 

Can I just say that not pushing when EVERY SINGLE INSTINCT IN YOUR BODY is telling you to do it is the hardest thing I have ever done!  Not pushing through contractions sucks!  I had to wait 15 minutes for the doctor to get there, and it was the longest 15 minutes of my entire life.

He got there, I pushed a few more times, and my baby boy came into this world.  Chris watched his head pop out, then came back up to me and helped me :)

They put him in my arms, and I was overwhelmed with the amount of love I had for this tiny boy.  He was perfect.  I was so happy.  

I tore pretty bad, so the doctor was stitching me up while I held him.  I remember being super annoyed with him because I could feel him tugging as he sewed and I did NOT like it.  He was interrupting my baby bonding time. 

I watched as Chris gave him his very first bath.  We stared at our baby boy in wonder and tried to find a name that fit him.

As I held him, and nursed him and fell more and more in love, I thought he looked like a Miles.  I didn't say anything to Chris though.  A few minutes later, Chris said he looked like a Miles and that's how we knew it was meant to be.  

He was born at 11:08 PM.  I was in active labor for around 14 hours.  We didn't leave the hospital until Sunday morning, everything was fine with Miles, but they wanted to make sure my blood pressure was okay. I spent WAY too long in the hospital, but I got my adorable baby out of it. 

It's the hardest, but most rewarding thing you will ever do.    

The only thing that I was disappointed with is the fact that I didn't go into labor on my own.  I really wanted to experience it the way you hear...  "Hey my water broke!"  "Hey, I think I'm having contractions!"  I didn't get that.  Maybe next time!

And that's how Miles came into this world!