I love reading and hearing birth stories because each birth and each baby is a miracle so I wanted to share how we met our sweet baby boy on March 13.
We had a delightful and pretty easy pregnancy. Other than feeling tired and a little nauseous my first trimester was a breeze. The second trimester was filled with sharing our happy news with friends and family, seeing our baby in our ultrasound appointment, and seeing my tummy grow. Our third trimester like the others was wonderful. I began to feel more uncomfortable as time went on, but with each passing day we knew we were closer and closer to meeting our baby and we were beside ourselves with excitement.
At my 36 week appointment on March 6 we discovered that our baby was in a footling breech position. This was a bit of a disappointment to me as I had always hoped to have a completely natural labor and birth experience. My midwife suggested some things I could do to try to encourage baby to flip on his/her own and I worked hard the next several days to try to make that happen. If baby didn't flip then we were scheduling a version where a doctor would apply pressure to the baby on my tummy to try to coax the baby into the correct position. My midwife let me know that in rare cases versions can lead to emergency c-sections or they can kick start labor so our appointment would be scheduled for sometime after baby was at 37 weeks. If the version was unsuccessful we knew we would be scheduling a c-section. This caused me to have a wide range of feelings because suddenly it looked very likely that we would be meeting our baby before our due date for a scheduled c-section which I had never considered. Needless to say I was pretty distracted the next few days as I processed all of this.
Leaving my appointment we believed that the version would probably take place on March 17. On Tuesday the 10th, however, we found out that the appointment had been scheduled for the 13th. While only 4 days earlier than the anticipated date, this seemed crazy to me. We were already working really hard to try to make sure everything was ready at home and at work just in case the baby was born on the day of the version, so going from having a week to still prepare to 3 more days was a little intense. One thing that did excite me about the appointment being on the 13th was the fact that it was Grandma Diane's birthday and I thought it would be so cool if they baby had such a significant birth date.
The rest of the week was crazy at work and home. Somehow by the grace of God I managed to get everything squared away at work by the time I left on Thursday--all while feeling ridiculous because more than likely I would be back at work on Monday...maybe even Friday afternoon depending on how I was feeling after the version. At my regular appointment on Thursday it was determined that baby was still breech, but that everything else was still looking good. Thursday night Michael and I stayed up late tidying and getting packed just in case baby came the next day, but mostly thinking that it would be nice just to have stuff done so we didn't have to do it later when baby actually would come.
Friday morning we woke up early, loaded everything into the car and headed down to St. John's Hospital for our appointment. We jokingly talked about how this could be our last drive before baby came. Getting to the hospital we scored an awesome parking spot and went inside. We were taken to our room and all prepped for the procedure (checking heart rates, getting a shot to loosen my uterine muscles, measuring any contractions, getting changed--embarrassingly I put my hospital gown on backwards...oops!) Then our midwife and the doctor came in. We talked about how the version would work and took an ultrasound to verify that baby was still breech and then began. First she tried to get baby to do a backward roll--baby was having none of that. So then after checking baby's position and heart rate we tried a front roll. Baby moved better this way, but got stuck at one point near the bottom of my ribs. On our third and final attempt we tried the same way and baby got stuck in the same spot. The version was not a comfortable experience and it was made worse by baby not turning into the correct position. We talked with the doctor and midwife then about how I could continue to try to get baby to turn naturally, but that a nurse from the clinic would be calling me to set up a c-section for sometime around when baby would be 39 weeks. Then they all left while Michael and I waited in the room for 30 minutes so that baby and myself could be monitored before being dismissed. We talked and I cried a little bit due to the disappointment and it was helpful to have that time just to ourselves to process where our pregnancy was headed.
About two minutes before the nurse was going to come back into the room (at 10:00) to dismiss us I felt something wet running down my leg and told Michael. It came in little spurts and when the nurse came in she said it looked like my water had broken and that we would be staying there. She ran a test to verify that it was in fact my water that had broken and they started preparing for my c-section. CRAZY. By around 10:30 we were told that yes my water had broken and our c-section was scheduled for 1:00. We didn't know if we would be on the labor and delivery floor or if we would have to go up to the OR floor, but our baby was coming and would be here this afternoon. There was a lot of pacing being done by Michael and laughing as we had planned for this, but hadn't expected it at all. Michael made a few calls and sent a few texts so our immediate family could know what was happening and determine when they would want to come up. When my doctor returned to the hospital from the clinic she said this was the first time she had seen labor be triggered by a version in 10 years!
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| Shortly after we found out our baby was coming that day! |
Around noon we found out that there was a chance our c-section would be pushed back in time because an ambulance was supposed to be coming in with a mother who may have needed an emergency c-section, but at 1:00 it was just determined that we would go up to the OR floor and have our c-section there so I got put in a wheel chair and we went up with the nurses to begin prepping me for surgery. The doctors and nurses on that floor were very friendly and excited because they don't have many c-sections up there. They began getting me ready and talked with us about what the surgery and experience would be like.
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| Last picture before we meet our baby! |
At around 1:15 I was wheeled into the surgery room without Michael to get cleaned up and receive the local anesthesia. I was both excited and nervous and was praying constantly asking God to keep baby safe and to keep me safe. They kept me informed on everything they were doing and by around 1:45-1:50 they were ready to go and Michael was brought in. He sat by my head and talked with me as they began the surgery and we heard the doctors saying that they could see baby's bottom and before we knew it we heard our baby crying. We were so happy and relieved that we immediately started crying. Then baby was brought around for us to see and Michael exclaimed that baby was a boy! After that Michael went over to where baby boy was getting cleaned up and they began stitching me back up. After baby got clean they brought him to me and laid him on my chest for a little skin to skin time before we would go back downstairs. He was peeking at me with one eye and I was just so happy and in love with my new little boy. I felt emotional and a little out of sorts without being able to feel half of my body, but everything was perfect.
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| Brand new baby |
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| Mommy and Harrison meet |
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| Daddy and Harrison bonding |
Shortly afterward Michael and baby boy went down stairs to our room to weigh and measure baby (6lbs 8 oz, and 19 inches long) and I was taken back to our room a little later. They moved me onto the bed and baby boy was brought over so we could try nursing with some assistance from a nurse. We determined baby's name would be Harrison Russell (Russell after my dear Grandpa Butch, one of the best men I have ever known) and after enjoying some time as our little family, Michael went to announce Harrison's birth to my parents and Josiah in the waiting area and to call other family members. The next hours and days were spent introducing Harrison to family and friends and getting to know our little boy.
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| Happiness |
I have been healing really well from surgery--the nurses gave me many compliments about how well I was doing. Harrison has been doing a wonderful job living life outside the womb despite coming a little earlier than we had anticipated. We were dismissed from the hospital on Monday March 16 and have loved having Harrison home with us.
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| Our family of THREE is ready to go! |
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| In the car headed home! |
