McKay’s Birth Story

It happened.  It finally happened.  I’m so happy it happened!  We have our happy, healthy little baby.  He’s perfect.  He’s adorable.  He was so worth the wait!  Here’s how it all went down….

Background information: The day before McKay was born had been a difficult one.  Jax had been teething and had been awake and uncomfortable much of the night before.  Consequently he couldn’t make it through the day without two naps, which is very unusual for him.  Ben started bedtime routine with him around 8:00PM while I took Sadie on a nice relaxing walk.  However, Jax wasn’t the least bit sleepy.  So, the kids ended up getting each other all hyper and played chase and tackled Ben and rough housed until about 9:30PM.  At that time I took Sadie and started getting her ready for bed and Ben took Jax and put him down for the night.  I emerged from Sadie’s room at exactly 10:09PM and announced to Ben, “Victory”!  We both laughed and commented how pathetic is it that the kids are so off their schedule and talked about how it will be nice to have this baby and get regulated again.  Little did we know that we would be holding our newborn in exactly 4 hours from that conversation.

So, we were in the bedroom a few minutes later.  Ben was flipping through a baby name book and I was working on a blog post.  During the post I had one really strong contraction which I mentioned to Ben.  I had been having braxton hicks throughout the evening but that’s been really normal for me lately and I really don’t even notice them anymore.

11:39PM – Ben falls asleep within 30 seconds of laying down.  I even tapped on his face to be sure, and yup –  he was out immediately.

11:41PM – So, I was laying there and felt another really strong contraction.  During it I felt a pop and I knew!  I knew my water my broken.  There wasn’t an immediate gush of fluid, but as soon as the contraction let up – sure enough, wetness!  For about 2 minutes I laid there just thinking and preparing and praying.  Thoughts included: I’m so excited, I’m scared, thank you, help the baby to be healthy, help me handle the pain, and more excitement!  So then I got up to use the restroom and was relieved to see the fluid was clear.

11:44PM – I woke Ben up and happily announced, “My water just broke!”  Ben says I was grinning from ear to ear.  He jumped up out of bed quickly and was just as excited as I was.  I called my parents and told them to leave right away.  Then I jumped in the shower to freshen up.  Ben started gathering last minute items and called the midwife.  The midwife felt that I shouldn’t wait for my parents to arrive but find someone to watch the kids so we could leave immediately.  By this point my contractions were starting to get more regular and more intense.  We debated whether or not we should wait until my parents arrived, but in the end we decided to call to our good friend Cricchio, who lives in our neighborhood and asked her to stay with the kids until my parents arrived.  Thankfully, she was happy to do so, and she arrived in a flash.

12:15AM – With the last few items packed in the car we headed for hospital.  When we left for the hospital contractions had just started getting regular and were about 5 – 6 minutes apart.  The drive to the hospital was fun.  We called my parents again, Ben’s mom, and texted the family to let them know it was finally time.  Ben enjoyed running all the red lights, and consequently, we made excellent time.

1:15AM – Finally arrived at the hospital.  By this point my contractions were getting more intense and were coming every 3 minutes and lasting for a solid minute.  I was still rather comfortable for the most part.  When a contraction would come on I would just say to Ben, “Time for a moment of silence.” And then it would pass and we would continue our conversation.  However, what I didn’t enjoy was sitting in my wet shorts!  My fluids were definitely running and were more than I could contain.  So, when we arrived the midwife, Debbie, was there to meet us and after completing some paper work took us to our room.  At this point we also met our nurse Angie.  While Angie was a very nice older lady, we were not overly impressed with her work.  One of the first things I asked for was a simple drink of water.  She said she would get one for me.  About 20 minutes later I finally got my drink of water, after Debbie realized it probably was never going to happen and took it upon herself to get me one.  Anyways, I’m sure she’s a lovely person, but she was more of a bystander in the room rather than a helpful assistant.

1:25AM – They hooked me up to the monitor, said the baby looked good, and measured my contractions at 3 minutes apart.  Debbie checked me and reported I was 7 cm dilated, fully effaced and -1 station.  At this point contractions were very strong and all I wanted was calm silence.  Angie didn’t seem to catch on and she kept trying to ask me questions right in the middle of contractions, or she insisted on getting some last minute signatures.  So the next 20 minutes were spent with my asking for silence and Angie drawing blood, having me sign paper work, putting in an IV line, yada yada.  It was a long 20 minutes!

1:45PM – I started to feel more intense pressure and I knew the time would be soon at hand which I told to everyone in the room.  Ben told Angie to get the mid-wife.  After some prodding, Angie finally called for Debbie.  When Debbie came in she checked me and I was 9cm dilated.  She started to make the final preparations.  At this point I started getting nervous which I told to Ben and Debbie.  I knew it was almost time and I was starting to get really uncomfortable and I was dreading what was about to happen.  They told me it would be fine and I was doing great and things were going quickly but I was still dreading all the pain that I knew I was about to feel.

1:55PM – Again I said that it wasn’t time to push yet but I was getting close.  In fact I even said, “It’s not time yet, but I’m about two contractions away from needing to push.”

2:01PM – Sure enough, true to my word, I was ready to push.  Debbie said not to push because she still wasn’t ready.  I hate it when they say that! In her defense, she was trying to do her job and Angie’s job and get the pediatric nurse to arrive.  Ben kept trying to help with preparations while Debbie continually asked him not to help because she needed to  keep the area sterile.  At one point she turned to me and said, “Geez, is he this helpful at home?”  I was in la-la-pain-land and didn’t know what they were talking about and just replied, “Yes, he’s a very involved parent.”  Ben and I laughed about that afterwards.  Anyways, I needed to push and finally couldn’t not push.

2:03PM – Ben overruled Debbie’s orders and told me I could just let it come and to push if I felt like I needed to push.  So, push I did!  After 4 very long and very painful minutes the head emerged.  Debbie told me to hang-on until she could clear the mouth and nose.  One more push and the rest of the body was delivered!  Oh excruciating happiness!!

Can you feel my happy pain?

No wonder it hurt so much to push him out!

2:07AM – Debbie excitedly announced “It’s a boy!”  It was a moment of total shock, relief, happiness, and excitement!!!   I was so exhausted I couldn’t move and just lay there babbling, “Oh thank you.  It’s a boy?  It’s a boy! I’m so happy.  I’m so happy it’s over.  Thank you it’s over.  It’s a boy? I can’t believe it’s a boy!”  McKay was perfect and healthy and pink.  I held him for quite some time and soaked up the joy of finally being able to hold this baby I had waited so long for.  My happiness knew no bounds!

He’s been a perfectly happy and well mannered baby since then.  He is an amazing combination of what Sadie and Jax looked like as newborns.  They love him.  We love him.  We’re home and happy and settling in and so grateful to finally be a family.  I’m nervous for the weeks and months ahead but so looking forward to them also!  Let the journey begin!

During his bath, 5 hours old.

Sadie absolutely loves him and wants to hold him all of the time!

He looks just like Sadie did as a newborn.

Here he looks just like Jax did as a newborn.

He is yawning in the picture above, not crying.

Love that little baby face!