Ryan's Birth Story

Its only a year later, but I did it! yay! Im printing it off today to put in his memory accordion and posting it to my blog for fun :)

Monday morning November 25^th my mom and I woke up early to head to American Fork hospital. We had everything packed up and Ellen (Brice’s mom) came over to watch Cade. I was excited and nervous. I felt peace that everything would be ok. I was excited to have the chance to talk to Brice and all I wanted to tell him was how everything went so well. I had only talked to him on the phone a couple of times for a short time since he had left Oct 6^th for basic training.

         Went in at 7am to be induced. Had taken birth prep and prim rose oil.  They told me I was at a 4 and really ready and soft. I really think it helped to take the medicine because both nurse and midwife seemed pleasantly surprised how ready I was for never having real contractions.

         American Fork hospital. Checked in. Started Pitocin slowly.  Didn’t really feel contractions too much. Gentle and still could relax. Melissa (doula) did a gentle touch exercise while I focused on my breathing and listened to relaxing music. I wanted to be sure I could have the epidural right before they got too much but didn’t want to wait too long.  They turned up the Pitocin and things started to pick up but still not bad. They turned it up again after sometime had gone by. 

         They were getting really strong and there was a lot of pelvic pain and some back pain, which I didn’t remember having with Cade. I decided it was time for the epidural. I don’t remember what I was at this time. I want to say I was at a 5.5 cm but I didn’t worry too much about it. Just went with my feelings.

         This time it was much slower in getting it and it stating to work. I leaned on Melissa while they put it in. I remember it been very difficult to sit and it made me nervous for the next contraction. The nurse told me to put my legs up and criss cross them. That made a huge difference while I worked through some hard long contractions while I got the epidural.

         I remember feeling it go in much more than I did with Cade. It didn’t really hurt, but not comfortable I would say. They had me lay on my back as soon as it was in (which is also a very hard position to be in while contracting) and had a few more hard contractions. It seemed to take a while before I really starting seeing it work and I could relax. They helped me by holding my legs up while I laid down.

         Once the epidural kicked in I rested. I didn’t have chills or any side affects of any kind. The midwife would come and check on me and she said she could break my water any time and things would really speed up. I decided not to do that. To just relax, breathe, and focus on my baby. I decided there was no rush.

         My doula Melissa reminded me to listen to my body, to continue to do the things I wanted to do before I had the epidural, that it was my body’s way of telling me what it needed (to keep my legs open, to not sit ect). My hesitation to break my water I felt was because it wasn’t really the right thing for me to do. So I rested and waited.  It wasn’t too long after all that that I started to feel something. I was worried at first that maybe he was already coming out…but it couldn’t be that easy, could it?

         Just as I was telling Melissa what I was feeling, my midwife came in and checked. She couldn’t believe what she saw. It was the sack just ballooning out. He was ready to come!!        

Took some real effort to break the sack on her part because of how tough it was.  When I started to push I pushed like normal but then the midwife had me back off and do just half pushes. She was doing all she could to help me not tear. I was brave this time and wanted to see with the mirror and watched it all happen. It was pretty neat to see and crazy too.   It took less then 10 minutes to get him out and a handful of pushes.  He was born soon after 1:00 pm.  Labor was just over 5 hours.

         As soon as he was out they put him right on me. The cord was
short and couldn’t come up too far.  His eyes were already slightly open. He was so cute and small.  He cried a little but seemed really calm to me. It was love at first sight. I got to hold him and nurse him soon after.

         I got to keep Ryan with me (holding or in his hospital bassinet) the whole time until I got to my recovery room….a few hours after I had him. After that they took him and gave him a bath. I wanted to watch so I went down in a wheel chair.  His eyes were open more and he was the cutest baby in the world!

         It was a beautiful day and besides Brice not being there, there was nothing that could have gone better. Answer to prayers for sure!! I felt completely taken care of and everything happened that way I had hoped. I only look back at Ryan’s birth with happy, peaceful feelings.  He was such a sweet, calm, happy, easy going baby and I was so in love with him the moment I laid eyes on him. I am so blessed to know my little Ryan bug!!!