As we prepare to welcome our fifth sweet baby into the world, I thought it would be fun to share each of our kiddos’ birth stories. Each one is unique and perfect in its own way, and I’m thankful for the twists and turns of each! For those not looking for ALL the details, you may want to skip these posts. This is the third story in the series of four (for now), until I’m able to share our newest addition’s special story.
For those that may not know this, Brooks was our first baby born in California. Once again, we decided to wait to find out if he was a boy or girl until the delivery, and this time around, I was slightly nervous about what delivery would look like since it would be in a new hospital, with a new doctor, and possibly different restrictions or procedures. For those things, we felt as prepared as we could be. What we weren’t expecting was the entirely different birth story Brooks had in store for us!
Brooks’ birth story really begins on Valentine’s Day 2018. I was just shy of 36 weeks pregnant and Rich had left town for a 2-week work trip, which would get him home right at my 38 week benchmark. This seemed reasonable, as Avah came at 38 weeks, Lucy at 39 weeks, and Bennett at 40 weeks. The night after he left, I was up multiple times to use the bathroom and had some minor cramping, but didn’t think much of it. The next morning, the first thing I did when I got up was use the bathroom, and was alarmed as there appeared to be quite a bit of blood in the toilet. I immediately called Rich, because if this was anything like my other pregnancies, my “bloody show” usually meant labor was coming. I knew Rich was 2 hours from the closest airport to his work detachment, and then a 1.5-hour flight home, so while I tried to figure out what was going on, he scrambled to find a way home, hoping he wouldn’t miss the birth entirely.
After talking to Rich, I called my girlfriend Kari, who picked me up and took me to the hospital. At this point, I was confused about what was happening, as I didn’t think my water had broken yet and I wasn’t having contractions. My OB directed us to Labor & Delivery at the hospital I planned to deliver at, and within an hour, I was in triage getting checked. The nurse checked me and I was three centimeters dilated, but my water was still intact, and after monitoring me and the baby, I wasn’t having contractions and baby wasn’t in distress. So, the nurse gave me the “you could walk around for several weeks at 3 centimeters” speech, and I headed home. Simultaneous to this, our family friend Jen had been at the pediatrician with Bennett, who was up in the night throwing up and had to get tested for the flu, which came back positive. So, on our way home from the hospital, I had Kari drop me at the pharmacy to pickup Bennett’s prescription. While waiting for the pharmacist to sign off, my water broke. Thankfully it wasn’t a gush, but more of a trickle, but I knew exactly what it was when it happened, and based on my prior deliveries, figured contractions would kick in immediately. They didn’t. This should have been my first clue that my delivery with Brooks was going to be different than the last three!
Since I wasn’t in labor, I decided to head home and lay down to try and stop any progress until Rich was able to make it home. My plan worked, and Rich made it home around 7pm that night to a tired, but still pregnant wife. After talking it through, we decided to go to bed and try to get some sleep, thinking that at some point in the night my labor would pickup and we would be headed to the hospital. Imagine our surprise when we both fell asleep only to sleep through the entire night for the first time in months and wake up the next day without any signs of labor.
At this point, my water had been broken for close to 24 hours, so we knew it was time to head to the hospital and see what was going on. When we got there, the nurses were skeptical that my water had actually broken, so they decided to give me a ph test to verify…turns out I was correct, and my water had broken but labor had not begun and I was still only 4 cm. At this point, our OB came to chat with us about our options. Knowing we would like to try for an unmedicated birth, he recommended a couple less intrusive methods to induce labor (such as nipple stimulation with a breast pump). After another hour, with no progress made, we realized we would have to look at alternatives to get labor started. Our OB was really great, and this is also where I was incredibly thankful for the background and knowledge Rich and I had from our Bradley Method classes, as we talked through our options and mutually decided that a very low dose of Pitocin was the right next step. The hope was that if we started at the lowest level, it would kick my body into gear and then my body would naturally take over. We started the pitocin around 2:30 pm and after adjusting the strength a couple times, by 4:30pm I was having strong, regular contractions, and the delivery team was able to stop the Pitocin and my body took over. Labor progressed quickly at that point and what I remember most is that the contractions were slightly more intense than I’d experienced with my other kiddos but not unmanageable. Rich was an incredible partner helping me work through each one and before we knew it, our baby was crowning and I was ready to push. After about three contractions of pushing, baby boy Brooks came roaring into the world. Despite being just over a month early, he arrived strong and healthy at 6:01 pm weighing 7lbs 9ozs and 19.5 inches long. We were thrilled to have another boy in the family and were so thankful for another successful delivery and healthy baby.
Looking back on Brooks’ delivery all I can say is that everything worked out exactly as it was meant to. It was truly a blessing that my labor didn’t start immediately, as it allowed Rich to get home and be there for the birth. I was extremely nervous to say yes to the Pitocin, as I’d heard it made labor and the contractions so much more intense and I was worried it would lead to me needing the epidural. That wasn’t our experience, though, and I think that was largely due to the expert guidance from our OB and amazing attention and care we received form our labor and delivery nurses. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, we are so thankful for each of our hospital births. Through all of them, at one point or another, Rich and I were both thankful to be surrounded by medical professionals to counsel and guide our decision-making process. We experienced nothing but support from our medical team with regards to wanting an unmedicated birth, and all of the worries I’d had about delivering at a different hospital with different providers than I’d had for the first three, were totally put to rest the second we arrived in Labor and Delivery. We had a wonderful experience overall, and were so thankful for the positive result despite Brooks being premature. He was the perfect baby to even out our family dynamic and we couldn’t wait to get home and introduce him to his excited siblings!
