On March 2 at 4:07 pm our baby boy came into the world! He weighed 7 pounds and 1.4 ounces and was 19 ½ inches long. I started having “real” contractions around 4 am and woke my husband up to go to the hospital. I was so afraid that they would just be Braxton Hicks contractions that I told him not to call any of our family until they put me in a room. Well, they did put me in a room and my husband called our families to tell them it was time! I was so excited and scared at the same time. I decided not to have an epidural until I felt that it was absolutely necessary as you probably read in one of my previous articles. Although the pain was like nothing I’ve ever experienced, I never really felt the need for an epidural.
God was definitely with me on that day, because once I dilated to 8 centimeters progress stopped. It was too late to have an epidural and the nurse had given me the very last dose of pain medicine in my IV that I was able to have. I began to feel a little frazzled and started to second guess my decision to not have an epidural! Little did I know at the time, my doctor was also stuck in traffic and could not get to the hospital. My nurse and a team of nurses and student nurses from the local college all came parading in trying to decide what to do. Apparently, my doctor had checked me before she went back to her office and decided that I was going to have to have a C-section. I was dilating but my cervix would not dilate past 8 centimeters and the baby was still really high up. Because of these two things, my doctor thought the baby was too big for me to deliver. One of the nurses figured out what to do and she had me push in several different positions causing my cervix to finish dilating and the baby began to move.
The doctor didn’t make for the delivery; she made it just in time for the afterbirth. That is when she told me she was absolutely shocked, she didn’t think I was going to have the baby and definitely not naturally. So, had it not been for me sticking it out without the epidural and my doctor getting caught up in traffic, I wouldn’t have been able to have my baby the way that I did. Thank God that for helping me through the pain so that I could feel the natural urge to push and for putting a knowledgeable nurse in my room who was able to think up a "plan b."
The short lived pain was definitely worth it to see the face of my little boy, Judah Martin Sawyer. He was very alert and passed all the tests they did with flying colors! We’re both at home now, learning each other’s schedules. I am feeling well now and he is still very healthy and gaining weight. Over the last couple of weeks I have learned a few things about being a mom which I will share with you over the next few articles. For now, I would like to leave with you a few things that I have learned about myself over the last few weeks:
I never knew I could:
- Eat with one arm while bouncing a baby in the other
- Do laundry and fold clothes while “wearing” a baby in a sling
- Hear things (like a baby crying) at night and wake up! (I WAS a heavy sleeper!)
- Love another person so much after only three weeks!