Bryson’s Birth Story
Bryson was due on April 26th, 2021. My whole pregnancy, I was convinced that I would go early because my mom always went early, and my mother-in-law went early with my husband. The joke was on me though, because I definitely did not go early. :)
The plan was that I would work at my office job up until 4 days before my due date. Then I would quit and have a few days at home to nest and clean before the baby came. The week before my due date, my boss came in and said that they had just hired someone to replace me, and asked if I would be willing to work until Friday (my due date) in order to train her.. I said yes, and was fully expecting to go into labor at any minute. Well, the end of the week came and went, and no baby. Monday rolled around, and I had a doctor’s appointment. They said that if I didn’t go into labor by the end of the week, I would have to go in for a non-stress test (just to make sure the baby was still happy in the womb) and get scheduled to be induced on Sunday morning at 8 am. I was devastated to say the least. After having 2 babies, I am very aware that babies come on their own time, and not a minute before!
I relaxed and cleaned all week, and on Thursday went in for my non-stress test. The nurse said that I was actually having some pretty strong contractions but I wasn’t feeling them at all. I went home, and the next day my neighbor invited me to go for a walk on the trail close to our house. I was doing anything at this point to go into labor, so I offered to push her toddler and baby in the stroller.
The next morning I woke up at 4 am and felt my first contraction! I was so excited! I went back to sleep and told my husband when we woke up in the morning. We decided to go out for a little breakfast (this was still during COVID, so we walked up to a window at a little bakery in our small town!). We went home, Eric worked on some outside projects, and I did some last minute cooking and cleaning. I labored at home all day - it was still very early labor and I was able to do my thing and then breathe through a contraction, and get back to whatever I was doing!
We decided to go on another walk in the evening, to hopefully get things moving along a little faster. During that walk, I had to stop and breathe through each contraction. When we got back home, I bounced on my birth ball for a while, tried to lay in bed, and took a hot shower to relax.
At 12am Sunday morning, we decided to head into the hospital. It was a 20 minute drive, and when we got there, all the labor and delivery rooms were full! I laid on the most uncomfortable bed in the triage room for FOUR hours. Possibly the worst 4 hours of my life. I was only 4 centimeters dilated at this point, and they said they would’ve sent me home, but I was scheduled to be induced at 8 am anyway, so they let me stay. I was SO thankful - I did not want to make that 20 minute drive 2 more times while in labor. When we finally got into a labor and delivery room, I decided to get an epidural. It had already been 28 hours of labor at this point, and even though it wasn’t incredibly intense, I wanted to be able to relax and get some rest before the pushing stage. The doctor came to put the epidural in, and then he had to come back in again, and AGAIN to try to fix it. 3 times they tried to fix it, and I could still feel everything on my right side. At this point, I was 10 centimeters dilated, and they broke my water, and said it was time to start pushing.
I pushed for 3 hours. I don’t really remember a lot, but I remember the nurse saying, “well, it’s been an hour.” and then, “well, it’s been 2 hours.” and then “well, you’ve been pushing for 3 hours.”
The hospital that I was at, they will only let you push for 3 hours, before they intervene. I had seen countless different midwives during labor at this point, but they brought in the OB to evaluate what they needed to do. The nurses thought that he was going to use forceps to pull the baby out. At this point, I was throwing up and very delirious from lack of sleep and pushing for so long, so I wasn’t very aware of what was going on. The OB told me that he doesn’t like using forceps, because if they slip off 3 times, then you are forced to go to a c-section. I remember the OB telling me, “I think that you can get this baby out on your own, but you’re going to do it in the next 3 contractions. I’m going to count to 3, and you’re going to push as hard as you can, and this baby is going to come out. Okay?” I remember nodding my head okay, and just doing whatever he told me to do.
And then! At 3:30pm on May 2nd, Bryson was born! We had about 8 nurses in our room (I think they assumed I was going to be rushed to a c-section?) and they all cheered as soon as he came out. I remember them putting Bryson on my chest, and I looked up at Eric, and there were tears streaming down both of our faces. One of the most surreal experiences of my life! I worked so hard to get him here, and I would do it all again in a heartbeat. He was a perfect baby and we love him so much. We found out after he was born, that he was positioned face up (most babies are born face down) and was also laying in a not great position for birth which is why I had to push for so long!
