Nolan's Birth Story

Well, since I've last updated we have had our precious baby and almost TWO months have passed by somehow.  Such a cliche saying, but time truly flies by when you're having fun.  We are so in love with Nolan and can't believe how much our life has been blessed already by him.  Yes, we are exhausted and overwhelmed at times, but parenthood is the best thing ever and we are blessed to wake up to our sweet son everyday (and multiple times throughout the night :-P)

I have had lots of friends and family ask me about Nolan's birth and I wanted to post about it on here before I forget all of the details.  

It may be graphic at times, so don't say I didn't warn you!  And it's a really long post.  It was a realllly long labor ha.

As most of you know, Nolan was TEN days late.  Those ten days felt like an eternity.  I honestly thought he would arrive early.  Don't ask me why, I just did.  I was wrong about his sex and wrong about his birth date so my mother's intuition has failed me so far!

Nolan's due date was November 6th and my mom arrived the day before.  I told her I didn't think that was a wise move, but she truly thought he would come soon after.  Wrong! We spent those days leading up to his arrival cleaning every surface of my house, getting our nails done TWICE, and trying everything under the sun to get this baby out.  God was laughing at us, I am sure of it.  

Every morning when we'd wake up, my mom would ask me, "so anything? any cramps/contractions?"  I would sadly reply, "nope, nada."  It was very discouraging...especially when every single person you know is asking you the same thing.  It was hard not having anything exciting to report.  You can tell yourself all day long that he will come when the time is right and God knows best, but it just really sucks to wait.  I won't lie. 

During my pregnancy, I regularly went to the chiropractor.  It was my favorite part of the week.  The week I went into labor I had gone to the chiro and was given some evening primrose oil to hopefully get things going and was told it could take 2 days for anything to start happening.  Well, that Friday morning after two days of taking it I lost my plug.  I was ecstatic! Who knew something so gross could be so great! I hesitated to tell my mom or anyone about it because I knew you could lose that and still have days before contractions start.  But, I had started feeling some contractions FINALLY and was so happy.  My mom and I went on a walk around the neighborhood and then went to the chiropractor again.  I was having pretty consistent contractions, but nothing close enough together to call it labor.  

We went on about our day and had lunch with my friend, Melanie at this delicious restaurant called The Chocolate Angel.  While we were there I was really uncomfortable, but tried to hide it.  I had convinced myself this wasn't really labor.  

That evening when my husband got home from work, things really started to pick up and got real.  Erik grabbed us Chickfila for dinner and my mom was with her friend for the evening so we just hung out at home praying this was the real deal.  I should add that we had an induction scheduled for 42 weeks and 1 day, but we really were hoping to avoid that.  We wanted a natural birth so an induction was not at all what we wanted.  

At around 8pm, Erik suggested we try and sleep in case this was it because he knew we would need to be rested.  I had contacted my doula that morning when I lost the plug and told her we were going to try and rest, but I'd keep her posted. 

I of course got ZERO sleep.  The contractions were intense and came so fast.  Around midnight or so, we called our doula to ask her to come over to watch me through the contractions to make sure it was real before we decided to go to the hospital.  We wanted to labor at home as long as possible to avoid getting to the hospital too soon and to avoid any unnecessary medical interventions.

The contractions were about 4 minutes apart or so and I really felt like things had to have progressed enough to be admitted.  Keep in mind that up until this point, I was not dilated or effaced at all so that is another reason I was hesitant to go into the hospital too soon.  Finally around 3am, I made the call to go ahead and go in and see how and if things had progressed.

We got checked in and I was at a 6! Woo hoo! We were so happy and called the family who had to drive in from out of town and told them to go ahead and head our way! 

I am not sure how much time had passed, but I eventually got to an 8 and there I stayed. I stayed there for.a.super.long.time.  We walked the halls of the hospital and I bounced on the ball some, but I really just wanted to sit up on the bed.  It was about the only thing that was somewhat comfortable.  I threw up a couple of times because of the pain and hadn't slept.  It was well into Saturday and everyone was there anxiously waiting, but at an 8 I remained.  The doctor finally suggested either breaking my water or starting a small dose of pitocin.  I was so bummed to be having this conversation as I realllllly didn't want any meds, but I knew that if I didn't I would probably end up in a c-section.  

Nolan wasn't fully engaged and even though he was head down, his head was turned to the side.  So something had to change.  I agreed to getting my water broken and starting a small dose of pit.  I won't lie, the contractions were terrible just like I knew they'd be.  But, I didn't get an epi yet and tried to stick it out.  

Several more hours passed and NOTHING changed.  At this point I was beyond exhausted.  The on-call doctor wasn't pressuring me at all, but I finally agreed for the pitocin to be upped.  Holy moly.  That was a game changer in my contractions.  They were unbearable.  Not to mention, I hadn't slept in almost 48 hours.  I looked at my doula and demanded an epidural.  Right before that, my doula recommended me getting on my hands and knees to encourage Nolan to turn, but I couldn't do it.  I was in so much pain and so exhausted.  So I got the epidural and was able to sleep.  I slept on my left side to encourage Nolan to turn.  After an hour or so (I think- the times are foggy) the doctor came into check me because I woke up with the urge to push.  Something I was afraid I wouldn't experience due to the drugs, but I was SOOO happy that I felt that! I was at a 10 finally and Nolan was turned and ready to go! I was so ready to push him out!

I was completely in control of the pushing and the nurse/doctor were so great about letting me be in charge.  After 43 minutes, Nolan was out! 

I can't even describe that feeling when I looked down and saw my baby for the first time.  I couldn't believe that he was real and that I really had a baby growing inside of me.  It's the most amazing thing in the world and I can't fathom how anyone can go through that moment and not believe that God created that baby and that moment.  

Nolan came out with his hand next to his face so you can imagine the lovely tear I got because of it, but I would do it a hundred times over for that moment alone.  

Nolan's birth was almost 30 hours long and not all what I had expected or "planned" for, but it was the best birth ever because it brought us our beautiful and healthy baby boy.  All 9lbs and 15oz of him.  I remember hearing the nurse tell us the weight and the look on everyone's face that I delivered him vaginally.  The human body is an amazing thing.  Don't ever let anyone tell you that you can't vaginally deliver a basically 10lb baby.  You can.

Here are some pictures from the birth that my cousin, Kayleigh took.  We love them and will cherish them always.

Thanks so much K...she witnessed everything and saw how completely NOT glamorous child birth is and saw parts of me she probably never intended to, but she witnessed how real and beautiful child birth is.  It's the best and I can't wait to do it again one day!