The Journey of the SLAM Family: birth story

Wow, I can't believe how quickly this pregnancy flew by! But it's no wonder since I also had a two year almost three year old to keep me preoccupied.

Leading up to the end of this pregnancy, I didn't know what to expect with how this labor would compare to Kaitlyn's. Yes, with the second pregnancy, you compare everything with your first. Sorry baby #2, that's just how it is. With Kaitlyn, my water broke and I didn't really have any contractions prior to my water breaking. This time around, I started feeling the Braxton hick contractions probably about 3 weeks before my due date of July 22.

39 weeks!

Since Kaitlyn came one week early, I thought for sure this one would also come early. But 39 weeks came and went. Each morning I would wake up wondering if my water was going to break. And as the day progressed, so did my Braxton Hick contractions. Usually by the end of each day, the contractions would be a little more frequent, but never any stronger.

Finally, on June 19, I was awaken at 2am with some stronger than normal contractions. I laid in bed for a bit and started timing them on my contraction app on my phone. They fluctuated between 2 and 3 minutes apart. Well that wasn't good. The "rule" was when they were 5 minutes apart....and mine were much closer.....clue panic time.......

We decided to call Andrew's mom. We told her how close the contractions were and she came over right away. I had to finish packing my labor bag and so did Andrew. I could tell that this was the real deal, because I could tell when each contraction started and ended, plus I had to start breathing through them and not do anything else. Jane got here real quick and she wanted to see how my contractions were doing. Being an OB nurse, she could tell it was go time! We finished packing, loaded up the car, and I went in to Kaitlyn's room to give her one last kiss as an only child!

On the drive to the hospital, the contractions kept coming, and I had to try and rock through them, hard to do when you're sitting in a car! Andrew tried to keep the mood light for me. He joked about stopping at Dunkin Donuts on the way. I thought about it, but at 3 am, they were still closed.

We got to the hospital about 3 AM and went to the ED. It was very quiet and weird. I went up to the front desk, unsure of what to say. So I went with, "ummm, I think I'm in labor, I'm having contractions....". And then I smiled. I'm sure they were thinking, she looks way too happy to be in labor. But they called labor and delivery and a guy came down with a wheelchair to bring me over. I was flabbergasted, why did I need a wheelchair? I was certainly capable of walking, I told him that, but he laughed and made me get in. It was a good thing I guess, because it was quite a way away, and I had a few contractions in the process. But all I wanted was to be able to walk through them, not to be pinned down in a car or chair!

Once to the l & d unit, I was brought to triage where they hooked me up to the monitors to watch my contractions and asked me 5432675 questions. And then another nurse came in and asked me the same 5432675 questions, really? Again, I'm hooked up to the bed, this time lying down and all I want to do is walk through these darn contractions! I was starting to get pissed when they finally checked me and I was 4-5 cm dilated and 70% effaced. They said I could stay, yippee! The nurse left to go check on my room, and I finally could at least stand up and move through my contractions.

I was assigned my labor room and requested a birthing ball and if I could walk without being monitored. They were fine with that, but first they had to monitor me in the room and get my heplock set up. I also told them I needed my antibiotics for my rh negative blood type. While waiting for those, I at least got to walk around in the room. Contractions were getting stronger, I had to lean over something and really work on breathing through them. They got my heplock in and started the antibiotics, but you guessed it, I had to lie down for it. I started to feel more and more pressure, and the contractions were getting stronger, so I had the nurse check me again. 7-8 cm dilated and 100%! It was almost go time!

One tough contraction!

The nurse was surprised I progressed that fast, it must've been around 530 or so by now. I remember her telling me, I don't want to deliver your baby, lets wait for the doctor! I started getting the urge to push, and my body started doing it on its own. The nurse told me to not push and to breathe through it, like blowing out birthday candles. So I was doing that and finally my wonderful OB came! He got the room set up, broke down the bed and checked me. 10cm, it was push time!

Resting between contractions

It's so surreal how during the contractions, you feel nothing but the pain and tune everything out. But as soon as its over, I had so much clarity. My dr still looked groggy, I'm sure I woke him up. But I wasn't worried. I did ask though if I should push on this next contraction, he said yes. So I did, and I pushed and pushed. I enjoyed pushing more this time. I didn't have anyone counting to ten or anything. It was just me pushing for as hard and as long as I wanted. They were giving me oxygen in between contractions, I vaguely heard the doctor say the baby's heart rate was dropping when I pushed, so he wanted me to get him out soon. So with the next push, I pushed and pushed and sure enough, out he came! My beautiful baby boy, Zackary Norvin was born at 6:05am! They placed him on my chest, and I was in awe, such awe!

Me and my boy

He weighed 7lbs 15 oz and was 21 inches long!

I had one first degree tear, so the doctor stitched me up and I was good to go. Afterwards, I commented to Andrew how great I felt, and how recharged I was. He smirked to me and said, "pretty sure that's your adrenaline." He was right. Hehe.
We love you so much Zackary, your birth was amazing and I am so glad I got to do it natural again. We are so happy you are in our lives, and your big sister is just smitten with you!

The condensed version of Kaitlyn's journey into the world.

One year ago today, Kaitlyn Rose was born @ 8:22pm!

At 7am I woke up to go to work, but as soon as I got out of bed, I felt a gush and quickly ran to the bathroom, my water had broke!

Arriving at the Hospital

Once we arrived at the hospital, I was admitted into triage where they ran some tests to make sure my water hand indeed broke, and it had! Once in my labor room, they hooked my up to the monitors to make sure everything was ok. Since I wanted a natural childbirth, I asked if we could get the mobile monitor so I could walk through my contractions. As they went to hook it up, they realized it was broken. So the nurse said I could walk the halls for 15 minutes, and then come back to be monitored for the next 10 minutes. So that's what we did. Walk the halls, come back to the room and sit on my labor ball.

Andrew was a great coach, we skipped through the halls..(in the beginning)

Lunch time, all I could have was a popsicle, Andrew got Pizza!

Since my water broke at 7am, I had 12 hours for my labor to kick start due to increased risk of infection. If my body didn't go into labor on it's own, they were going to give my Pitocin. That was the last thing I wanted! So we kept walking the halls, and slowly but surely, the contractions were getting more and more intense. My doctor visited me and said he would check me at 6:30pm for my progression, so I knew I had till then to get my body laboring!

Around 5:30pm is when the contractions were getting really intense. I could no longer walk through the contractions, and had to stop and lean over. Andrew helped immensely by pushing against my back for counter-pressure on my back, because that was where a lot of the pain was.
At 6pm, we were back in the room and it was getting real bad. I started feeling the pressure down below and I felt a "I gotta go #2" sensation. Once I said that, the nurses hurried me into the bed to check my progression. Sure enough, I was fully dilated and 100% effaced, it was time to push!

Our OB was notified and I remember hearing that he wasn't at the hospital....and then a little later, he comes running in, out of breath!! I think he felt bad he wasn't there on time!!! At around 7:15pm, I finally started pushing, but had no idea what I was doing. Andrew held up one leg and one of the nurses held my other leg. Once a contraction would come, I would push. After each push, I kept asking..."am I doing anything?" I felt like my pushing wasn't accomplishing anything. I know I pushed for about 45 minutes, but it felt like forever. During my rest period, Andrew would give me my water to drink, and placed a cold rag on my head. I tried the ice chips but they did nothing for me, ha! Also in between pushes, I distinctly remember our OB nodding his head to my birth CD music, pretty sure it was a Dave Matthews song. Seeing him dance to it, just made me laugh inside.

I think my OB, Dr. Karen realized I wasn't pushing effectively, so we changed techniques. I used the bars attached to the bed to hold onto, instead of my legs, for pushing leverage. That seemed to help a lot. Then once the head started to crown, they brought the mirror over so that I could see what I was doing. I was a little leary seeing EVERYTHING down there, but it really helped me focus on my job and I could see what was working and what wasn't.

At 8:22pm, our beautiful daughter Kaitlyn Rose Meyer was born, at 7 lbs, 6oz, 19.5" long!

Getting her first bath

As soon as they put her on my chest, I was in awe. I think I said, "Hi baby, I'm your momma!" It was so amazing!!!

All clean and checking each other out

After I delivered the placenta, I needed to be stitched up, and it was BAD! I had a third degree tear, and let me tell you, that stitching was way worse than the actual labor! LOL!