Burke's birth story!

oliviosis

I'll skip the "aftermath" part that I already told everyone in my first post after he was born but I didn't want my little guy's whole story to be about that so here's his quick birth story!

On Monday, October 17th, I had my drs appointment and she told me that I was 85% effaced and 3 cm dialated (two weeks earlier I was 1 cm and 50% effaced).  She said that given that change, she thought it would be any day.  I lost my mucus plug Monday and Tuesday.  On Wed the 19th, DH and I were watching the World Series when I felt my first contraction at 9:01 pm.  I told him that I was pretty sure it was a "real" contraction because it was like a strong menstrual cramp combined with that tight Braxton Hicks feeling, it lasted 1 min exactly.  I was convinced that they would go away but the next one came 9 min later and it was the exact same feeling.  We were timing with a contraction timer on his phone.  My drs office had said to call when the contractions were 5 min apart, lasting 1 min, for 1 hour.  In the first hour they were anywhere from 10 min to 5 min apart and they were intense almost right away and lasted anywhere from 40 seconds to almost 2 min!  I was having to breathe through them after the first 5 contractions.  By 10 pm they were almost constant, anywhere between 2-8 min apart but with no full release of the pain after the contraction.  DH decided that it was time to call the Dr and we got in the car at 11:00 pm and the car ride to the hospital was crazy.  I had only one break where I felt like the contraction had fully ended.  The rest would be super intense and then the pain would start to decrease but it wouldn't go away, it would taper down and then go right back to a peak!

When we arrived in L&D triage, the nurse asked how long I'd been having contractions.  DH had to answer because I was just breathing and hanging onto the counter!  She called one of the other nurses to take me back saying "I have one huffing and puffing up here". LOL.  They checked me and immediately asked if I wanted an epidural and I said yes and asked how many cm I was she said "7 cm, we need to get your IV started because I have to get a full bag of fluids in before we can get your epidural.  Did you say this is your first baby?  (me: yes)  You should have come in earlier".  Umm thanks lady, it was only 2 hrs worth of contractions and I was convinced they'd stop until that 2nd hour had started!

They wheeled me to L&D and my nurse immediately gave me something in my IV to help take off the edge between contractions while they waited to get the fliud in me and some bloodwork back.  Whatever that was, it helped!  Soon the epi was placed and I was able to rest around 12:30. For the record, I didn't even notice the epidural, I don't know if that was because they'd already given me that other pain medicine or if it was because I was so distracted. The nurse checked me at 1:30 am and I was at 7.5 and fully effaced but he was still at -2 station.  She told me to rest on my side.  She checked me again at 3:00 am and I was at 10 cm and he was at 0 station.  She told me to take a few practice pushes which I did but his heart rate decelerated so she wanted me to rest and see if he'd come down more on his own but over the course of the hour, I felt really intense pressure and she was noticing more decels so we started pushing at 4:15 am.  The dr was called around 4:40 and had me push a few times but during my contractions the baby was in distress and his heart rate wasn't rebounding after the pushes.  He told me it would be best to use the vacuum because we needed to deliver him quickly.  Soon the NICU team was called in and there were at least 10 people in the room.  I pushed one more time and Burke was born at 5:01 am.  6 lbs, 7 oz and 19 inches long!  He let out one cry and was quiet from there on.  He's been a pretty quiet baby since then.  In fact, DH and I have only heard him cry about 4 times total!

For all you FTM out there, I will say that my particular labor and delivery was not nearly as difficult or painful as I thought it would be (however, I'm sure part of that was because I progressed so quickly from contraction #1 to getting to L&D and obviously I had an epi).  I already have no concept of the pain, it's crazy how quickly you forget that!  I had a 2nd degree tear and my recovery has not been bad at all.  I have taken ibuprophen a few times a day as needed but it's been manageable.

 Here is one more picture from this morning when we gave him his first bath at home!

staciemc

How lucky of you to have a quick labor! Burke is just adorable! I love his dark hair and skin tone I hope you are still doing well, congratulations again!

dukestar5

Congratulations again and thanks for sharing Burke's story!

HollyBerry25

Thank you for sharing!  Your story is very encouraging! Glad you all doing well!

RedCamaro

Aww....he's so adorable! Thanks for telling us your story and sharing more pics of Burke!

MrsCaddyshack

Thank you so much for sharing Burke's birth story! I'm happy that you said it's not as bad as you thought it would be! Glad baby Burke is home!

angela9602

Congrats!!

jenb_99

What a precious little guy! And such a positive and inspiring birth story, both what you shared here and earlier. I truly admire you, even though I know nothing about you. Thank you so much for sharing. I hope you continue posting on the other boards as Burke grows! I'd love to keep reading his and your story.

leftynat

Congrats and thanks for sharing your story. Glad to hear that both you and baby are ok.

He is adorable.