Rhett James' Birth Story

We really haven't had time to talk to all the family/ friends about his grand entry into this world, so here is how April 22, 2008 went for us...if you want more info beyond his stats.

We woke up and packed everything for the hospital. It is a weird feeling to casually drive to the hospital knowing you will have a baby today--if you have a scheduled c-section or, in my case, scheduled induction. We were 40 weeks and 2 days gestation. Our OB felt our history warranted an induction and in retrospect, it was a blessing RJ didn't have more time to get even chubbier in the womb.

When we got to the OB floor all the nurses were busy from the night shift and behind. They had 2 inductions and 3 natural labors that day. For this small hospital, 5 deliveries is a really busy day...in Utah 5 births is probably a lunch break. Anyway, they only have 10 beds on the OB floor, and they are in shared rooms. So we knew right off we would be sharing an already tiny room with another family. Obviously we knew this could be a possibility, but it doesn't happen very often, kind of a gag.

They started my antibiotics and the pitocin. We hung out for 4 hours, walking, chatting, watching TV. Rhett even got some studying in. The contractions weren't painful, just uncomfortable. At noon our doctor broke my water. We went into the delivery room at this point. The contractions gradually grew stronger, and at 1:00 pm they were painful and required pain management techniques.

Over the next three hours, I progressed through the increasing intense contractions. Around 3:45 the contractions were so strong, I felt like I was losing control, not being able to breath through them. I struggled through a few of these, and at the end of one, I lept up out of the bed and ran to the bathroom, gasping: "I have to make a bowel movement." My mom was barely quick enough to unplug the IV pump and chase me with the pole so I didn't rip out the pitocin line. I sat on the toilet and my nurse suggested I get back in bed. I ran back and there was a new nurse there to check me. I wondered why they were checking me now, I thought I had just started transition because the struggle of the last few contractions. The new nurse announced: "She's complete and we have some head coming down. I'll call the doctor." And she ran out of the room.

This was quite the relief because I thought I was just beginning transition, but I was already through and the hard contractions I'd struggled through were actually my body wanting to push him out and I was fighting them trying to relax through it. I felt kind of stupid at the same time for jumping out of bed and running to the bathroom when I was really feeling the urge to push out a baby. I'm sure my nurse thought I was an idiot and I guess I didn't recognize the change in contractions, because I expected transition to be one contraction on top of another with no relaxation in between. But I felt I had a break between each one, so it was a pleasant surprise I got through the hardest part expecting it to escalate even more...ignorance quite the blessing.

It seemed within minutes the doctor was there and an extra nurse. I began pushing, and the first couple contractions I got directions on how to be more effective. It felt like I'd only pushed through maybe 5 or 6 contractions when there was an excited stir in the room, his head was crowning. But when I'd relax he would slide back in the birth canal. I was pushing my hardest and it seemed he would get close and then everyone would have a sigh of disappointment when the contraction would end and he would retreat.

Tension grew, and they put an oxygen mask on me and all the sudden more nurses came running in the room. My doctor looked at me and said: "Your baby isn't doing well. His heart rate is dropping. You HAVE to push this baby out!" I kept pushing as hard as I could, as the anxiety in the room grew. Rhett had been on my right side and a nurse pushed him out of the way. I was obviously stressed and pushed so hard I burst all the capillaries in my face, neck, shoulders, and upper back (later I found out the official term for this is Petechiae) but he was still too large for me to deliver on my own.

Our doctor attached the vacuum to RJ's head and told me I had to give it my all. I felt like I'd been giving it my all, but with the stress of the situation, and the idea that he was in distress, there was this sudden surge of effort and with the aid of the vacuum, he finally came out all at once. I can't describe the emotional and physical relief when he was finally born.

They suctioned his mouth and nose and he let out a big cry. They plopped him up on my stomach and I was so surprised how big he was. I was bawling and kind of lost emotional control, from the huge relief that our son was OK, and that it was all over and we were now parents...and I have to admit my body was glad it could completely relax.

They took care of the rest of the delivery, and kind of cleaned RJ up and measured him. It seemed like all the people in the room were all the sudden gone and the last nurse was the baby's nurse. She gave our son to me in a towel.

It was an amazing experience to look down into little RJ's face and to realize Rhett and I were responsible for him and that I was now a mother. We'd had some heartbreaks prior to this pregnancy and it was such a moment of pure joy to finally have a healthy baby in my arms and to see he was strong and healthy, the answer to all our years of prayers. It was such an overwhelming blessing to hold him, I started crying. Rhett started crying, and my Mom started crying. We were the only ones in the room and all silently wept for joy at our new gift from God. It was a special moment I'm sure we'll never forget.

I just needed to recognize Rhett and all the work involved by him in the birth. In the beginning when I started studying and reading a bunch of material on natural childbirth and the pros/cons and told him I decided to attempt to deliver without pain medication, he wasn't too fond of the idea. He thought I was a little crazy, as other people have agreed, but supported me through the process and read the books and prepared to coach me through it. He did an awesome job and spent 3 hours pressing on my lower back for counter pressure, and was attentive to my every need through the process. I don't think I could have made it through with out his support and encouragement, he's such a good husband to me.

And in the end looking back, I really feel it was a great blessing for our family that I did have the crazy inkling to go natural. In the end I only pushed 15 minutes before RJ was born, and it seemed at least half of that time was intense and critical as his heart rate dropped and he was in distress. I don't know that if I had been numb from an epidural, that I would have had the motive to push hard enough to eventually get him out. Our doctor told us typically a new mom with an epidural takes about 30 minutes of pushing before they learn by coaching to push effectively, and in our case, we wouldn't have had that much time for me to figure out what I couldn't feel. Of course, I will never know what the situation could have been if I'd had pain medication, but I was pushing with everything I had, and in the end he was too big and still needed the aid of the vacuum to come out.

I feel so grateful we didn't end up with an emergency c-section, or worse, any damage to our son. So for me, I feel going natural did make a difference in the positive outcome of our son's healthy delivery and birth, and for that I'm grateful...and that is worth every moment of pain I experienced. And it's OK if many people still think I'm crazy.