McKai's Birth Story - Part 2

The maternal fetal medicine doctor called over to labor and delivery so they were expecting us when we got there. We arrived at 4:00 pm and within 15 minutes they had me in my room and changed into my gown. Before changing, we had to get one last baby bump picture! 38 weeks and 4 days pregnant.

My room had a gorgeous view of the temple, talk about perfect. How lucky we are to know that families are forever!

The nurses worked quickly to get me all ready to go. They put the monitors on my belly and so began the constant hum of baby's heart beat. The charge nurse placed my IV, she was amazing, it was so fast! Usually people tell me I have horrible veins so I was worried about being poked multiple times. They hung fluids and checked me. I was dilated to a 3! I was so excited that I wasn't still at a 1. They hung the pitocin at 4:30 pm then it was time to wait.

The nurse told us that since it was my first baby it could be 12-14 hours before baby was ready to come out. I was fine with that, I'm not going to lie, I didn't really want a holiday baby. Not that it's a huge holiday, in fact, outside of Utah it doesn't exist. Ridiculous I know.. but if I had a choice I'd prefer he be born after midnight.

Tristan's family came to keep us company. And they brought me hawaiian ice. They are the greatest! We were all so excited. My first baby and their first grandchild! The nurse was in and out of the room every 30 minutes to hour to increase the dose of pitocin. Slowly the contractions started to get worse. The nurse kept telling me I could get my epidural whenever I wanted but if I was going to labor for 12-14 hours, I didn't want to be stuck in bed that whole time! So I waited. It wasn't so bad anyway. 

Around 9:00 pm, Tristan's family was getting ready to leave and Tristan was about to go get dinner when the contractions started to get worse and worse. They were all fascinated by the monitor and would say, "oooh that's a big one!" Yes, I'm well aware thank you :) At this point I definitely needed Tristan's hand to squeeze. The nurse came back to increase my pitocin and asked again if I wanted my epidural. I told her Tristan was going to grab dinner and asked if it would be better to do it before or after. Definitely before. So she went to grab the anesthesiologist.

I'm not afraid of needles but the epidural did freak me out just a little. It just felt so weird. But I was just happy to be getting it. All I could say once they were done is, "I feel so good! I don't know why anyone would want to do this without it!" over and over and over again. I didn't realize how much pain I was in until I didn't feel it anymore.

Around 9:30 pm after anesthesiology left, they checked me again. I was dilated to a 5. At this point I was starting to feel exhausted so when Tristan left with his mom to grab dinner I was ready for my nap. Because it was the 24th of July I could see lots of different firework shows out my window. It was amazing. I watched them until I dozed off.

sorry for the "high quality" zoomed in iPhone picture :)

The doctor came to break my water around 10:15 pm. I tried to rest a bit more but at this point I was starting to feel quite a bit of pressure. As soon as Tristan got back, we called the nurse. At 10:45 pm she checked me and I was complete. It was time to start pushing! I was so surprised because I had expected it to take a lot longer than it did. I texted my mom and she arrived in time to hold my other hand before McKai was born.

Tristan was the very best cheerleader. He was so excited to meet his baby boy and I loved every bit of it. There is no one I'd rather have by my side. The nurses prepped everything and soon enough I was pushing. I couldn't feel contractions at all (but I could still move my legs perfectly fine, it was fantastic!) so they had to tell me when to push. At this point, I lost track of time. It felt like I had been pushing for awhile but they kept having me take breaks. I would push one contraction and then rest the next.

A charge nurse walked in and I realized they were watching his heart rate. I was so nervous because the machine was behind me so I couldn't see exactly what was going on. And who knows if they were sugar-coating what was happening so that I wouldn't freak out. They put me on oxygen because baby's heart rate dropped after each contraction then they called the doctor. Once he arrived, he watched me push for one contraction then said that we needed to get this baby out. He was perfectly calm and collect as he told me my options. First, we could try an episiotomy. If that didn't work we could try forceps. And if that didn't work it'd be time for an emergency c-section. So basically I only had a few more chances to get this baby out on my own. I didn't want any of those options but he went ahead with the episiotomy (I was super bummed, baby was tiny! I should have been able to get him out without being cut or tearing!) and with the next contraction at 11:38 pm he was born. We almost made it past midnight but I guess this little guy wanted fireworks on his birthday every year :)

The umbilical cord was so long and it was wrapped around his neck three times. He wasn't crying. So naturally I started to cry. "Why isn't he crying? Why isn't he crying?" I've been a nurse long enough to know that if the baby isn't crying they are typically blue and limp. Everyone kept saying, "He's just fine, he's wide awake" but I didn't believe them until Tristan cut the cord and I could see him as they took him over to the warmer.

They watched him for five minutes and his apgars were great. Then they took him to be weighed and measured. He came in at 5 pounds 1 ounce and 16 inches long. The first time I heard him cry was when they were trying to get his length. I never thought I would love such a raptor squeal but it felt so good to hear his voice even if it was just for a second. Finally, they brought him to me. Bliss, pure bliss!

Our family left shortly after he was born since it was getting late. As they came to do vital signs every 15 minutes, McKai's temperature became elevated and continued to rise so they decided to take him to the nursery. Tristan went with him. By the time they got him downstairs though it was back in the normal range. Thank goodness. They gave him his bath and I met them in our room on mother/baby. I'll never forget the moment they wheeled me into the room. Tristan was sitting on the couch holding our baby boy. McKai was wide awake, staring up at Tristan. And Tristan was staring back at him with a look of awe and pure love. My whole heart was sitting on that couch.