The Birth
Story of Rowan Luca-Blaise Walls
I had went
to my 36 week appointment and I was told I was 70% effaced and 5 centimeters
dilated. She said as soon as I started having contractions to go to Labor and
Delivery and to make sure I had plans A, B, and C in place. I left my
appointment worried about going into labor at any second.
A week
later, I had my 37 week appointment. At this appointment I was told 50% effaced
and 4 centimeters dilated. (Different doctor.) She said the same thing as the
other doctor though, as soon as contractions got timetable and uncomfortable to
go in. I was having contractions pretty regularly every night. I’d go to be
though and wake up to them gone.
Tuesday
evening on October 28th I just felt different. I had already told
Brian and my mom that if I started having bad contractions I was planning on
going in to the hospital. My legs and feet were swollen, and I had already
called my doctor concerned about that.
Around 11:00
PM I started having contractions that actually wrapped around and lasted 45-50
seconds each. They were coming every 2-4 minutes. I started timing them at
11:35 PM. At 12:04 AM I called my doctor. In the 30 minutes I had been timing I
had already had around 17 contractions. She told me to go ahead and head into
Labor and Delivery so I could get checked out.
I called
my mom to let her know and she decided she was going to meet me at the
hospital. Brian stayed at the house until my brothers arrived to watch the
girls. I got to the hospital at 12:40 AM. As soon as I arrived they had me give
a urine sample and then the nurse checked me. I was 90% effaced and 6
centimeters dilated. Right then they started to admit me. By 12:54 AM I was in
my room and calling Brian to let him know that they were keeping me.
My midwife
came in to check me herself and said I was 90% effaced and 5 centimeters
dilated. (Same doctor who said I was 4 centimeters after being told 5 the week
before.) Anyway, she told me as soon as I was ready that she would break my
water, and that until my water was broken the baby was going to stay pretty
high up. I decided to wait to have my water broken so I could rest up a little
bit.
At 3 AM I
decided I was ready for my water to be broken. They had to hook me back up to
the monitors while they broke it though, so by the time they called the doctor,
got me hooked up, and actually broke my water it was 3:30 AM.
As soon as
she broke my water the baby dropped from -2 station to 0 station and was
engaged. I was able to get off the monitors and move around. I was feeling so
pushy and asked to be checked. I was at 7 centimeters dilated. At this point I
needed to go to the bathroom. So I went and I thought baby was going to be born
there! Being on the toilet was so much better, but my body instinctively
pushed!! I knew if I didn’t make it back to the bed baby was going to be born
on the toilet.
I got back
in the bed and the back pain was unreal. Brian was applying counter pressure
but it was not working too great at all. With every contraction the only relief
was to push. They checked me and I was “AC”- Almost complete. A tiny bit of
cervix was all that was left. She had the doctor come in. While she was setting
up and getting ready she told me I could push during contractions if I wanted,
so I did! (I have picture of her setting her tools up and you can see the clock
says 4:29 AM.)
She sat on
the bed and told me to go ahead and push. I did, and the relief was amazing.
She encouraged me to keep going, and next thing I knew I could feel baby
crowning! They didn’t even have time to break down the bed and I had to ask
Brian and the nurse to hold my legs.
Rowan was
born at 4:36 AM. His shoulder got stuck on the way out and I heard her telling
them to hurry and drop the bed. It was scary.
I was in shock I think. I was not expecting it
to happen so fast. They immediately put him on my chest but I don’t think I
looked at him until around 10 minutes later. I kissed him and held him, but I
didn’t actually LOOK at him. Finally I snapped out of it and inspected him all
over. He’s perfect. J
He weighed
in at 7 pounds 11 ounces and was 19.5 inches long!! A whole pound bigger than
Kayelynn was, and 12 ounces bigger than Aaralyn!
He was
really, really bruised. He nursed for 20 minutes right away and then just
slept. That night I went to bed around 11 PM and didn’t get woken up until
around 4:30 by the nurse! They said that was pretty normal though since he was
born in a little bit of a traumatic way. (So fast and getting stuck.)
We had to
do X-rays on his collarbones and right arm to make sure nothing was broken.
Everything came back fine. The overall hospital stay was good. My brothers were
here with the girl’s so I was anxious to get back though. It was the longest I
had ever been away from Aaralyn! On Thursday we were discharged and able to go
home. (That was awesome, because we were expecting to have to stay. Both girls had
to stay extra days because of jaundice.)
When we left the hospital he was 7 pounds 5 ounces.. Not bad since he had hardly woken up to eat!
My milk is in now though and he is so much better about eating.
Last night (first night home) we went to bed at 11 and woke up at 8:30. Between those times he woke up about every 2 hours, but it only took him 15-20 minutes to eat so we were right back to sleep.
Anyway... I have more picture from the hospital and from since we've been home, but they are on my phone/Facebook and I need to save them still..
Kayelynn is in love, but she hasn't gotten to hold him yet (Except for long enough to get a picture) because she's been sick. Aaralyn doesn't know what to think. She's been sick too though, so I can't encourage her to hold him or get too close.
He has a doctor's appointment on Monday. That should be fun. I get to take all three kids with me.
