My Birth Story: Ford Olson Burke

Let me start by reminding you all of the time I went to the hospital at about 34 weeks with contractions and they said just take it easy until 37 weeks then he can come out. Well that gets you in a mental state of thinking baby is coming early, so when baby is NINE days late you are basically going bonkers.

Ford’s due date was Thursday September 20th, so my parents planned to arrive Monday the 17th to help prepare and in case he was early. It was fun having them there for the most part because it was a nice distraction, but it was also tough going through the same routine each morning whereby we all had to say well last night wasn’t the night (why we were all sure it would happen at night I don’t know).

On that Thursday, his due date, I went in and the Dr said we can put you on the waitlist to be induced on Wednesday 9/26 to have him 9/27 a week late but still thought he would come on his own. We said OK. Well wednesday came and went and I didn’t make it from the waitlist to the real list, so on Wednesday 9/26 at almost 41 weeks we went back in. She said I was now 1cm dilated which I wasn’t at 40 weeks still 50% effaced. She thought it might happen that night into the next day when she was on call - it didnt. I also didn’t get on the waitlist for Thursday night. However Thursday all day I had contractions coming every 5 minutes if I laid down being a little more intense but when I would get up and move they slowed down. They then slowed in frequency and went away almost completely that night. Woke up Friday morning feeling fine, around 10:15am started feeling contractions again but similar tot he day before: not terribly painful but some had to close my eyes and breath through. We went for a walk, had coffee I made my usual eggs and blueberries. We decided to get out of the house while the house keeper came so at 11 we went on a drive to see a house we were looking at for a future Reno project. while there the contractions were getting uncomf and more consistent at 5 min. We left and got a sandwich at damatos heading to the hospital around 1. Got checked in and was still only 1cm dilated. After about 2.5-3 hours of monitoring the dr said she thought since I was so past due 1week and 1 day that I should stay (by now it’s 4:30pm). She planed to have me come to L&D and do another check and potentially start some pictocin 

Got to L&D and started pictocin around 6:30pm, by 8:30 the contractions were really painful and coming every minute and lasting a minute At one point I stood up and had some leaking which we thought was my water breaking turns out I was just peeing a little lol. They then slowed down the pictocin and ordered the epidural which was much better than I thought. Through the shaking and contractions they got it in and I had instant relief. 

At around 9pm my parents came by and I was feeling warm and fuzzy from the epidural, and thought we had a full night of sleep coming our way, so they went home.

At 10:15 the Dr came in after the catheter was put in and said I had a bulging bag so they broke it. I was 5cm dilated 100% effaced and baby was moving down but they gave me the peanut to move him down even more. The Dr said to get rest and would recheck my dilation in 4-6 hours.

At 11pm contractions started getting stronger and stronger and intense pressure discomfort like I needed to go to the bathroom. At first I thought my epidural just wore off, then I realized this was the “pressure” everyone talks about. I called the nurse in and told her that I was having this sensation and she sent the resident in to check me. Sure enough at about 11:45 I was 10cm dilated and it was go time.

I started pushing at 12:30 and little man arrived at 2:01am on 9/29, 9 days late! I have to say I actually really enjoyed the pushing part. My husband asked me if I had read about how to push and I said LOL NO, it is totally instinctual.

All in all my delivery was wonderful, I loved how casual it was and the staff was amazing. My least favorite part was being stitched up at the end, it was just creepy.

After he was born and I was stitched and we were ready to head to our room for the next two days it was about 4:30am. This was the part I was sort of shocked by…

We got down there and it wasn’t much of a warm greeting, the nurse just said: feed him every 2-3 hours, set an alarm if you need to. Write down all of his feedings and pees/poops on this board and hey can you go pee right now please? I was like UM YEA NO.

Anyways, my experience at Prentice post delivery left a lot to be desired. My room had a tiny little window and no one ever even told me how to order food. I was underwhelmed by the help but I think they were maybe just insanely busy because so many people love their experience there. Since he was born so early on Saturday we had the option to stay Sunday & Monday but we opted to go home Monday morning. That was also a little rough, I didn’t feel good and I cried the entire car ride home. A mix of emotions: happy, scared, in pain, confused, exhausted.

The good news was when we got home my parents were at the ready: cooking, cleaning, keeping me company, watching the babe so I could sleep, reminding me to take my meds and constantly keeping me fed and hydrated. That whole it takes a village thing…. REAL.

The 2 weeks after were tough physically and mentally. The first few days I was on a high, laughing all of the time. Then my parents left and I felt like I crashed. I was crying a lot, feeling broken physically and confused on how to manage him and myself. I had really bad headaches, I think from the epidural but also from fatigue oh and crying doesn't help which did finally go away after about 2-3 weeks.

All in all, I would say the actual birth was a wonderful experience. It was tough in those final days waiting for him to arrive, I wish I had enjoyed the free time more but thats what everyone tells you and it’s so hard to understand or do in the moment. Maybe with baby #2… but that will be a while!