Preston's Birth Story

It all began at 6 AM, when I woke up and thought my water was or did break (I was still groggy). When I got up I felt a gush of water and walked to the toilet, sat there for a moment and thought "Did my water just break?" After contemplating the situation a little I yelled to Jason "My water just broke!"

We started to clean the house, and make arrangements for Brooke. After a few hours and no consistent contractions we decided to go to Target and walk around and try to get some errands run at the same time. (I know the hospital tells you to go right away when your water breaks but I really wanted to see if I would go into labor naturally.) After coming home and putting everything away, getting Brooke down for a nap and watching a few shows on hulu, I decided to call my Dr. and see what I should do since it had already been about 6 hours since my water had broken. He told me to come to the hospital immediately because I was GBS positive with this baby and the risk of the baby getting it goes up a lot once your water has been broken. I really didn't want to go yet because I wanted a natural labor and knew that once I went in I would be put on Pitocin. I also knew once I had Pitocin I would get an epidural because I am an all or nothing kind of girl. (Sad to say but so true.) Either all natural or all medical is my philosophy. After another 2 hours we finally walked in to the hospital. I was starting to have contractions every 10 minutes or so, but after observing me for another 1.5 hours they said I needed to be put on Pitocin. I got on Pitocin at 4:30 and was already dilated to about a 3.5. By 7:30 I told them they better come in and give me my epidural (they wouldn't give it to me until I started to dilate from the Pitocin, but then they didn't check me. I told Jason they better go get someone, because since my mind was already made up that I was getting it, I was mad and couldn't relax to help manage the contractions. (By the way my contractions with Brooke were way easier to relax with then with Pitocin!!(That stuff hurts!) I got my epidural at 7:30 but it only numbed my back, buns, and right leg, I was still feeling all my contractions, long story short after trying lots of positions, more dosage etc, they had to give me another epidural, because the catheter had gone in crooked. After that one kicked in around 8:10 I was completely numb everywhere. It was horrible!! The Dr. came in and checked me and if I didn't see him I would have never known he was down there, that's how numb I was. He said I was at a 5. I was then happy (because I was sad at how my labor was going so far) that I had gotten the epidural because I knew it would be another super long labor like with Brooke. For the next hour I chatted with my Mom and Dad, and Jason went and got some food. After watching the monitor and noticing that my contractions were coming right on top of each other, I laughed and said I think I'm going through Transition right now. (So much different then with Brooke!!) The nurse came in a little latter and said she wanted to check me since I had been having some pretty good contractions. At 10:15 she checked me and said oh my gosh you are at a 10 and his head is right there. I started to laugh and she quickly closed my legs and said don't laugh the baby will come out and the Dr. and your husband aren't here. After calling the Dr. and Jason (Who is in big trouble for leaving me alone for 1.5 hours to go get "food" during labor) they came in and after 2 super small pushes Preston came out at 10:30. The labor was so easy, it was such a difference from pushing 2 hours with Brooke not to mention the short labor compared to the 26 hour one with Brooke.

Preston came out and was the most peaceful baby, he didn't cry except for the air to get into his lungs for the first time. I kept asking if anything was wrong because he was so mellow. It just turns out we have a little sweetie!

The hard part came afterwards, when Prestons mouth was so numb from the double epidural that he had no want to eat. I had to express and syringe my colostrum into his mouth for the first 2 days. It was stressful and filled with lots of tears because I couldn't understand why my baby didn't want to eat. Especially since he was so tiny when he was born I didn't want him to lose any weight. It was scary but he is eating now, so that's all that matters. I also can't believe how much an epidural robs you of your natural endorphins and adrenaline that help you to recover from labor. I felt like a truck hit me after giving birth with Preston even though the labor was really so easy.

So while my labor was nothing that I planned it to be, everything thankfully turned out okay and we are all healthy and happy. I am learning to roll with the punches in life. I may never have the totally natural birth that I want to, but I am okay with that as long as we are all healthy. Once again I had to put my trust in the Lord and give it all over to him. I am learning that it is so much better when you put it all in his hands.