I can't believe he's finally here! It seems like I've been waiting a lifetime to announce him being Earth side, but here we are. His birth story is SO much different that the twins, and although it wasn't my first pregnancy, it was my first singleton pregnancy. I have to admit, I was a bit nervous to labor and deliver just one baby. Once I hit 38 weeks, I was so ready to meet him.
I had this feeling that he would come early, but there was no sign of anything happening anytime soon. My mama flew in when I was 38 weeks + 1 day, and from the time she touched down to delivery, I was in labor...F O U R days. When I picked her up from the airport, I was having small contractions and I could feel them but they were more like period cramps than anything else and didn't bother me much. The next day, I went for a walk and could feel my contractions getting stronger. I kept having to take a break and breathe, that night I laid in bed timing them. They were SO annoying and uncomfortable that I didn't sleep. The next day they continued to get stronger. I decided to just go into L&D to see if I was progressing at all. I was only at two centimeters dilated...
I was crushed. All this sleeplessness and cramping for T W O whole centimeters?! So I continued to labor at home. I went in again that night because they got closer and STILL I hadn't progressed. So they gave me a Percocet and sent me on my way. When I got home that night, I got maybe 3-4 hours of sleep until the meds wore off.
Tuesday morning I just knew I had to be progressed farther. I decided to go on another walk with a friend to see if we could speed things up. We did about four laps around the block and these contractions HURT. I kept having to stop and sway or breathe through them. We got back to my house and I decided to call Wes and go to the hospital.
Still at a TWO. They monitored me and had me walk the halls to see if I would make any progress while I was there. Still nothing. And then all of a sudden I hear people shuffling and yelling and sure enough the woman next to me in triage GAVE BIRTH. It was the craziest thing I've ever witnessed. After feeling defeated and being sent home again Wes and I decided to get Chipotle and Starbucks.
By the time we got home, I was in so much pain I decided to labor in the tub. To keep myself distracted I watched the Bachelor while laying in the warm water. I remember getting out, going to the bed and just feeling them come on stronger and stronger to the point where I was in tears. I wanted to labor more at home because I was tired of being sent away, but by 9pm that night Wes made me go in. I was fully prepared for the nurse who checked me to tell me I was still at a 2-2.5 but to my surprise I was at a SIX! We were finally being admitted and they called my midwife and our photographer.
We got into our room and I decided to try and labor some more in the tub. The contractions were painful and frequent but the tub helped some. I continued to labor while they set up my IV and monitors. By the time our photographer came, I was around seven centimeters dilated and in a whole lot of pain. I hadn't slept for at least three nights and it was already the middle of the night, so I was exhausted. I made it to about 8-9 centimeters before I asked for the epidural. Both my midwife and I were afraid that if I didn't get a little bit of a break, that my body would be too tired to push.
I was upset and disappointed in myself for caving in because I so badly wanted that natural birth experience. But I knew deep down that my body was just SO tired. After the epidural, I got maybe 45 mins of rest. I noticed it was starting to wear off because I could feel the "cramping" of the contractions and not long after that I had the urge to push. I told the nurse that I felt like I needed to push and sure enough I was fully dilated and ready to go!
It was finally time! I had been waiting so long for this moment and I was so excited and so nervous at the same time. My midwife strolled in all happy and excited and we got ready to get to work. I pushed a total of three times before he was born. I couldn't believe it! I was so out of it and exhausted that it didn't even feel real.
Welcome to the world Cooper Earl:
Weight: 8lbs 8oz
Length: 20 inches long
He was measured, cleaned up and then we were moved to the recovery room. He had an issue regulating his temp for a while, so we had him bundled up and did plenty of skin to skin. He also was having some issues latching and it was so painful for me, I cried every time. We're working on it though and this mama is determined to breastfeed! We were only there for a little over 24 hours after he was born, and Friday morning we were discharged. I was so excited to introduce the twins to their baby brother, but worried about how they would react. They at first were not interested and didn't really care too much about him. But it gets better everyday!
I can't believe that I'm now a mama to T H R E E boys. My heart is so full.
And because he was born at exactly 39 weeks...
