Orson’s Birth

So first I would like to apologize to Kristen for taking so long to get my blog going… but here it is:


It's kind of cool that the first post on my blog is the birth of my son. First off, I would like to say that things went differently than I hoped. On April 26th I woke up at about 5:20 AM to go to the bathroom and went back to lay down in bed. My back was a little achy so I got into what Dan calls my "Muslim prayer position" and started to fall back asleep and felt a gush of water. I yelled for Dan to get me a towel so it wasn't all over the bed and when I had it I rushed to the bathroom and saw that my amniotic fluid was green! That was a bit of a shock and I called my mom and looked in the hypno-birthing course I was taking and found out it was meconium in my amniotic fluid which meant the baby might be in stress. I remember shaking uncontrollably and started to feel contractions. I got into the shower to help the shaking and also to clean off all the green muck that I had everywhere. In the shower I asked to Dan to time some contractions and I was 1 min and 40 secs apart so we decided to go to the hospital. D’Laina (my older sister) was baking brownies for the nurses and thankfully she would come after they were done. I’m glad I didn’t have to stress to sit and wait for them to get done baking. I started to listen to my hypno-CD on the way to the hospital and Dan was doing a great job taking care of everything. I was shown into a room and changed and my contractions were getting really bad by this point. I tried several positions but every time I started to feel one coming I just thought “oh no”. I wanted to be as strong as my mom and have an amazing labor with no interference. I finally got my birthing ball and that helped for a bit. I actually don’t think I could have gone as long without the birthing ball. Dan and D’Laina were the perfect tag team! One would massage my back and sides while the other would help me breathe and they would switch. I tried to eat a popsicle or some ice chips but when I would get it in my mouth I would have another contraction and had to spit it out so I would choke because I was breathing so hard. After 5 hours of contractions that were so horrendous I started to cry and feel like a failure because I knew I would be getting an epidural and I didn’t want to get one. I knew I would be criticized by myself and some of my family. I was so mad and disappointed at myself that I tried to be stubborn for a bit longer. I decided to get checked to see how far I was because if I was at a 7 or more than I could just deal. I wasn’t even at a 4! I remember looking at Dan and asking if he thought I would be a failure if I got the epidural. He said no and was super supportive of anything I needed to do. I got the epidural but didn’t press the button very many times so that I would still be able to feel the birth because I had heard that was the most amazing feeling. I tried to rest but couldn’t and then about 3 hours later I started to feel A LOT of pressure but had to wait for Dr. Blackett because she was delivering another baby. While we waited for the doctor, we played I SPY and the NICU was setting up so they could take care of the baby right when he was born. I only pushed for about a half an hour and my little bundle was born! He had the cord wrapped around his neck and torso and foot but he was still pink and beautiful. He had to get his lungs suctioned and that was the most traumatic thing about the entire birth. But Orson is born! He didn’t have to be in the NICU and holding him after they had done everything to help was the best thing in the world. I couldn’t believe he was mine!