Levi's Birth Story

I have looked back on the birth of my baby boy thousands of times just in these two weeks he's been here, and each time with so much joy. I am also overcome with love for my husband when I think of Levi's labor and delivery. The day he was born and the week to follow with Michael home was truly a blessing.

Michael and I were scheduled to induce labor at seven am on Thursday, February 18th. That Wednesday night we were... well, a wreck. We got back to our apartment late after seeing both of our families. I went into SUPER nesting mode, (I haven't been able to shake that off either... I've always been OCD about keeping things clean but it's only intensified) and was trying to get last minute things packed and organized. (We were also trying to assemble the bassinet that came that day and it wasn't working.) Needless to say we were both highly irritable and short with each other. We didn't sleep well, (although I don't think I had slept well the last three months of Levi's pregnancy) and 5 am dawned much too quickly.

Michael and I agreed the best way to describe how we felt was like having worms in our stomachs. Not butterflies... worms. Heavy, squirming worms. We sure were excited, (as we had been for months) but now anxiety was setting in.

We arrived at the hospital at seven thirty (late of course), and after filling out some paperwork, changing into the lovely hospital gown, and getting hooked up to the monitors, we waited for my doctor to come break my water.

Before any drugs or pain...can you tell? :)

Dr. Kostic came at 8:30 to break my water. I knew that it wasn't going to be a pleasant experience... but holy crap did it hurt! I don't know what kind of metal contraption she was using, but she really jammed it in hard and was scraping around for like five solid minutes! My stupid water would just not break, and finally she decided that she thought she had punctured it but would be back later to make sure.

So they started dripping pitocin in my system to get the labor going. The next four hours were quite uneventful... Michael and I just waited for anything to happen. I was getting very mild contractions... nothing more painful than a menstrual cramp. The nurse was coming in regularly to check if I was leaking fluid, (which I was, so we assumed my water had broke) and I was only dilated to two cm.

Between one and two pm both of our moms showed up. While Michael's mom was out of the room, I felt a huge gush of warm liquid running down my legs and freaked out. We called in the nurse, and she told us that my water had actually broken now. After upping the pitocin, my contractions finally started to run their course. Our nurse suggested we take a walk around the halls, so she switched me over to the portable monitors and we were on our way.

I look a little more unhappy here:)

A few laps around the birthing center and I was back in the room where I found myself sitting on this ridiculous birthing ball. It's basically an exercise ball and I really didn't see the point of using it, but for whatever reason my nurse kept pushing me to try it out. After ten minutes I got back into bed and the pain was coming on strong.

I remember looking at the clock and telling myself to hold out just one more hour for the epidural. My contractions were about a minute and a half apart, and intense. I also remember thinking "I don't know if I want to have more kids if I have to go through this again!" Ridiculous, I know :) (and yes, I still want more kids... just not for a long, long time.) At 5 pm I asked for the meds. My nurse checked me, and I was still only at 3 cm. I couldn't believe the pain was that strong at just 3 cm!

They cleared out the room and got me ready for the epidural. To put it in place I had to sit on the edge of the bed with my back hunched over and my face leaning into Michael's chest. I didn't really know what was going on, I believe they numbed the area first, then inserted the tubing and fed it down my back. This was by far the worst part of my labor. The pain was that excruciating funny-bone feeling and it was shooting down my back, making it impossible to sit still. Good thing I was too scared to move and get drugs injected in all the wrong places :) Obviously I couldn't see, but Michael said there was a lot of blood. (I also had a huge bruise the next morning on my back and my skin had a bad reaction with the tape they used to hold everything in place.)

I then had to lay on my side and I was not allowed to roll over without the nurses help in case I ripped the epidural out of place. It was close to a half hour before the medication took effect, and although I am very grateful for the pain it took away, it brought on a whole new mess of discomfort. The way I had to be positioned was extremely awkward, and having dead-weight, numb legs isn't a lot of fun either.

The rest of our family had arrived at the hospital before the medication really kicked in and I was in pretty rough shape. They came in to visit and I was still feeling contractions and getting nauseous. Not a happy camper. My poor family!

After seeing everyone, Michael and I tried to get some sleep. We slept for a solid hour and a half, and then I started to wake up. I was feeling so sick, and tried to will away the urge to throw up. I battled with this for nearly half an hour before I gave in and woke Michael up for the bucket. (Which he almost didn't grab in time.) I had been so scared that I'd be one of those women who got sick during their labor, but it wasn't nearly as bad as I thought. I hate throwing up but I felt SO much better afterwards. We called in the nurse and she told us that it isn't the medication that makes women feel sick, it's just the labor on the body. (Doubled with not eating for so long.)

My nurse checked my cervix and I was dilated to 7 cm!!!! This was so exciting for us as things had been dragging all day. She told our very patient and full waiting room the news and we all started to hope for this baby before midnight. (It was about nine at this time.) She said she would check me again at midnight but my mom said if things went like her labors had, I would start progressing fast.

I couldn't feel the pain of contractions anymore, but I could feel how tight my stomach would get. This alone was uncomfortable! We watched my contractions on the monitor and I was so thankful I was on medication, because they were incredibly close together and hard! I can't even imagine how it would have felt. Super kudos to all the women in the world who have their babies naturally!

I threw up two more times in the next hour, and then I started to feel pressure in my pelvic area. We called in the nurse to check me, and I was already at 10 cm. :) We were SO HAPPY! My doctor was no longer on call, but she wanted to be the one to deliver my baby so she asked my nurse to call her when I was fully dilated. She explained that even though I was at 10 cm they wanted me to labor for a little longer to bring Levi's head down as far as possible so I wouldn't have to push for very long.

For the next hour I laid in bed and let the contractions take over my body. The medication was wearing off and I was in some pain, so I asked for more. Each time I had a contraction it felt like Levi was going to burst out.

The nurse came in at midnight to get me ready to push. My mom and Michael's mom stayed in the room for the delivery. We were all ready to go and extremely excited.

Just minutes before I started pushing. Can you feel the excitement??

She and Michael each grabbed one of my legs, and before I even did a practice push she told us to wait because Levi's head was RIGHT THERE! She left the room to get Dr. Kostic and I was thrilled that it wouldn't take long to push him out:)

I was feeling sick again so I let myself throw up one more time (good thing I did, or I might have in the middle of pushing!) and then the doctor was in the room with everything ready to go.

The delivery was my absolute favorite part of Levi's labor. I felt no pain at all and was so incredibly aware of my surroundings. I pushed three times at each contraction, and only four contractions later at 12:20 am on February 19th, 2010, Levi Robert made his entrance into the world...

It was so strange seeing the little being that had been living comfortably inside my body for the past nine months! I now had a face to put with the image of the baby I had carried. The first thing I said was, "Michael, he looks like you!" and we both laughed. It was incredible... the labor was over and we now had a beautiful son.

While Levi was getting cleaned up and having his vitals checked my doctor delivered the placenta (which I did not feel at all... or notice, I was too busy watching Levi and Michael) and she said that it was calcified, and had been stunting his growth a bit. No wonder he is such a peanut! ( He weighed 6 lbs 7 oz at birth and measured 19 & 1/2 inches long.)

Michael was so supportive and wonderful during the labor... even while he was holding my puke bucket, helping me shower, and endlessly waiting on me :) He could not have been a better partner.

Levi made our small family whole. God grew my love for Michael and gave us pure, perfect joy for Levi.

To think He loves us more than we love each other... I can't even fathom it.