I love reading birth stories and was careful about writing
down each of my kids’ birth stories on the blog. But then we had a fourth child
and I guess that’s when things go downhill. Rikki is 18 months old and I am
just now sitting down to write her birth story. So the details will be hazy but
at least we have a record of it.
My mom came into town to help with the baby like she always
does bur this time I had invited her to the birth. Since we were living in
Utah, Bryce’s family could watch the kids while she came to the birth. She
hadn’t attended any of her grand kids' births and I just thought it would be a
special experience to have her there.
Rikki was due November 10th. I can’t remember
when my mom came but it was a little before her due date I believe. There were
no signs of Rikki on her due date or the day after. I was starting to wonder if
she was ever going to make her debut.
Then on Monday November 12th, the same day as my
mom’s birthday, my amniotic sac sprung a leak, aka my water broke. This is the
second time my water has broken and both times, it doesn’t really break, it
just springs a leak. Sydney came so stinking fast that I wasn’t sure if I
should head to the hospital or if I should try and labor at home. I can’t
remember exactly what time my water broke but after talking to Bryce, who
wanted an excuse to leave class early and skip school for the rest of the day,
we decided to go ahead and go to the hospital around noon.
I knew my water had broke, but it was a teeny tiny bit, so
when we arrived the nurse had to do some test to confirm and sure enough, it had. They immediately hooked me all up and strapped me to
the monitoring machines and I remembered why I had decided to give birth at the
birth center last time—I hate being all hooked up and with an IV too.
It was pretty slow going at first. The nurse would just come
check me occasionally. I don’t think I was dilated much when I arrived—maybe a
1-3? We played cards, watched shows, hung out and the nurse kept checking me. I
think what she was really doing was trying to strip my membranes to get things
going. But she said the baby was far up so it was hard to check me.
At about 5:00pm I decided to get an epidural. I hadn’t
officially decided if I wanted to do an epidural or not but ultimately decided
that with my mom there, and things moving slowly, I thought an epidural might
be nice. My contractions were more painful at this point and I was dilated to a
6. Also it’s hard to labor naturally in the hospital when they hook you up to a
bunch of machines and you can’t move around. After I got my epidural my blood
pressure dropped and I felt so light headed. I have never in my life passed
out, but I thought for sure I was going to. The anesthesiologist quickly came
back in and gave me a shot of something and I immediately felt better. I guess
blood pressure dropping after an epidural is fairly common but it had never
happened to me so I was a little freaked out.
After I got my epidural my doctor was there. This was the
first I’d seen her. I have loved my doctors for each one of my deliveries and
I’ve had lots of different ones. I prefer doctors who are easy going and make
birth seem like no big deal—it seems to put me at ease and helps me enjoy the experience
more. She came in and got things going. She first finished breaking my water
since it had never broken completely. She also placed a giant ball between my
legs and had me lay on my side—Rikki’s position wasn’t putting enough pressure
on my cervix, plus the little sac above her head from my water not breaking all
the way, was why things were quite a bit slower than with Sydney. It wasn’t
very long after this though, that I was ready to push. So I went from a 6 to a
10 in about two hours which was great since it’d taken me awhile to get to a 6.
When it was time to push, I only pushed a couple times and
voila, there she was! All chubby and squishy faced and perfect. It was pretty
special to have my mom there and have her born on my mom’s birthday.
Unfortunately that meant we didn’t really get to celebrate my mom’s birthday
but she was pretty happy to just have a new grandbaby.
Rikki was a fabulous eater from the get go which is always a
huge stress for me. She ate a bunch and I never had to worry about her weight
or my milk supply which was a first for me!
Since she was born at night, the kids came and visited us the next day. We're always eager to get home, so they got us checked as close to that 24 mark as possible.
Since she was born at night, the kids came and visited us the next day. We're always eager to get home, so they got us checked as close to that 24 mark as possible.
Rikki is the perfect icing on the cake for our family. We
all adore and love her fiercely.
