I wanted to write Felix's birth story out. This has been a work in progress because I'm not one of those people who wants the whole world to know every detail of that um...shall we say exposing night...but I want people who aren't able to talk with me to know some details. So here goes. Felix's birth story. My mom had been here the whole week before. Helping me wash baby clothes and organize and make room for the little tyke. She had to fly out for the weekend to speak back in Kansas and was coming right back on my due date. Only going to be gone four days! I was POSITIVE I was going to be late...isn't every first baby late??? So...Friday morning the 30th of September I drove her to the airport in Milwaukee at oh, five o'clock am. I dropped her off and her last words to me were; "you better not have that baby while I'm gone." Well...oops.
I came home and fell back to sleep, exhausted and didn't even get up to go sit with Andy in chapel. At about ten my phone buzzed and a friend asked if her and her six month old could come for a visit. I said sure and got out of bed and began getting myself presentable. I went to the bathroom and then went to let my friend in the building. As I opened the apartment doors to go downstairs my pants got REALLY wet. I immediately knew what happened...my water broke. But I was trying to figure out some way to hide it from my friend. haha I opened the door for her and then realized...ok, my pants are soaked. There is no way I'm going to be able to hide a wet bottom. So I said; um, my water just broke. Needless to say she was shocked and we talked and talked about what my next step should be. We had some good laughs about it all...every time I would move more would leak out. I changed my clothes about five times I think. I was going in to the doctor later that day because my blood pressure had been getting higher and so I called and told them what was up and they just said to come on in for my regular check up. I said bye to my friend and called Andy to tell him the plan. I picked him up from class and we drove to my appointment where the Doctor confirmed that my water had indeed broken. I got hooked up to the fetal heart rate monitor and they determined that baby was fine but no contractions. I was so nervous they would have to induce. I did NOT want that. The doctor told me to go home and get some rest and she'd call to check up on me. Her only advice was not to eat anything too heavy. Andy and I's first stop was at Wendy's for some chicken nuggets and a backed potato. That wasn't too heavy was it???
By the time we got home it was about 2:30. Andy had called in to work...just to be safe and he took a nap as soon as we got home. I tried to sleep but was too anxious. I called my mom and told her what was going on...and then just relaxed a bit and took a shower. Right after my shower the contractions started. They were mild at first...but I DEFINITELY knew what they were. They quickly got stronger and we began timing them as we made sure last minute things were ready. I expected to be able to do dishes but pretty soon my full time job was timing contractions. At 7 pm the doctor called and by then I couldn't talk through contractions and they were about five minutes apart. Lasting about a minute. She suggested we go ahead to the hospital because it would be hard to sit still when I was in so much pain. We loaded up the car and headed that way...slowly. We didn't actually get to the hospital till 8pm. I had never been so relieved to get somewhere before. We got checked in any our nurse asked us for our "birth plan." We both just looked at each other and said; We don't know what we're doing. On a side note, we had gone to a birthing class and knew we should have a birth plan but I was so scared that anything I wrote down, the opposite would happen. All I knew was I didn't want to be induced and I wanted to TRY it without an epidural. I'm NOT a huge fan of needles. I had made up my mind though that whatever the doctors recommended I would follow.
I was still not dilated to very much so the nurse started the bath for me and I labored in the whirlpool tub for...a long time. As soon as I climbed in to the hot water I told Andy that it felt AMAZING. My nurse brought me cold apple juice and I seriously thought it couldn't get much better than that. I LOVE hot baths...and I love apple juice. :) Andy made some phone calls and after that I didn't let him out of my sight. I needed him to talk me through every contraction. At that point I couldn't make any decisions for myself and he had to force me to think straight. The nurse would check on us but I don't think I said a word to her after that. I was just in too much pain. Andy did it all. When he saw that the water was getting colder and I wasn't handling the contractions as well he made me get out, dressed me and helped me find better positions to labor in. I think it had been about two and a half hours when both Andy and the nurse suggested I get an epidural. They could see that I was worn out and just not thinking very clearly and starting to get scared. The nurse assured me that it wouldn't slow down labor too badly because I was having such strong contractions. I was disappointed because I knew I probably still had a long way to go. I agreed to get an epidural. The nurse put my IV in as the resident came in to check to see how far along I was. She checked and looked up and said; She's breathed through these contractions all the way to a 9! The nurse acted like she didn't know what to do. She asked us what we wanted to do. I just looked at Andy and said; never mind.
After that I just stayed flat on my back on the bed and squeezed Andy's hand during each contraction. (By the way I could NOT have done this without Andy by my side. He was amazing through it all) The doctor arrived soon after and I began pushing. Pushing felt SO GOOD. Finally I could do something about the awful pain. It took me a few pushes to figure out what muscles to push with...it scared me at first and I'm sure the ENTIRE floor heard my screams. I was so afraid the doctor was going to get mad at me for screaming and I started apologizing between contractions. She just looked at me and said; "You're having a natural delivery, you can scream as much as you want." That made me feel good. Ten minutes later, at 11:21 pm after only six hours of labor Felix was on my chest. I didn't prepare myself for that moment. He was perfect and ALL MINE!
I LOVED being in the hospital. I loved having people wait on me hand and foot. I loved that everyone was cheering me on and I wasn't scolded for anything. Pregnancy was not fun for me because I always had people saying I needed to gain less weight, gain more weight (yes, that too), take more vitamins, eat healthier, exercise more, etc... Giving birth was so refreshing because everyone was on my side. I loved having a support system like that and knowing I was doing the right thing. Both Andy and I were just in shock over how well it all went. He was originally very nervous about watching the whole process but by the end he even cut the umbilical cord. (maybe TMI, sorry) I know it COULD have been a much different story and I feel incredibly blessed that God allowed me to stick to my plan. I now can join the ranks of every missionary woman who HAD to do it that way. (My mother) I feel so privileged. I love being a mom and I love that I have a healthy son! He's growing EVERY day and I promise I'll be posting tons more pictures and stories about his cute self later...
