Braden Danger’s Birth Story

Saturday, November 26 – It’s a no go.

The Saturday after Thanksgiving, I started having contractions. Since Dallas’s whole family was at his grandparents house (where we live), they were all super excited that I would have the baby while they were all there. We went to Labor & Deliver (L&D) Saturday morning with contractions that weren’t very bad, but they were less than 5 minutes apart. I was only at a 1 and was sent home to drink water and take some Tylenol to see if they would go away.

That night, after dinner, I was having much worse contractions, and my stomach felt like it wouldn’t relax, so I couldn’t tell where the contractions started and ended. Another trip to L&D showed that I was still only at a 1, and my contractions were about 7-8 minutes apart. At that point I was sick of getting sent home, so the nurse explained that I shouldn’t be able to walk or talk through the contractions as easily as I was doing… (*sigh*) Okay, fine.

So over the next couple of weeks I still had random contractions, but nothing that was actual labor contractions. The due date (Wednesday, December 7th) came and went and I watched the whole Pirates of the Caribbean series and ate way too much kettle corn.

Thursday, December 8 – Can I have a baby NOW??

Thursday morning I got up to go to the bathroom and A LOT of blood fell in the toilet. I called L&D this time so that I wouldn’t just get sent home again if I went in. The nurse told me that it was a normal thing and that I should still just drink lots of water and wait for my contractions to get at 4-5 minutes apart. I also read online that this “bloody show” is just the cervix softening and labor usually starts 24 hours to a few days after (WHOO!).

So Dallas stayed home from work, and we started the Bourne movie series! That night, my friend Somaia came over to visit and get some help with her homework. We were all sitting in the kitchen, and I was having pretty painful contractions that were about 8 minutes apart. Somaia was so terrified that I was going to have the baby in the kitchen. I had to reassure her that I was definitely NOT having him in the kitchen and it was going to take a lot longer than that. Haha.

After she went home, we only had the last Bourne movie left to watch. So Dallas started it and we kept track of my contractions all through the movie (where I stayed hunched over the birthing ball the entire time).

Friday, December 9 – Hooray! They didn’t send me home!

When the movie was over, I struggled to get ready for bed, and it was about 1am Friday morning. I could NOT lay down because that made the contractions like a million times worse. Dallas kept track of my contractions for the next hour and they were 4-5 minutes apart. HALLELUJAH! (I guess we just had to finish the ‘Bourne’ series in order for this baby to be ‘born’).

We packed up at 2am and went to L&D. If you can believe it , I was still only at a 1+! Kill me. But my Nurse Midwife told them to see if shot of morphine would help relax me enough to start me dilating. I finally started dilating after that, which was a relief because that shot in the butt hurt, and I did not want to go home!

I got moved to a different room and they started me on the smallest amount of pitocin to help me dilate a little bit quicker. ALL of my awareness of what time of day it was went out the window after that. At one point I got to a 3.5 and the nurse was checking me right in the middle of a contraction and my water broke. After that I quickly got to a 4.5, and I was tired. I asked for the epidural after that.

Can I just say, it is hard to hunch your back when there is a baby in the way! But I did it. After the epidural was put in, I could still sort of feel my right leg, mostly because I could still feel where they had given me the shot of morphine in my butt. Haha. But the doctor put an extra dose of whatever that magic medicine is in my epidural and laid me on my right side. Epidurals are of the Gods. I was SO grateful to be able to get some rest after that.

I think at some point Dallas asked if he could go and get some food before everything went down. He said I basically just grunted at him and went back to sleep, so I obviously didn’t care. Haha. I kept falling asleep, but I tried to breathe through the contractions the best I could since I could still feel the pressure, just not the pain of it all.

I FINALLY got to a 9 and my nurse midwife was there to deliver baby around 6:30pm. Dallas helped hold one of my legs while I pushed, and I pushed about 10 times to get baby’s head out. After that, the rest of his body came out in another couple of pushes. Dallas got to cut the cord (which he thinks is overrated apparently, but still cool), and they took baby over to the table to weigh him and clean him up a little bit. Braden Danger was born at 6:57pm, weighed a whopping 9lbs 14oz, and was 22.5 inches long.

I was running a fever the entire time I was in labor, plus I had tested positive for GBS about a month before, so I was getting pumped with antibiotics the whole time before and afterwards. When Braden’s shoulders were coming out, one got caught and ripped me pretty good. I had 3rd degree tearing, so while they were stitching me up afterwards, they laid Braden on my chest, and I got to hold MY BABY. He was crying up until they laid him on my chest, and then he immediately stopped. I was scared for a minute because I didn’t know why he stopped crying so quickly. He just needed his Mommy apparently. 🙂 Oh, and those fingers that he never fails to keep out of his mouth.

Since they were nervous Braden might have gotten an infection from me, they sent him to the NICU after he laid on me for about a half an hour. I was moved to the Mom & Baby floor of the hospital and was able to rest (sort of).

Saturday & Sunday, December 10 & 11 – Let’s never relive these days again.

I was able to make it down to the NICU a couple of times, but it was a very painful process and I wasn’t doing very well on Saturday and Sunday. It made me so sad to see him with so many tubes and IV’s in the NICU, but the nurses were stellar, and I knew he was in good hands. Plus,  Dallas made it a point to go and visit him lots, which I was grateful for. Those were really rough days where I was in a lot of pain and really struggling to go to the bathroom after they took the catheter out. Thankfully they found a different solution to that, and I am happy to never relive those days ever again.

Sunday evening Braden was finally off oxygen and antibiotics, so they brought him to my room so I could start feeding him and so they could take him off of the feeding tube and IV that was giving him the sugar he needed. It was a long night, but I was grateful to have my Mom stay the night with us so that she could help him when he started to cry or make noises through the night.

Monday, December 12 – We’re going home!

Monday morning he was doing well enough that they discharged him and he was finally cordless! I was feeling better and could even walk around the halls without holding onto the back of the wheelchair. I even showered! At 6pm I was discharged and we all got to go home!!

Thankfully it’s gone uphill from there, and we’re both doing really well. My mom stayed until the next weekend (she’s a total saint), and she helped us with everything. Dallas is an amazing Dad and has helped so much since I haven’t been able to get up and around very easily while I recover. We are so grateful for all of the love and support we have had from friends and family. Braden Danger is SO loved and I think he knows it. 🙂