I was able to share my birth story (kind-of), on my Instagram a while back, but due to how long I was trying to make it, it had to be cut short.
I’ve been wanting to go into detail about how I felt, what was going on, everything, for so long. So, I that’s what I’m going to do-
For starters, I can officially say we were not prepared.
Asher’s due date was on January 3, 2017.
I was working as a Part-Time Supervisor in retail which was supposed to be about 25 hours a week. During holidays, which it was November/ December, the hours got up to almost 40 hours a week… but I was always clocking at 39.9 because they didn’t want to give me benefits. (That’s fair, right?)
Anyway, between Black Friday and family, I was mentally and physically exhausted. I was on my feet so much and my legs and feet were swollen and I felt like a whale. I was so moody. Work was literally kicking my butt.
I had a checkup at 36 weeks at my doctor’s office and I was 1cm dilated, which surprised my doctor but we weren’t expecting much. We did believe, though, that Asher possibly would come in late December.
A few days later, I woke up around 5am feeling pretty uncomfortable. Asher had his butt pressed up against my stomach and I was cramping but it wasn’t hurting at all. Jacob went to work at 6:30am and I couldn’t go back to sleep, so I started timing the cramps.
They were super inconsistent.
Around 10:30 they had picked up but not enough to make me stop in pain. I had a shift later that afternoon so I went ahead and called in to let them know I was going to the hospital to get checked and I may be able to come into work later.
That’s when I threw some clothes on, a few things in a bag and drove myself 20 minutes to the hospital.
When I got there, I was starting to lose my breath over these contractions but I still didn’t feel like anything was going to happen because they were not that bad and it was a while before his due date.
They got me in a gown, hooked me up and I laid there while I was monitored for an hour.
During that first hour, Jacob texted me, checking on me, asking if he should leave work and I kept pushing him away, saying I’ll be home soon enough.
I also got tons of phone calls from my manager asking if I was coming in. I kept saying I’d let him know, and tried to be as nice as I could when saying so.
After the first hour, the contractions became painful, and they were definitely consistent but too far apart. They decided to watch me for another hour and put me on bed rest for the weekend, but they could not admit me because I wasn’t at 37 weeks yet.
I let my manager know, calling him between a contraction. It seemed like a never ending phone call that should have lasted only a 30 seconds. During his ramblings, I was thinking of ways to rip his head off because I was in so much pain.
After that hour, I was checked and sent home. The nurse let me know to get some take a bath, take a Tylonal PM, and get some sleep. She joked that I may be back later that day but she doubted it, and off I went.
Luckily, Jacob’s co-workers convinced him to leave work against my wishes and he picked me up from the hospital. I couldn’t even stand, I was in so much pain.
We stopped by Walgreens to get some medicine so I could sleep, and while Jacob was inside, I was trying to control my breathing, and gripping the interior of the car in every way possible.
Once home, Jacob ran a bath for me and helped me in. Within the 5 minutes of me getting my hair wet, trying to relax, and basically about to cry, the pain got even worse and I had to be helped to bed.
Jacob gave me my body pillow that had been my best friend throughout the entire pregnancy and he hopped on his video game next to me in bed, and I tried to get some sleep.
It was impossible. I couldn’t get comfortable, I couldn’t stand the noise coming from the TV or Jacob’s voice… and that’s when I felt a pop and a gush of water.
I sat up quickly and froze. Jacob looked at me concerned and I quickly ran to the bathroom, letting him know that I thought my water had broken.
I stood there gripping the side of the bathroom counter, trying to figure out if my water had actually broken.
I had read that when your water breaks the gush can last a lot longer than mine did, and if it did break and I didn’t get to the hospital in time, that I could be prone to infection.
Then I got a contraction that made me almost scream, so I told Jacob we needed to go back to the hospital… now.
In panic (from what I could tell as he helped me get dressed), he gathered our things together which was just a bunch of random clothes and blankets. His phone was dinging from people texting us, trying to see how I was doing and I clenched my teeth and told him to turn the damn thing off.
I was in so much pain.
We got to the hospital not long after and I had to get up to the second floor of the hospital by myself while Jacob parked the car. I made it to the second floor, right outside the elevator before I had to stop and lean against a wall to try to calm down.
Luckily, Jacob got up to me quickly and helped me get in to be checked again by the nurses.
I was quickly stripped and helped into a gown. Jacob had to help stand and then lay down.
When checked, I tensed up and was basically crying because it hurt so bad, and they weren’t gentle about it. Asher’s head was right there. I didn’t have a cervix left.
Quickly, I was put in a wheel chair and taken to a room.
We passed by the nurses station and the nurse that had helped me earlier that day smiled and said, “Well, I see you’re back!”
Another nurse said, “We can go ahead and do this naturally since you’re already so far progressed. Why not?”
I didn’t appreciate her joke. I wanted my epidural and I wanted it now.
Once in the room, the IV had to be inserted before I could have my epidural.
This was a long and painful process.
Whenever I was having my routine checkups and blood was drawn, it was extremely hard to find my veins. It took forever.
Well, they couldn’t find a vein. It was so bad, they had to bring in a machine that helped them find a vein. I was poked probably 6 times before the IV was in.
During all this, I was bawling. I was gripping onto Jacob and saying I couldn’t do it. I told him I couldn’t handle it. I just wanted my epidural. I felt like I was dying.
Finally, I got the IV in and the epidural was on its way.
Honestly, I was terrified that the epidural going in was going to hurt, but I didn’t feel a thing considering it has to be inserted while you’re having a contraction.
When it finally kicked in, I was happy. I was calm and I was smiling.
I felt ready.
I was just numb from the waist down.
At this point, I was exhausted. They gave me some ice chips and Jacob and I waited for a little while. I got to relax for a moment.
Then, my nurse asked if I was ready to push.
Let me go ahead and say… I loved my nurse. I didn’t mention it, by my OBGYN is my best friend’s mom. And she had just gone out of town. I had to have whoever was on-call for Asher’s birth.
I didn’t think this was an issue until I met this doctor… but, I’ll get to that.
My nurse was loved by my doctor and I see why.
She was extremely sweet. She kept conversation with me, kept me calm, kept me motivated. When it was time to push, she helped me focus, and we tried some techniques that my doctor liked to use that she had remembered.
Even one of the nurses gave me one of her hair ties because my wet, messy hair from my bath earlier was making me sweat.
Jacob was my rock through the entire labor, though. He let me hold onto him, dig my nails into his hand, and played with my hair to help me relax.
The nurses did most of the work until the on-call doctor arrived.
Now, during this part, my Tylonal kicked in. I was starting to fall asleep between pushes. I was so tired. We weren’t progressing as much as we hoped and my doctor was getting frustrated.
Apparently, she was known for doing C-Sections if things didn’t go as fast as she wanted. I was fortunate enough to have my doctor call and tell her not to rush me and let me do this on my own.
At 11:46pm that night, the doctor had to use the vacuum she had on Asher’s head and Asher was pulled out.
This was a blur to me because I was mentally and physically exhausted, and that medicine I took earlier had about knocked me out.
Later I learned that the doctor that filled in for my own, had cut Asher’s cord and didn’t let Jacob do it. She didn’t ask, she just did it and gave him to a nurse.
Jacob didn’t question it at the time because he was more focused on making sure Asher was ok, which is what I wanted. But, later this really hit me because I really wanted Jacob to cut the cord as much as he wanted to do it. But, like I said, I can barely remember.
Asher was taken to be cleaned up and checked, and I was checked as well.
I remember looking over at Jacob as he stood over Asher and let Asher grab his finger moments after his birth. Jacob was crying and I was laying there, trying to smile as big as I could with all the energy I had left.
I was so incredibly happy, but I was so tired, that I couldn’t show it.
Asher was wrapped up in blankets and brought to me with Jacob by my side.
He was literally perfection in every way. I couldn’t believe that Jacob and I made this tiny human being. We couldn’t believe that were parents at 19 and 21.
Asher was born December 9, 2016 at 11:46pm. Fourteen minutes shy of Jacob’s birthday of December 10th, and a two weeks from my December 17th birthday.
We stayed in the hospital from Friday to Monday due to Asher having minor jaundice that they wanted to monitor.
I was in pain but I felt good. I felt accomplished and happy.
When we left the hospital, we got Fuji as a celebratory lunch, and I rhode in the backseat with Asher as Jacob drove.
We were so proud to show the world that we had made this perfect baby and that we were parents.
To this day, I still think my chubby-cheeked six-month old is the perfect baby just like any other proud mom would think.
I will never forget that December night.
