Deacon's Birth Story

(Disclaimer: The following contains a lot of details that probably only I care about, way too many pictures, and may be considered TMI to some :)  

     My mom has always told me that you’re not ready to go into labor until you are so incredibly miserable pregnant that you would rather push a kid out of you than be pregnant for one more day. I was doing ok the last month of pregnancy, being really busy getting everything ready since we had moved back to NC. Until about the last 2 weeks or so…. like the day I went to the doctor at 38 weeks and she said “you would never guess you were pregnant by the looks of your cervix, you've made absolutely no progress”. And how they told me they may not induce me until I was 9 days overdue. Yes, I may have cried that day. But really it was the last week when the thought of being pregnant one more day made me want to cry. And that’s when I knew...I was ready for labor.

     I went into my 39 week appointment assuming I would still have made no progress (I never did anything on my own with Paige). We even had my mom’s flight booked for a week after my due date, just planning on me having to get induced. So I was completely shocked when the doctor said I was already dilated to a 3!!! I seriously couldn’t believe it! And since my cervix was finally looking “favorable” or “friendly” as I like to say, she scraped my membranes (which wasn’t bad at all, by the way), and told me she thought I would for sure go into labor within the next few days. I immediately called Ben (twice), which made him leave class because he thought I was in labor (oops!), and then called my mom. She didn’t want to risk missing the delivery, so she changed her ticket for a red-eye that night. I felt crampy the rest of the day, with occasional contractions. Right before bed I was feeling pretty miserable and we started timing the contractions, but of course as soon as we started timing them they stopped. 

      The next morning I woke up and felt totally fine. I was so bummed and worried that my mom was flying in early and now I wouldn’t have the baby for another week. We picked my mom up from the airport in the morning and after settling things in at the house we headed to the mall to try to walk the baby out. We wandered all through the mall (and ran into Jen & Lis) and had lunch at Panera. I had multiple people ask me when I was due or tell me how I must be due soon. I felt like everyone was staring at my giant belly that apparently looked very low. We stopped by the grocery store on the way home for a candy corn fix, and then I carried Paige upstairs for a nap, and settled in on the couch to rest. As soon as I laid down I felt water leak. This was at about 2:30 pm. At first I wasn't sure what had just happened. I went to the bathroom and still wasn’t convinced, since it wasn’t a ton, but as soon as I stood up a gush of water came out. I told my mom, “I think my water’s breaking!” and then called Ben to tell him to come home. I made it upstairs where more water came pouring out. I was feeling a little panicked at this point, as I quickly tried to throw things in the suitcase and call Jen to tell her we needed to drop Paige off. My cute mom went into frozen panic mode, and I looked over to see her staring at me while eating candy corn. It was actually hilarious. I got her to snap out of it and we got back downstairs where more water gushed everywhere. Thank goodness she was there to bring me 4 different pairs of leggings and wipe up all my floors. By the time Ben got home my contractions had started and were already very strong. Mom and Ben got everything (including sleeping Paige) in the car while I attempted to get a dry pair of pants on. I stood hunched over in the bathroom in pain while Ben gave me a blessing, and then we were off. 

      First we stopped by Jen’s house to drop off Paige. I felt guilty that my sweet little girl didn’t understand how much her world was about to change. Then we headed to the hospital, which is only like 8 minutes from our house, but it felt like an hour. By the end I was screaming at Ben to run the red lights, and just trying to remember how to breathe through contractions. When we pulled up I hobbled in and my mom grabbed a wheel chair, while Ben dealt with valet and getting all of our stuff. It seemed odd that no one helped us; it was just my poor mom wheeling me through the halls as I was trying not to scream. Luckily one doctor saw us (I’m pretty sure it was obvious I was in labor) and escorted us to the labor and delivery desk. Ben was up with us by the time they took me back and helped get me in my gown while I held on to him. He was very sweet and willing to do whatever I needed, but this time I realized I prefer to just not be touched during contractions and to just have it quiet. By the time they checked me I was already dilated to a 5! They put in my IV and finally gave me some drugs to take the edge off. Then they moved us to a room and we eventually started the epidural process, which really seemed like a long process this time. I could feel the needle a lot more with this one, especially as she pulled it out. But it didn’t hurt much and worked great! The drugs started kicking in and I felt like I could finally relax. Right after my epidural was in, at about 4:30/5:00, I was already dilated to a 7. Things slowed down more after that. The next few hours we called, texted, and facetimed family and friends, Ben and mom got some food, I reapplied some makeup (which the nurse didn’t like since it kept messing up my blood pressure reading) and we all rested up. I was checked about an hour later and was an 8. They didn’t want to check me much after that - just wanted me to tell them when I felt like things were progressing or I was feeling pressure. I wasn’t a fan of that, since I had an epidural and wasn’t feeling much at all. At about 7:30 I just started to lie and said I was starting to feel pressure so I wanted to be checked.  I was fully dilated, but still felt no pressure. They sat me up more in bed, and within a few minutes gravity took its toll and I was feeling a little more urge to push. I asked the nurse to turn on all of the lights and Ben to turn on some music so we would all wake-up a little. I needed energy to push! Ben played the Lumineers “Ho Hey”, since that is sung on Nashville, which has the character Deacon, and therefore Deacon’s song. I know, so dorky, but was a nice little pick-me-up. I remember thinking how calm everything felt. I didn’t feel nervous, just felt ready to have my baby here.

      My doctor was great in the sense that she is the head of her department and very skilled. However, her bedside manner was absolutely horrible. She literally sat at the end of the bed, crossed her arms, and told me to try pushing and depending on  how well the pushes went they would decide to fold down the bed and prepare for delivery. I felt confused and after an awkward silent moment, and not even knowing when my contractions were, I grabbed my legs and tried to push. It felt very strange, like I was trying to pass a test on my own. Finally I asked if they could tell me when I was contracting, and the doctor gave approval to get things ready. After the few initial pushes I started to be able to feel things better and know more where to push. About 15 minutes later, at 8:30 pm, he was out! This first thing the doctor said was, “He’s big! You really do hide your babies”. Uh yeah, thanks for believing me. We were all shocked by all of his dark hair. They laid him on my chest and I was in love. Right before I started pushing I told Ben and my mom how I felt bad because I loved the little baby in my belly but still didn’t feel a strong connection to him. It was amazing how instantly that changed when I held him. I just absolutely adored him and it felt like he had already been a part of our family forever. 

My first moment holding him

      He weighed in at 8 lbs 5 oz, and measured 20 in long. His head is just average size (shocking for my family), resulting in me only tearing to a 2! He was able to nurse well right from the get go, and everything about him looked perfectly healthy.

      Mom brought Paige the next morning to the hospital. She immediately knew that was baby Deacon and called him "brother". She was soft and sweet with him, but then quickly distracted by a balloon. It was a little surreal that we were now a family of 4!

Opening her new doll

    We spent 2 nights in the hospital and were grateful to have fun visitors (and especially the food they brought, since the food at Duke was a little scary)

John (very nervous to hold a newborn)

Lis & Jen

Julia

   We feel very grateful for how smooth everything went. He came 4 days early (such a nice surprise), labor went so much better than I could have ever imagined, recovery has been great, and Deacon is a healthy, content, adorable little boy. We are completely smitten.

Getting ready to go home