Parker’s Birth Story

Holy November. Where has the time gone? When it comes to having kids, they say they grow up way too fast… and I understand more fully now. I’ve spent my days trying to keep my head above water and learn how to care for our newborn and recover and all that stuff and now at the end of the week Parker will be a month old.

Seriously? So before too much time passes I wanted to pop in on the blog to share our birth story and give you a little newborn update 🙂 Note to my foodie only readers– this post isn’t super graphic but I will talk about some medical stuff so if you are not into that hang tight.. I’ll be back with a recipe tomorrow. Is that cool? Okay– thanks.

Eric and I had a 40 weeks prenatal appointment on Friday morning, but I woke up with a little drainage– it seemed just like a small leak. We assumed my water must have broken overnight so we called the doctor and they suggested we go to the hospital for an evaluation. We packed our bags in the car and I did my makeup and got ready of course! Gotta look good for the post delivery photos, right?

I was a day over my due date at this point and after spending the morning at the hospital they sent us home saying it was a false alarm… the leak was heavy discharge which is common near the end of pregnancy. 

So we were bummed but grabbed some lunch together  Eric went to work and I started maternity leave at the beginning of the week so I did some more baby prep and went on a long walk. Around 8pm that night we meet up with my sister in law and her family for dinner. On our way to dinner, I called the doctor again because I was experiencing continued  “leakage” throughout the day and I wanted to see what tests they ran and if it was normal to soak through a maxi pad. The doctor told us to go to dinner but we needed to come back in for further evaluation and that they needed to do an ultrasound (which they should have ran that morning but the doc was in the O.R. so the triage nurse took care of me).

Eric and I had to run back by the house to get our hospital bags just in case. We made it to the hospital around 10:30/11pm that evening and the doctor confirmed that indeed there was a slow leak of amniotic fluid and the baby didn’t have enough left so they needed to induce me to start labor.

Ugh– I was in tears hearing the news. Of course I would do whatever we needed to do for the health of our baby boy, but being induced was not what I had in mind. I was planning on a natural unmedicated delivery. At this point I was only 1cm dilated and 50% effaced… mind you I was stuck here since 36 weeks. Baby was super comfy inside the womb obviously.

So at 1:30 on Saturday morning, the nurse placed a super tiny pill inside my cervix called ‘miso’ to start the process and dilate my cervix. The plan was to give me the pill every 4 hours until contractions started and then start Pitocin to speed it along. Well, the miso pill did it’s job and my contractions pretty much started right away. And then all hell broke loose.

I really don’t know how else to describe what I went through with my labor besides sheer hell and I felt like I was in battle. I was blindsided. What I was envisioning about childbirth did not pan out to say the least. I thought I would go into labor on my own and it would be a speedy delivery and my body would do what it needed to do without need for medications, it would just be a tough workout. I see myself as being pretty strong and have a decent tolerance for pain, so I thought I could get through it with my yoga poses, walking, breathing through contractions and Eric by my side.

But boy was I wrong. I don’t know if I was the induction that make labor so horrible or what but I was on my knees and “all over the place” in pain, vomiting and feeling totally unwell. I couldn’t sit still or allow by body to relax because the contractions were coming on so strong for so long. I endured the pain for nearly 10 hours before the nurse convinced me to get some pain management through my IV. I still had to breathe through the contractions but it just took the edge off.

At that point they did a cervical check and I was only 5cm and still 50% effaced and I lost so much hope. I just knew I must be getting close to having this baby with the pain and contractions I was going through. My stamina was waining and I was only half way there. After talking with Eric and the nurse, I knew I wouldn’t have the energy physically or emotionally to push and be present for the delivery and for Parker if I had to labor for 10 more hours like that. So, I said yes to the epidural.

I was nervous about getting the epidural because you have to be super still and I didn’t know if I had it in me to be still since I was seriously “all over the place” in pain. I had to breath through about 3 contractions while they were placing the epidural but seriously that drug is some kind of happy juice. After I got the epidural I was so chill and happy. I went from wanting nobody except Eric in the room with me to “who wants to come say hi”– my whole fam was in the waiting room so they all came in our room to say hello. I’m telling you it was like night and day. And after that high, I decided to take a nap. I was so exhausted. We both got some good rest which was much needed. Gosh, if I would have only known that being induced would take as long as it did I would not have waited to get the epidural. Lesson learned… the hard way.

So after the nap, they did a cervical check and I was at 7cm and 60% effaced. I wasn’t super numbed to where I couldn’t feel my feet, but it was just right. I got to a point in which I could just feel our baby about to enter the world and called the doctor. They checked me and I was 100% effaced and 9 or 10cm. We were getting closer to delivery but they wanted me to lay in a particular positions so that they baby would “drop” into the birth canal before I started pushing. I laid in several positions for an hour to an hour and a half before pushing. I could feel contractions coming on and my legs were strong which I was happy about because I wanted the pushing part to be effective.

Around 8:30/40pm I started pushing and we had our baby at 8:56pm! Eric Parker LaRue III (better known as Parker) was 7 pounds 10 ounces and 20 inches. I was in total shock and screaming when the doctor pulled our baby out and placed him on my chest. I just didn’t think it would happen so fast. The nurses coached me through and Eric was encouraging me the whole time. I cannot say enough praises about the medical team that delivered our baby, and boy was I thankful I had the epidural for all those stitches!

Rachel V made it to the hospital just in time for delivery so she snapped all of these precious pictures that we will always treasure. I’m so thankful to have her as a friend and that she captured these unforgettable moments for us. And yes, Eric was watching football in the delivery room– little did I know until I saw this photo. Boys will be boys I suppose 🙂

I’ll pop back in later this week to share what’s been going on “lately” since we’ve brought Parker home!

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