A baby (boy) story -- The grand appearance
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{Here's part 1}
{Here's part 2}
{Here's part 3}
We had known for a while that my doctor wasn't actually going to be there, so I'd come to accept that, even though I was a bit disappointed. The doctor that was going to do the delivery, Dr. Newman, was a super nice lady who was a nice combo of comforting and commanding. She checked me and, as everyone had been doing, commented on how strange it was that my water hadn't broken. But she didn't break it, and kind of just had a "let's see what happens" attitude about it.
So everyone got in place -- I had a nurse on one leg, and Dallin on the other, and my mom and sisters (we'd gained one) standing off to the side. My epidural was perfect and didn't hinder my pushing at all. It took me a few pushes to really be pushing correctly, but once I did, things moved really quickly.
At some point, my water "sort of" broke. Please don't ask me to explain that, because I honestly have NO idea about how it all medically worked. I just know that some water came out while I was pushing, but most of was in there until after the baby was born.
And speaking of that sweet baby of mine being born...
I swear, when my babies are born, time stops. I know it's not like that for every mother, but it absolutely is for me. Parker made a fairly quiet entrance. He wasn't screaming (or even crying, which made me a little nervous for about 30 seconds until they really got him going). He didn't pee everywhere. He wasn't "shocking" looking -- he was really clean and very pink and had a perfectly round head with a lot of dark hair. He was big, but not huge. He was my perfect little boy, and I knew him. I'd been with him for 9 months, and suddenly this little person that I was already so close to, but hadn't yet seen, was right there in front of me. I laughed through my tears and looked at him and his daddy and felt like my heart had just grown a new physical space that was specifically set apart to contain my love for this little guy.
I held Parker for just a bit before they whisked him away to do all that stuff they do to new babies. He clocked in at 8 lbs, 4 oz (which was exactly what I had guessed before he was born - boo yah!), and his first and second apgar scores were both nines. The nurses called him the "movie star" baby because of how clean and pink he was. They spent a while getting fluid out of his mouth and throat, but it was never a major concern.
Nor was the amount of fluid in his mouth surprising, because -- well, at the risk of being slightly graphic here, there was quite the flood right after Parker came out and (the main section of??) my water finally broke. Lots and lots...and lots...of fluid.
So it certainly wasn't surprising that the little guy needed to be cleared out a bit. But what was surprising was when, after the placenta was delivered and I had gotten my one little stitch and the doctor was taking off her mask and gloves, she looked at me and Dallin and said, "You know, that bag of waters may have saved your baby's life."
Again, don't ask me for any kind of detailed medical explanation, but here's what I gathered from what she said: my placenta had a small tear in it. Apparently it was of such a nature that if it had bled out at all, the baby would have been seriously deprived of oxygen and chances of a stillbirth would have skyrocketed. That "bulging" bag of waters, however, was putting pressure on the tear in such a way that it didn't bleed out. If my water had broken, it probably would have been accompanied by quite a bit of blood, which would have prompted an emergency c-section. A NICU stay would have been almost certain as the best case scenario, with a stillbirth being (obviously) the worst.
{Here's part 2}
{Here's part 3}
We had known for a while that my doctor wasn't actually going to be there, so I'd come to accept that, even though I was a bit disappointed. The doctor that was going to do the delivery, Dr. Newman, was a super nice lady who was a nice combo of comforting and commanding. She checked me and, as everyone had been doing, commented on how strange it was that my water hadn't broken. But she didn't break it, and kind of just had a "let's see what happens" attitude about it.
So everyone got in place -- I had a nurse on one leg, and Dallin on the other, and my mom and sisters (we'd gained one) standing off to the side. My epidural was perfect and didn't hinder my pushing at all. It took me a few pushes to really be pushing correctly, but once I did, things moved really quickly.
At some point, my water "sort of" broke. Please don't ask me to explain that, because I honestly have NO idea about how it all medically worked. I just know that some water came out while I was pushing, but most of was in there until after the baby was born.
And speaking of that sweet baby of mine being born...
I swear, when my babies are born, time stops. I know it's not like that for every mother, but it absolutely is for me. Parker made a fairly quiet entrance. He wasn't screaming (or even crying, which made me a little nervous for about 30 seconds until they really got him going). He didn't pee everywhere. He wasn't "shocking" looking -- he was really clean and very pink and had a perfectly round head with a lot of dark hair. He was big, but not huge. He was my perfect little boy, and I knew him. I'd been with him for 9 months, and suddenly this little person that I was already so close to, but hadn't yet seen, was right there in front of me. I laughed through my tears and looked at him and his daddy and felt like my heart had just grown a new physical space that was specifically set apart to contain my love for this little guy.
I held Parker for just a bit before they whisked him away to do all that stuff they do to new babies. He clocked in at 8 lbs, 4 oz (which was exactly what I had guessed before he was born - boo yah!), and his first and second apgar scores were both nines. The nurses called him the "movie star" baby because of how clean and pink he was. They spent a while getting fluid out of his mouth and throat, but it was never a major concern.
Nor was the amount of fluid in his mouth surprising, because -- well, at the risk of being slightly graphic here, there was quite the flood right after Parker came out and (the main section of??) my water finally broke. Lots and lots...and lots...of fluid.
So it certainly wasn't surprising that the little guy needed to be cleared out a bit. But what was surprising was when, after the placenta was delivered and I had gotten my one little stitch and the doctor was taking off her mask and gloves, she looked at me and Dallin and said, "You know, that bag of waters may have saved your baby's life."
Again, don't ask me for any kind of detailed medical explanation, but here's what I gathered from what she said: my placenta had a small tear in it. Apparently it was of such a nature that if it had bled out at all, the baby would have been seriously deprived of oxygen and chances of a stillbirth would have skyrocketed. That "bulging" bag of waters, however, was putting pressure on the tear in such a way that it didn't bleed out. If my water had broken, it probably would have been accompanied by quite a bit of blood, which would have prompted an emergency c-section. A NICU stay would have been almost certain as the best case scenario, with a stillbirth being (obviously) the worst.
There were so many "what ifs" about the whole thing. If it had been Charly's doctor, they probably would have broken my water, since they did with her. If Parker had been positioned differently, or the tear had been in a different spot, or there hadn't been so much fluid, or anything else...things could have gone very differently for our little family. And the one thing about this story that haunts me more than any other is this: I had prayed -- I mean, literally, prayed -- that my water would break so I could have my baby sooner. I had prayed for something that could have caused my baby serious harm.
I'm really grateful that my prayer wasn't answered. I'm really grateful that I wasn't the one in charge. I'm really grateful that this doctor was inspired to just "see what happened." And I'm really, really grateful that my little guy was able to make it to us safely and without complication. If his perfect little self wasn't enough of a miracle, I feel like the way he arrived definitely was.
The rest of our hospital stay was mostly uneventful. I did have some moderate clotting (I was told "grapefruit-sized," if your day was lacking some nice imagery) that freaked everyone out just a bit and made me all sorts of tired and pale and shaky and other super attractive things.
Other than that, things went pretty smoothly. I had to stay in bed MUCH longer than usual because they didn't want to take out my catheter or my IV while there was still a chance of more bleeding. My IV stayed in the entire day, in fact. So annoying, although I suppose I would have been grateful for it if it had actually been needed.
We had plenty of visitors at the hospital, which was great. We're so lucky to have so many people around us that love and support us. I think my favorite visit, though, was from the girls. I was still an exhausted mess when they came to meet their baby brother, but I don't think that was the only thing that brought on my tears when they came in the room.
I just love them all so, so much.
Parker was born at 9:50 AM on Saturday, and we left the hospital around 5 PM on Sunday. Here's Parker in his beyond precious going home outfit:
And well, I guess that's about it! Can you believe it?! You never thought this day would come, did you? It only took me a month to get the whole story written, but hey, I have three kids now -- cut me some slack.
Hopefully, someday (I would say "someday soon" but hahahaha), I'll have a chance to write about how postpartum things went/are going for me this time around, but I'd say this birth story is wrapped up. Thank you, reader friends, for putting up with the excruciating detail and multiple posts; who knew I'd be one of "those moms" who shares every.little.thing with the entire world? Ah well, might as well embrace it.
And now I'm off to snuggle my little man and get my 3-year-old the glass of milk she's been asking for for the past hour. Awesome.
