Bryce's Birth Story

I need to record my memories of Bryce's birth before the details are permanently lost and/or distorted. Just a couple warnings - first, this is the LONG version (for my own and posterity's sake), second, it might be more information that some might prefer. Just know you've been warned...

Bryce's official due date was April 1, 2008 (yes, April's Fool's Day). However, I was certain he would be a March baby since Aubree was eight days early and plenty big at 8 lbs. 6 oz.. Thursday, March 13th, I went walking with friends and started having fairly strong contractions. I refused to acknowledge them because I really wanted to be able to take Aubree to the Big Sister class at the hospital that Sunday. The contractions slowed, but were off and on all weekend. In fact, at one point on Saturday they were every 5 minutes and Mark and I packed our bags - just in case. I kept telling Bryce, "please, just wait for the weekend to be over, then you can come anytime." Well, he listened - maybe too well.

Monday afternoon (March 17th), I had a doctor's appointment. My doctor, Dr. Ivery, checked and seemed surprised to find I was 4-5 cm dilated. She stripped my membranes and commented that she'd probably see me at the hospital the next day (that's a bad, bad thing for doctor's to say!). Then the waiting game began. From my experience with Aubree I knew that in order for things to progress my water needed to break. Days went by...a week passed. My mom made a comment, "maybe he's just waiting for me to arrive" (her plane tickets were for March 26th). I thought there was no way he would wait that long. Turned out she was right.

Dr. Ivery offered to break my water Wednesday, March 26th, at the hospital. I jumped at the chance! The timing worked out wonderfully. Mark picked up my mom at the airport Wednesday morning. They came home long enough to have a quick lunch then we got in the car, dropped Aubree off at a friend's home, and headed to the hospital. We arrived shortly after noon and filled out the necessary paperwork. I felt a bit strange telling the front desk worker, "I'm here to have a baby," when I obviously wasn't in labor. We got up to the maternity ward and started to get things going. The labor and delivery nurse, Donna, instructed me to change into the "oh so chic" hospital gown, then they would start the IV with pitocin. What?!? "No, no!," I exclaimed, Dr. Ivery is only going to break my water, I'm not getting pitocin!" Donna responded, "do you want to see my orders?" I answered, "if you're going to give me pitocin, I'm going home!" She double checked with Dr. Ivery and we all agreed she would only break my water.

*** Important Side Note *** I planned on having Bryce naturally - no epidural. Originally my reasoning was because when I got to the hospital with Aubree I was already 6 cm dilated. I had heard that many hospitals won't allow mothers who already had vaginal births to get an epidural once they were more than 6-7 cm. dilated. That made me think that there would be a good chance I wouldn't even have an option for an epidural with Bryce, so I'd better prepare myself for a natural birth, just in case. To prepare, I read many, many books about labor and delivery and decided that the risks associated with having an epidural outweighed the benefits. That's part of the reason I was so anti-pitocin. ***

The nurse hooked me up to the fetal monitor for about 20 minutes and I was having NO contractions. Shortly after 1 p.m. Dr. Ivery came in and broke my water. I spent the next three hours walking the halls with my good friend Amy (who is a former labor and delivery nurse) and Mark (my mom took a nap because she had flown all night). The first two hours I hardly felt any contractions. We walked and talked and Amy and Mark even made me do squats at the end of each lap to try to help speed things up. Around 3:30 I started to get contractions every few minutes that made me stop walking. By 4 pm the contractions really hurt and I went back to the room and crawled into bed. The nurse checked and I was 7 cm dilated.

The next couple hours are a bit of a blur. I remember getting on the birthing ball shortly after getting back to the room. That helped relieve the pain a little, but then Bryce must have moved because I had a big gush of water. I went to the bathroom to clean up and that's when things got REALLY intense. I started shaking and sweating and I couldn't move on my own. Mark came and helped me back to bed and I threw up. I realized I was in transition, but that knowledge didn't make the contractions any less painful. There was no break in between each contraction so I tried to deal with them as well as I could. At one point I think I said, "If only I had a break, I could do this!"

Around 5 pm the nurse checked and said I was at 8 cm. I almost cried! Only 1 cm in the past hour! Amy tried to encourage me by saying, "you'll probably have your baby in an hour." That didn't sound encouraging to me. I replied, "you just said the 'h' word." "Hour" might as well have been "week" the way I felt. I began to wonder what was really so bad about an epidural anyway? When the nurse had checked me however, it must have stimulated Bryce because I immediately felt him shift and start moving down (ouch!). Mercifully the contractions became further apart and I had a minute or two between each one to breath and collect myself. That made it SO much easier to bear.

Sometime around 6 pm Dr. Ivery showed up and the hospital room began to fill up with people. To be honest, I didn't notice much of it because my eyes were closed and I was focused on myself. I do recall hearing people chatting casually and thinking that was strange. Dr. Ivery told me I was completely dilated and said I could push when I felt like it. Then she asked, "why didn't you push? What's your concern?" I hadn't felt the "urge" yet. I thought that was slightly amusing.

When I was in the transition phase I was really looking forward to the pushing phase because every book I read described the pushing phase as a relief. With Aubree I pushed for three hours and I was hoping/expecting a much shorter time with Bryce. I thought that pushing for 10-20 minutes would be great. Well, let's just say that the pushing stage was never a relief because I only pushed for about 30 seconds! Once I felt the "urge" and started pushing, Bryce's head popped right out. To say I was surprised would be the understatement of the year! I started yelling (something along the lines of, "AAAAAAOOOOOOWWWWWWWWWW"), but he was out super fast and then I felt total and complete relief.

Dr. Ivery put Bryce on my chest and I looked at this beautiful, perfect son and was completely overwhelmed with gratitude and love. What a tremendous moment! We stayed in the labor room with Bryce for a couple hours and got to hold him and admire him. Aubree even came shortly after he was born and was thrilled to see "her" baby. Bryce weighed 8 lbs. 15 oz!! He was 20 1/4 inches long and his head was 13 1/2 inches.

Overall, real "labor" only lasted less than 2 1/2 intense hours. Not too bad. The best part of not having an epidural was that my recovery was super quick and easy. I could immediately get out of bed and take a shower and I felt energized and powerful.

I am so thankful my mom was able to be there to see her grandson born. I couldn't have had a better support team - Mark, my mom, and Amy were the perfect combination. Dr. Ivery and the nurse made several comments about what a great labor and delivery experience it was for them and even thanked us for allowing them to be a part of it. Of course, the best part is having Bryce!