Today my perfect baby boy is one week old!

As I’ve posted a Thursday Thoughts about my pre-term labor scare, I thought it’d only be fair to share my true labor story.

On July third I was scheduled for inducement. That’s right, after multiple pre-term labor scares and one month on bedrest my little one was 5 days late! We joke that he follows “Stuart time” – my husband’s definition of “a couple minutes” is at least 15 and “soon” could mean anywhere from 10-60+ minutes.

I was so nervous about having a holiday baby. Because I tend to obsess over holiday parties and themes I knew that I would struggle with having to share a birthday and holiday. Especially one of my favorite holidays! With my arrival time at the hospital of 4am I had 20 hours. (Of course, I knew that whatever day I finally became a mom wouldn’t matter. It’s definitely my new favorite day of the year!)

Here is the story of how Wesley entered the world:

At 3:15am I was eating a homemade waffle. And I had a cinnamon donut from Dunkin in the car on the way. At 4:00 we were checking in to the hospital. I absolutely loved my nursing staff and an IV was placed effortlessly. Hundreds of forms were signed and my food allergies recorded.

Around 5:30am they started the Pitocin drip at a rate of 2 miliunits/minute. After an hour that rate was increased to 4 and at 7:30 a resident came in to break my water. It was now at this point when I could feel the contractions.

I allowed the majority of my fluids to leak before changing tactics. I left the bed and bounced on the birthing ball. My mom rubbed my back through almost every contraction and I couldn’t be more grateful. As I was most definitely experiencing back labor, her efforts did not go unnoticed.

My biggest desire for “D-day” was to labor in water. In discussing this wish with my doctor earlier in the pregnancy I was informed that I could labor in the tub, but that I couldn’t deliver there. After a quick cervical check, my nurse informed me that if I wanted an epidural now would probably be the time. (I declined.) Additionally, if I wanted to get in the tub I’d have to do it now and have only 30 minutes before being asked to get out. This moment might be my favorite of the labor process – I was elated at my progress and knew that my chances of needing a c-section were slim-to-none.

After the bath my Pitocin drip was decreased from 6 back to 4. My contractions were back to back and the hospital team didn’t want to “over heat” my uterus! I returned to the birthing ball and also tried a few different positions in bed. The Pitocin was yet again reduced to 2 miliunits/minute before being cut off entirely.

I went quickly from 8 to 10 centimeters dilated and it was time to push at 1:00pm. The Pitocin drip was restarted to provide my contractions that extra oomph to help me push.

Pushing was such a frustrating and rewarding experience. It took at least 30-40 minutes for me to learn the technique. But two hours later, at 3:07pm it was all worth it.

The doctors lifted my baby up towards my husband and had him discover and declare, “It’s a boy!” My son was then placed skin-to-skin on my chest and Stuart cut the umbilical cord. I had to ask for my glasses back just so I could see this tiny person we created! As elated and proud as I was, I could only imagine what that moment was like for the newest dad!