He is here! This little squish of baby that started out with a lot of morning nausea and transformed into uncomfortable heartburn and lack of sleep, he is here! I’m still vaguely confused on how he was once inside of me, but I couldn’t be more ecstatic that he decided to come out.

If you don’t want to read about his birth, please feel free to exit now or just scroll down to the pictures.. let’s be honest, that’s the best part (I’m mainly just writing this so I remember the details, because sleep deprivation memory loss is real).

Little boy was being stubborn and was apparently very comfortable in the my hot tub of a uterus. His due date was January 3, and because I had some extra fluid and some higher blood pressures we scheduled an induction date for January 5. Nathan and I drove to the hospital that night very excited and also very naive. We had heard that most inductions move pretty slow, so we brought some games and were planning on watching some movies and getting some sleep before things really got moving in the morning. I think he even said at one point it was kind of like we were going to a sleepover. I don’t know if there ever was a sleepover full of the most pain I’ve ever felt, lots of vomit, and a deep, deep love for the anesthesiologist  who gave me my epidural, but if there was, I’d probably be concerned.

Anyways, we got settled and things got rolling around 8:30 pm. By things I mean a balloon shoved into my cervix and some pitocin. It was great fun. We called and let Emily (my sister-in-law, makeshift doula, midwife-in-training, miracle worker) know, and she asked if we wanted her to come in. We very confidently said we thought we could handle it and we’d let her know when things picked up. Nathan hung up and immediately I felt two of the most painful contractions yet. I’m not really sure what you’re supposed to do during a contraction, but all I wanted to do was say some choice swear words. I don’t know why, I’ve never been big on swearing, people used to make fun of me in high school for not swearing, but in that moment all I wanted to do was drop some f-bombs. Shortly after I puked up the red jello I just ate and we promptly called Emily to tell her to come in.

She came in shortly after and gave Nathan a beautiful lesson on counter pressure, shoulder massages and how to encourage his raging, hormonal wife. I hopped (not really, but that’d be a funny sight to see) into the birthing tub, and lasted maybe an hour or two in there. The contractions were coming pretty quick, and were infinitely stronger that the ones I had been feeling at home. It soon got to the point where I could no longer relax in the tub , so we thought I’d get out and try some other positions. I got onto a medicine ball and tried that, only to experience some of the worst contractions yet.

This is where my crisis came… I really wanted a natural delivery. I really, really did. But at this point I’m pretty sure I looked demonic every time a contraction came, I could no longer breath through any of them and I think my eyeballs might have rolled into the back of my head a couple of times, cute. I was exhausted from the last couple of hours and there was no way I could relax. I looked at Nathan and told him I wanted the epidural.

Side note: I thought that maybe after the baby came (and I felt like a normal human again) I would regret my choice to get an epidural. I thought I would feel weak, and feel like I ‘failed’ my ideal birth plan. What a whole bunch of lies. After delivery I felt like a freaking boss woman. Birthing another human is no joke, and whatever way that baby comes out is worthy of a big ol’ celebration. If the world tries and makes you feel inferior because of the way your birth went, let me know and I’ll start throwing some punches because bringing new life into this world is one of the most bad a** things a woman can do (see I really don’t like swearing).

Anyways, the anesthesiologist came in (God bless her), and made me feel so great. I remember thinking ‘huh, I haven’t felt a contraction in a while’ only to look at the monitor and see that I was in the middle of one. It was pure bliss guys. Kelly, the anesthesiologist, I feel the need to write a poem of kind words for you, because you made me feel so unstoppable. You are a rockstar, a champion, a real winner in my book.

We decided to lay down and try to get some sleep, since at that point my cervix hadn’t been checked since we got there (I was a whopping 1 cm dilated). I laid down and felt my water break. It was pretty cool. From there, I tried to fall asleep, but just kept watching the fetal monitor thing. I had way to much adrenaline to even close my eyes.

Not too long after my water broke they checked me again, I was convinced I was probably dilated to a 3 or 4, that this would be a slow, long road ahead of us. However, the doctor told me I was dilated to a 9! I don’t think I cried, but I probably could have. I woke Nathan up, and told him to go grab some food from the vending machine since all he had eaten in the last ten hours was oatmeal cream pies and red bull (he has a tendency to pass out if he doesn’t eat enough). He came back with cheetos, a real healthy choice.

I labored down for about an hour, and soon it was time to push. I pushed for 16 minutes (or somewhere around that), and Nathan thought I was going to pass out because my face was so red (ha!). I touched Hezekiah’s head when he was close enough, and I think with the next push he was out of there (followed by a tidal wave of fluid… people really don’t prepare you for how much fluid comes out when you have a baby, I was worried I splashed the doctor in the face… gross, but true). He was pretty blue and squishy and they placed him on my chest while Nathan cut the cord. Soon I realized Nathan was sitting in a chair, white as a ghost, while Emily tried to get him to drink some water or eat some gummy bears (of course I had gummy bears with me). I guess the cheetos weren’t quite enough sustenance to handle your newborn son being born. He recovered quickly and it provided a lot of entertainment for me.

The first things I noticed about Hezekiah was his cute little button chin, his short stubby fingers and the enormous amount of his poop that covered him (and me). I was in awe that this was the baby we had been looking at during ultrasounds, squishy lips and all.

I’ll spare you the details of after the birth because no one wants to read about me almost passing out in the bathroom, and projectile vomiting…again. Whoops.

Childbirth is an incredible experience. In a matter of hours, I became a mother to the cutest little bean. I learned that I am stronger and capable of more than I thought, and that I am married to the most incredible man (he literally gave me a constant back massage for hours, all while fanning me off and offering me ice chips and holding my hand and telling me encouraging words- not to mention the whole nine months before while he dealt with my raging hormones and whatnot). So now we enter into a time of newborn cuddles and figuring out how to be parents. Oh yeah, and preparing to move our family overseas in five weeks, but we’ll save that for another post!

Thanks for reading (or skipping ahead if you don’t like birth stories)! Here are some absolutely amazing pictures Rise Photography took the day after we had him. Guys, Bethany is a pro photographer, we had probably 16 visitors, and the whole team of pediatricians and not to mention Nathan and I are probably two of the most un-photogenic humans alive, and she got some real gems! If you need pictures of your newborn, or of your wedding, or you need some good ol’ pictures of yourself I HIGHLY recommend her.