Sawyer Chance Allen Birth Story

Sawyer Chance Allen Birth Story

3/28/19

1:30 am

7 lbs 8 oz

            Sawyer is one week old today (edit: he’s now two weeks old as I’m finishing this finally!) and I’m trying hard to get this written so I don’t forget! I mainly write these for myself and I love that I’ve always been able to write them soon after the birth while the details are still fresh. But if there’s a chance anyone else enjoys or benefits from reading, I like to share my experience J

            The weeks leading up to his birth were a lesson in patience. Starting at about 37-38 weeks I began having mild contractions, just a few a day. Kate and Graham had been 6 days early and Jack had been 11 days early and it was so hard not to compare and constantly think, “If he comes at the same time as Kate (or Graham or Jack) he’ll be born on this day.” Four for four, each baby has taught me that when it comes to labor, you can only expect the unexpected. With Kate, I learned that it’s possible to have your water break before your due date and still need Pitocin to help with labor. With Graham, I learned that your labor can be textbook perfect up until the minute it isn’t and things get kind of scary. With Jack, I learned that it’s possible for your third baby’s labor to be twice as long as your other two. Despite diligently walking every day, practicing relaxation and meditation techniques, mopping my floor on hands and knees multiple times like a crazy person, and even eating a pineapple core, Sawyer was the only one of my babies to stay put up to his due date and send me to my first ever 40 week OB appt (I know, I know, I have been extremely spoiled to have had 3 spontaneous week-early labors up until now). It wasn’t even the not going into labor early part that bothered me too much. It was the frequent contractions that kept fooling me into thinking it may be the real thing that really drove me crazy! During those last few weeks I was at first excited and nervous when contractions came and then eventually uninterested because I was learning not to hold my breath that it was the real thing. Starting with my 38 week appointment I kept thinking it would be my last appointment, only to find myself back at the doctor a week later. At my 40 week appointment (on my due date) I had my doctor strip my membranes. It really wasn’t too painful, so I was happy about that. At this appointment, I was 3 cm dilated and 70% effaced, so I was happy to have that much progress at least. We also scheduled an induction date for a week later. I had always thought I would dread having to do that, but surprisingly I felt really calm after it was scheduled. I think it was comforting to know that there was a definite end in sight. Plus, my doctor had reassured me that because I was a little dilated on my own, it most likely wouldn't be a really difficult induction and if my body was responding well they could even stop the Pitocin after using it to get things going (I've had Pitocin before, like I said, and the option of using as little of it as possible sounded great to me!) After my appointment I went to Costco with Graham and Jack to grab a few things and get lunch. I was a bit sore and crampy but walking still felt okay and I figured walking was always a good idea at this point. When I got home, around 1 or 2 pm, my awesome sisters Heidi and Julie brought me a “sorry you’re still pregnant” smoothie J. I like to joke that maybe it was a magic smoothie because Sawyer would end up being born not too long after. 

Throughout the afternoon I started having contractions again, about 45 min apart, but still doubted it being real, as this had happened so many times before. At about 5 or 6 pm my contractions got a little closer, about 30 min apart, and began to hurt a little bit more. Still, I was doubtful. We got our kids in bed and Chance went to work out in our basement while I waited to make sure Jack stayed in bed. This was about 8 pm and my contractions were moving to about 15-20 minutes apart. Eventually I texted Chance and told him to come up so I could take a bath. I wanted to see if soaking in the tub would make contractions go away (I both wanted them to go away and wanted them to keep up-there’s really no good option here haha). As I sat in the tub, my contractions did not go away, but moved to about 10 minutes apart and strong enough that I was beginning to need to focus and breath through them. This is when I started texting people that I may be in labor for real, although to be honest I was still doubtful (funny to think that now, as in hindsight I was so obviously in active labor, but when you are experiencing it it’s so easy to second guess everything). Eventually I got out of the tub to see if I could possibly sleep (ha!). This was around 9:30 pm or so. As I was on our bed the contractions continued to get more painful and closer together, around 7 min apart or so. I actually started to get a little nervous because I felt like they were getting closer together kind of quickly and we were 45 min from the hospital! (I’d decided to stay with my doctor even after we moved because I loved him so much). Plus, I knew I’d already been dilated to 3 cm and it was my fourth baby. I said to Chance, “Yeah, I think we should just go in to be safe.” Even at this point, I was still kind of doubting myself and was of the mindset to be safe rather than sorry by going to the hospital, instead of thinking I was for sure going to the hospital to have this baby. I think the doubt came because with Jack’s labor I was at home with contractions all day and they were very painful by the time I left for the hospital, so much so that I was surprised to only be at 6 cm when I’d gotten to the hospital. So this time I kept thinking, “Well they are hurting more and getting closer but maybe that doesn’t mean as much as I think.” I called my neighbor Sarah, who I had asked to help me with my kids, and she was so awesome and came right over. Seriously, every person who has ever watched my kids when I’ve gone to have a baby will forever hold a special place in my heart. When you are in labor and needing to leave soon, it feels like they are saving your life by being there! She came and we left right away, at about 10:45 pm. I’d also called my sister Julie to come over and relieve my neighbor so she could get back home to her own kids. Julie is about 45 min away from us, so it was so good that Sarah could come immediately and fill that gap so we could go right away. I was so grateful Julie came to stay overnight, even though she had to work the next day. Seriously, another lifesaver! I can’t say that enough about everyone who helped me. The drive to the hospital wasn’t as bad as I’d anticipated. It went faster than I thought, even as I was having contractions. Chance could tell when I was having one as I would immediately turn the radio off and squeeze his arm J. I didn’t mind the radio between them; anything to distract me from the next impending contraction. We got to the hospital at about 11:30 pm and I still felt like they weren’t going to believe me that I was really in labor, because I was still having trouble believing myself (even though my contractions were quite painful, for some reason I still doubted it all). But once I got taken back and they checked my progress, I was totally surprised to hear I was already dilated to a 6! With Jack, I had been surprised I wasn’t further along because of how much pain I’d been in, and this time I was surprised to already be at a 6. I would take the latter experience for sure! This also is proof that pain level is not always consistent with how far dilated you are. I have no doubt that people can feel different kinds of pain, depending on a lot of factors in their labor besides dilation. I’m just one person, and I felt it differently between labors! And on the topic of checking dilation, there are nice ways to do it and not so nice ways. The nurse who checked me was so rough! That combined with the fact that I was laying flat on my back (the WORST position for having a contraction!) and a contraction came on as she was checking…lets just say that is the first time in all my labors I’ve ever wanted to hit someone trying to help me haha! I got the feeling that she may have been a new nurse so I’ll give her the benefit of the doubt. I guess. ;) Jack’s labor had definitely been my hardest, as I’ve said, so going into this labor I definitely considered an epidural more than I ever had before. I kind of went into it thinking, “I’d love to do it unmedicated again, but if it seems like its turning out to be long and hard like Jack’s labor, I think I’ll just get the epidural.” When we got to the hospital and Chance was talking to the nurse, I heard him mention that I was hoping to go unmedicated (like he always has done, as an awesome support person J) and in my head I thought, “Eh, lets just see how this all plays out.” Haha! Once I found out I was already at a 6, I did feel more hopeful about being able to go unmedicated, but I’m also seasoned enough to know that there are no guarantees in labor. However, luck was on my side. I had been praying and hoping throughout this whole pregnancy that labor would be a smooth, positive experience, and shorter than Jack’s labor, and somehow I got that wish. After the initial check, the next time they checked me I was then at an 8-9. When they told me that I actually said, “Are you serious?” I was on the one hand in so much pain as things progressed and on the other hand, so relieved that they were progressing so well! This is also the first time ever that I’ve been in transition and still felt fairly lucid in between contractions. I think that’s why I was surprised when they told me 8-9 centimeters dilated. I thought, “You see how I’m, like, talking normally? How can I be that far and be able to think and talk like this??” It was crazy in that way compared to my other experiences. In this labor, I actually had the help of the on call doctor, rather than my doctor. Because things were going fast enough and I didn’t have an epidural, the on call doctor doubted my doctor would even get there in time. However, this doctor turned out to be a godsend and I would undoubtedly recommend her to anyone having a baby. She stayed with me more than I think doctors usually do and she really coached me! I’ve never had a midwife, but I imagine she was very similar to one in those ways. She reminded me to keep moving my hips between contractions so Sawyer could keep moving down the right way and not get stuck. She reminded me to breathe low during contractions and she encouraged me to “just rest now” in between contractions. I seriously tear up even writing this because of how much I feel I owe her. She was with me in my hour of greatest need and her calm voice guided me through one of the most physically and mentally demanding experiences of my life. It’s always crazy to me how I can feel so close to the people who have helped me in labor, when they were strangers! Nothing like childbirth to bond people I guess! I also need to mention that I had the awesome help from my sister Heidi, who was with us soon after we checked in, and my mother-in-law Debbie, who made it a little later. Their help (along with Chance’s) was invaluable. They pushed on my back and held my head up when I couldn’t and told me how awesome I was. I’m so thankful to have had them all with me. I was on my knees leaning over on the raised hospital bed when I started to feel like pushing. The last check had shown that I was fully dilated so the doctor told me I could push when I felt ready. I pushed through a few contractions in that kneeling position but honestly it wasn’t the best position for me. Chance was so sweet, a couple times in this position he gently said, “Maybe want to try sitting the other way like you’ve done before?” I didn’t doubt this advice, it honestly just felt daunting to move at all. Finally, I mustered the courage to flip around in between contractions and start pushing kind of in a sitting back position, holding my knees. That’s pretty much how I’ve always pushed before and I guess you don’t need to fix what ain’t broke. My pushing became much more effective in this position. Overall, I would call this my best labor, but the one thing that was harder this time was pushing. I pushed a little longer than I have before, through about 8 contractions. As I was pushing all I could think was, “This isn’t working! He’s just gonna stay stuck!” But it was working. You just feel like your body is splitting apart and the baby isn’t out yet and it’s so easy to feel like you’re just stuck. I kept going and soon everyone was telling me, “We can see him Anna! He has hair!” Well, okay then. Let's do this! After his head was out, it wasn’t too much more to get his shoulders out. And then it was done. Somehow, some way, it was done. Thanks to the doctor guiding my hands, I was able to kind of lift Sawyer out and onto me. I’ve never done that before and it was pretty cool. And then I just cried, as one does after pushing out a baby. J I kept telling Sawyer that we did it! I almost couldn’t believe it was over. There are really no words for it. Sawyer was crying and turning pink and that’s all I could ever ask for. I feel so much gratitude for that, and for the irreplaceable help of everyone who didn’t leave my side through this whole experience. As labor goes, this was a really good experience (and my first one where I didn't need stitches!!) One that I am thankful for-and also so glad to be writing about in the past tense, haha! Sawyer Chance Allen, welcome to our family. You are loved.